Three Narrative Poems (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1898. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... Xiv alfred, lord tennyson. laureate. He settled at Twickenham, three years latei removed to Farringford, near Freshwater, and still later (1867) he bought the estate of Aldworth in Sussex. Here he resided until his death, October 6,1892. Tennyson's first volume was published in 1830. The title was Poems, Chiefly Lyrical. Two years later came his second collection, and in these poems we can now recognize the germs of the perfect workmanship and exquisite melody which characterized his mature work. He was criticised severely. Reviews of that day called him effeminate and sentimental, but the popular voice gave him an enthusiastic welcome, and he was at once received as a poet. Several causes operated in effecting this immediate recognition. He had no serious rivals. Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge had passed the prime of their poetic powers; Keats, Shelley," and Byron, who had been much nearer the the hearts of the people, were dead, and "the fruit of public acceptance was once more ripe for plucking." Greater, however, than this negative influence was the positive power of Tennyson's versatility. Gradually his perfection in art disarmed his critics. He became the man of the hour, and presented in his poems the thought and feeling of the day. The themes were simple, the poems short and easily understood. In 1859 four poems, entitled Idylls of the King, were published. Each poem was independent of its companion poems, yet each presented the same group of characters, the knights and ladies of King Arthur's court. From time to time during the next twenty-five years Tennyson added to this group, and the completed poem, consisting of twelve parts, constitutes his greatest work. It may be properly called an epic, though it is sometimes described as a collection of id...