The Major Works

Tennyson was the chief poetic voice of his age, and he remains one of the most highly regarded masters of the music and mood of verse. This authoritative edition brings together a unique combination of Tennyson's poetry and prose, spanning his entire career, from his striking juvenilia, through his career as Poet Laureate, to the powerful poetry he wrote in his ninth decade. It contains such classics as "The Lady of Shalott," "Morte d'Arthur," Break, Break, Break," "Locksley Hall," "Ulysses," "The Charge of the Light Brigade," and "Tears, Idle Tears." It also includes in its entirety Tennyson's quasi-feminist epic The Princess, as well as the whole of In Memoriam, Maud, and Enoch Arden, and several sections of Idylls of the King. The poems are augmented with a broad selection from Tennyson's letters, as well as relevant passages from his son Hallam Tennyson's Memoir of his father, where Tennyson talks widely about his own poetry and the writing of others. Robert Adams provides an insightful introduction and valuable notes, and the edition includes an up-to-date bibliography.