The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

8601

Title

The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

This critical edition compiles Alfred Lord Tennyson's early lyrical works, offering a comprehensive look at his poetic development. Featuring a detailed introduction, commentaries, and notes, it explores themes of love, death, and nature through his most famous early poems, providing essential context for students and scholars of Victorian literature.

Summary up to 500 words

Edited by John Churton Collins, 'The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson' stands as a definitive critical edition, meticulously documenting the poet's creative evolution from his first publications in 1830 through the late 19th century. Collins, driven by the necessity to study Tennyson as a classic, collated every recorded edition to ensure accuracy, capturing the vast array of textual variants and suppressed works that define the poet's early career. The volume serves as both a literary anthology and a scholarly resource, preserving the historical significance of Tennyson's process and the evolution of his texts up to 1899. The collection encompasses a diverse range of Tennyson's juvenilia and early masterpieces, including the atmospheric "The Owl," the philosophical "Nothing Will Die," the classical adaptation "Hero to Leander," and the enigmatic "The Mystic." It also features famous early works such as "The Lady of Shalott" and "The Palace of Art," alongside lesser-known pieces like "Buonaparte" and "Dualisms." Collins's extensive notes explain obscure references and document the poet's restless indefatigability in correcting his own work, noting changes across numerous editions. Thematically, the poems range from the mystical and the sublime to profound personal reflections on mortality, the passage of time, and the duality of existence. Works like "Nothing Will Die" and "All Things Will Die" explore the tension between eternal change and the inevitability of death, while "The Mystic" delves into spiritual visions and the nature of truth. The anthology captures Tennyson's mastery of language and his enduring place in English literature, offering readers an intimate look at the development of a literary giant. By grouping poems by theme and comparing textual variants, the book illuminates the creative journey of a poet who shaped the Victorian imagination, ensuring that even his trifles become subjects of curious interest for future generations.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Classics
• Poetry