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The Complete Works of Alfred Tennyson
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.
484 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1879
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About the author
Alfred Tennyson
2,144 books1,443 followersWorks, including
In Memoriam
in 1850 and "The Charge of the Light Brigade" in 1854, of Alfred Tennyson, first baron, known as lord, appointed British poet laureate in 1850, reflect Victorian sentiments and aesthetics.
Elizabeth Tennyson, wife, bore Alfred Tennyson, the fourth of twelve children, to George Tennyson, clergyman; he inevitably wrote his books. In 1816, parents sent Tennyson was sent to grammar school of Louth.
Alfred Tennyson disliked school so intensely that from 1820, home educated him. At the age of 18 years in 1827, Alfred joined his two brothers at Trinity College, Cambridge and with Charles Tennyson, his brother, published Poems by Two Brothers , his book, in the same year.
Alfred Tennyson published Poems Chiefly Lyrical , his second book, in 1830. In 1833, Arthur Henry Hallam, best friend of Tennyson, engaged to wed his sister, died, and thus inspired some best Ulysses and the Passing of Arthur .
Following William Wordsworth, Alfred Tennyson in 1850 married Emily Sellwood Tenyson, his childhood friend. She bore Hallam Tennyson in 1852 and Lionel Tennyson in 1854, two years later.
Alfred Tennyson continued throughout his life and in the 1870s also to write a number of plays.
In 1884, the queen raised Alfred Tennyson, a great favorite of Albert, prince, thereafter to the peerage of Aldworth. She granted such a high rank for solely literary distinction to this only Englishman.
Alfred Tennyson died at the age of 83 years, and people buried his body in abbey of Westminster.
Elizabeth Tennyson, wife, bore Alfred Tennyson, the fourth of twelve children, to George Tennyson, clergyman; he inevitably wrote his books. In 1816, parents sent Tennyson was sent to grammar school of Louth.
Alfred Tennyson disliked school so intensely that from 1820, home educated him. At the age of 18 years in 1827, Alfred joined his two brothers at Trinity College, Cambridge and with Charles Tennyson, his brother, published Poems by Two Brothers , his book, in the same year.
Alfred Tennyson published Poems Chiefly Lyrical , his second book, in 1830. In 1833, Arthur Henry Hallam, best friend of Tennyson, engaged to wed his sister, died, and thus inspired some best Ulysses and the Passing of Arthur .
Following William Wordsworth, Alfred Tennyson in 1850 married Emily Sellwood Tenyson, his childhood friend. She bore Hallam Tennyson in 1852 and Lionel Tennyson in 1854, two years later.
Alfred Tennyson continued throughout his life and in the 1870s also to write a number of plays.
In 1884, the queen raised Alfred Tennyson, a great favorite of Albert, prince, thereafter to the peerage of Aldworth. She granted such a high rank for solely literary distinction to this only Englishman.
Alfred Tennyson died at the age of 83 years, and people buried his body in abbey of Westminster.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 22, 2017
I've got an 1899 edition with terribly tiny print. After looking unsuccessfully for an ebook of Selected Poems of Tennyson for my Kindle, I compiled my own and have put it on my website English Literature Ebooks here as a free ebook for epub and mobi, or pdf.
Please help yourself. It's a lot easier on the eyes than my print edition!
I still remember the shiver that went down my spine when I first read the Lotos-Eaters over 40 years ago. And I still get it.
Please help yourself. It's a lot easier on the eyes than my print edition!
I still remember the shiver that went down my spine when I first read the Lotos-Eaters over 40 years ago. And I still get it.
June 18, 2019
A master of poetry.
January 16, 2018
"Cholera, scurvy, and fever, the wound that would not be healed,
Lopped away of the limb by the pitiful-pitiless knife,
Torture and trouble in vain, for it never could save us a life.
Valour of delicate women who tended the hospital bed,
Horror of women in travail among the dying and the dead,
Grief for our perishing children, and never a moment for grief,
Toil and ineffable weariness, faltering hopes of relief"
Lord Alfred Tennyson's poetry has mostly stood the test of time. The conversational rhythms and almost stream-of-consciousness style makes his work accessible to a broad range of readers and an excellent introductory poetic voice. I enjoyed studying his work at secondary school, back when I could recite Ulysses by heart - "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Another repetitive, onomatopoeic school favourite is The Charge of the Light Brigade (but did you know there is also a The Charge of the Heavy Brigade? "Gallopt the gallant three hundred, the Heavy Brigade"). I was interested to broaden my knowledge of his work beyond his best known poems, and get a sense of the literary tastes of the Victorian era too.
Tennyson is one of the best known 19th century poets, and was poet laureate in Britain where he is somewhat of a boxed national treasure. I enjoyed the way he wove themes topical to the age into his writing, it was interesting and novel to see scientific progress discussed in such traditional formal verse. "wake on science grown to more, secrets of the brain, the stars" Human progress and the beauties of the English countryside are two recurring themes. "every kiss of toothed wheels, and all the courses of the sun." Both are very pleasant to read about, with the former dearer to my heart as a scientist (naturally).
Another Victorian era Tennyson theme is death. "'This is more vile,' he made reply, 'to breath and loathe, to live an sigh, than once for dread of pain of die'" Essentially, Tennyson was a massive emo. You don't have to take my word for it. Any of these quotes could be lyrics for The Used or Bullet For My Valentine or My Chemical Romance: "The wages of Sin is death: if the wages of Virtue be dust" "A flat malarian world of reed and rush!" "What is all but a trouble of ants in the gleam of a million million suns?" Supposed Confessions of a Second-Rate Sensitive Mind would make a fantastic album title. And I don't mean that as an insult, I have proudly identified as a goth and an emo in my youth. I was surprised to find that even in his more well-known poems such as The Lotus-Eaters, nihilism pervades everything "All things have rest, and ripen towards the grave." What happened to all these brooding poets?
But Tennyson is very much a poet of his time, and many of the negative prejudices of the era seep through in his writing. I don't fund Tennyson by any means the worst example of casual sexism, racism or class discrimination from the 19th century, but it does impact on enjoyment of his writing in 2018. His female characters are worst off. Admirable women are defined mainly by their chastity, more than once literally falling dead at the sight of indecency or broken hearts, most noticeably in The Lady of Shalott (although I was warned about this one in Terry Jones' Medieval Lives). More active female characters such as Guinivere, Aldwyth, and Eleanor of Aquitaine are cast as unscrupulous and dishonest in their power and charm. "There are thousands now such women, but convention beats them down" I'm sorry to have to say this, as Guinivere is one of the fictional women I admire the most. It's slightly better for working class English characters, as they do get some representation in Tennyson's dialect poems, and are shown to have positive traits. However, for me, working class characters appeared concerned only with the very mundane and excluded from the philosophical musings in some of Tennyson's other poems. Thomas Hardy was ahead of the game with representation here. Tennyson was also a great supporter of the British Empire, yet he does manage to write one beautifully tolerant and inspiring poem Akber's Dream, inspired by Abul Fazl's writing about the Indian ruler Akbar who welcomed subjects of all religions and took steps towards moderation for all. This was really interesting and surprisingly tasteful for a Colonialist's perspective.
"The reign with dainty fingertips,
A man had given all other bliss,
And all his worldly worth for this,
To waste his whole heart in one kiss
Upon her perfect lips"
The main reason that I read this collection was to explore Tennyson's Romantic-era depictions of the Arthurian stories. He was a major voice in re-establishing interest in these myths, and his work is evocative and puts what would have been a very modern slant on the legends for his readership. And he does do some interesting new things with the legends. For example, I really like his depiction of Camelot as both real and hallucination in his epic The Death of Arthur, and incorporation of Celtic and Grecian symbols "there is no city anywhere, but all a vision" Perhaps my favourite complete work is his short poem Sir Galahad which shows a child-like joy in the virtuous young knight "I yearn to breath the airs of heaven". Another highlight was the pained depiction of Lancelot's internal conflict demonstrated by this quote which is very reminiscent of my all-time favourite T.H. White's The Ill-Made Knight "The great and guilt love he bare the Queen, In battle with the love he bare his Lord, Had marred his face, and marked it ere his time." The other knights are often frightening in their primitive assumptions and violent thoughts, where Lancelot and Galahad are creatures of another more civilised age. There is a poignant moment when Sir Balin compares himself to Lancelot and "sigh'd as a boy lame-born beneath a height". The focus on court romance was often frustrating, but these are important works towards our contemporary notion of the Arthurian myths and I am glad that I have read them.
Other works which stood out to me as particularly enjoyable in the collection included: The Talking Oak, in which a friendly Ent-ish tree facilitates courtship between two sweethearts; The Third of February 1852, a passionate defence of freedom of press in times of war; Maud, a paranoid bitter soliloquy of a jilted lover; and Rizpah a moving and grisly critique of the death penalty, viewing all humans as being loved and valued by someone in society. Tennyson's historical verse was relatively unknown to me until I started this collection, and much of it reads as surprisingly modern. For example, his historical play Queen Mary often rings of a sequel to Hilary Mantel's Chronicles of Thomas Cromwell ("The Tower, the Tower, always the Tower. I shall go to it - I shall be the Tower.") Additionally, there is Happy The Leper's Bride, a fascinating look at the funeral-like service offered to diagnosed lepers in the Middle Ages. The one Tennyson poem in the collection I wish was better known is The Voyage of Maeldune, a retelling of an Irish folk legend in which a chief's son is drawn on a quest for revenge which becomes a cautionary allegorical tale against excess in all its guises "remember the words of the Lord when he told us 'Vengeance is mine!'" A thoroughly educational volume!
Lopped away of the limb by the pitiful-pitiless knife,
Torture and trouble in vain, for it never could save us a life.
Valour of delicate women who tended the hospital bed,
Horror of women in travail among the dying and the dead,
Grief for our perishing children, and never a moment for grief,
Toil and ineffable weariness, faltering hopes of relief"
Lord Alfred Tennyson's poetry has mostly stood the test of time. The conversational rhythms and almost stream-of-consciousness style makes his work accessible to a broad range of readers and an excellent introductory poetic voice. I enjoyed studying his work at secondary school, back when I could recite Ulysses by heart - "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Another repetitive, onomatopoeic school favourite is The Charge of the Light Brigade (but did you know there is also a The Charge of the Heavy Brigade? "Gallopt the gallant three hundred, the Heavy Brigade"). I was interested to broaden my knowledge of his work beyond his best known poems, and get a sense of the literary tastes of the Victorian era too.
Tennyson is one of the best known 19th century poets, and was poet laureate in Britain where he is somewhat of a boxed national treasure. I enjoyed the way he wove themes topical to the age into his writing, it was interesting and novel to see scientific progress discussed in such traditional formal verse. "wake on science grown to more, secrets of the brain, the stars" Human progress and the beauties of the English countryside are two recurring themes. "every kiss of toothed wheels, and all the courses of the sun." Both are very pleasant to read about, with the former dearer to my heart as a scientist (naturally).
Another Victorian era Tennyson theme is death. "'This is more vile,' he made reply, 'to breath and loathe, to live an sigh, than once for dread of pain of die'" Essentially, Tennyson was a massive emo. You don't have to take my word for it. Any of these quotes could be lyrics for The Used or Bullet For My Valentine or My Chemical Romance: "The wages of Sin is death: if the wages of Virtue be dust" "A flat malarian world of reed and rush!" "What is all but a trouble of ants in the gleam of a million million suns?" Supposed Confessions of a Second-Rate Sensitive Mind would make a fantastic album title. And I don't mean that as an insult, I have proudly identified as a goth and an emo in my youth. I was surprised to find that even in his more well-known poems such as The Lotus-Eaters, nihilism pervades everything "All things have rest, and ripen towards the grave." What happened to all these brooding poets?
But Tennyson is very much a poet of his time, and many of the negative prejudices of the era seep through in his writing. I don't fund Tennyson by any means the worst example of casual sexism, racism or class discrimination from the 19th century, but it does impact on enjoyment of his writing in 2018. His female characters are worst off. Admirable women are defined mainly by their chastity, more than once literally falling dead at the sight of indecency or broken hearts, most noticeably in The Lady of Shalott (although I was warned about this one in Terry Jones' Medieval Lives). More active female characters such as Guinivere, Aldwyth, and Eleanor of Aquitaine are cast as unscrupulous and dishonest in their power and charm. "There are thousands now such women, but convention beats them down" I'm sorry to have to say this, as Guinivere is one of the fictional women I admire the most. It's slightly better for working class English characters, as they do get some representation in Tennyson's dialect poems, and are shown to have positive traits. However, for me, working class characters appeared concerned only with the very mundane and excluded from the philosophical musings in some of Tennyson's other poems. Thomas Hardy was ahead of the game with representation here. Tennyson was also a great supporter of the British Empire, yet he does manage to write one beautifully tolerant and inspiring poem Akber's Dream, inspired by Abul Fazl's writing about the Indian ruler Akbar who welcomed subjects of all religions and took steps towards moderation for all. This was really interesting and surprisingly tasteful for a Colonialist's perspective.
"The reign with dainty fingertips,
A man had given all other bliss,
And all his worldly worth for this,
To waste his whole heart in one kiss
Upon her perfect lips"
The main reason that I read this collection was to explore Tennyson's Romantic-era depictions of the Arthurian stories. He was a major voice in re-establishing interest in these myths, and his work is evocative and puts what would have been a very modern slant on the legends for his readership. And he does do some interesting new things with the legends. For example, I really like his depiction of Camelot as both real and hallucination in his epic The Death of Arthur, and incorporation of Celtic and Grecian symbols "there is no city anywhere, but all a vision" Perhaps my favourite complete work is his short poem Sir Galahad which shows a child-like joy in the virtuous young knight "I yearn to breath the airs of heaven". Another highlight was the pained depiction of Lancelot's internal conflict demonstrated by this quote which is very reminiscent of my all-time favourite T.H. White's The Ill-Made Knight "The great and guilt love he bare the Queen, In battle with the love he bare his Lord, Had marred his face, and marked it ere his time." The other knights are often frightening in their primitive assumptions and violent thoughts, where Lancelot and Galahad are creatures of another more civilised age. There is a poignant moment when Sir Balin compares himself to Lancelot and "sigh'd as a boy lame-born beneath a height". The focus on court romance was often frustrating, but these are important works towards our contemporary notion of the Arthurian myths and I am glad that I have read them.
Other works which stood out to me as particularly enjoyable in the collection included: The Talking Oak, in which a friendly Ent-ish tree facilitates courtship between two sweethearts; The Third of February 1852, a passionate defence of freedom of press in times of war; Maud, a paranoid bitter soliloquy of a jilted lover; and Rizpah a moving and grisly critique of the death penalty, viewing all humans as being loved and valued by someone in society. Tennyson's historical verse was relatively unknown to me until I started this collection, and much of it reads as surprisingly modern. For example, his historical play Queen Mary often rings of a sequel to Hilary Mantel's Chronicles of Thomas Cromwell ("The Tower, the Tower, always the Tower. I shall go to it - I shall be the Tower.") Additionally, there is Happy The Leper's Bride, a fascinating look at the funeral-like service offered to diagnosed lepers in the Middle Ages. The one Tennyson poem in the collection I wish was better known is The Voyage of Maeldune, a retelling of an Irish folk legend in which a chief's son is drawn on a quest for revenge which becomes a cautionary allegorical tale against excess in all its guises "remember the words of the Lord when he told us 'Vengeance is mine!'" A thoroughly educational volume!
January 16, 2024
I tried reading this book cover to cover. I just didn’t have it in me. I like the poems, but this book is so huge that it drove me crazy. It’s better suited as a reference book to look up specific poems. Otherwise it would take many years to read this tome.
PS. The more that I think of it, I prefer poetry books with assorted authors. Like for example a book containing works about love, romance, or the sea.
PS. The more that I think of it, I prefer poetry books with assorted authors. Like for example a book containing works about love, romance, or the sea.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2015
There were better ways to have done this, but I read the entire collected works straight through--man that took a while! I'd always called Tennyson my favorite poet, mostly due to one poem ("Charge of the Light Brigade"), but that was more due to a lack of knowledge of his other works than a deep understanding of his other material. Having gone through everything he wrote, I can highly recommend the poems "Enoch Arden" (as a new father I have yet to get through this without choking up), and "Ulysses" (may well have supplanted "Brigade" as my personal favorite poem). Tennyson felt his plays were terrible, and I agree--skip 'em. However, there are a few gems in the compendium of poems, with the highlights (for me) being the above mentioned 3.
September 23, 2021
This is a review of Idylls of the King only. I just finished the audiobook version of this masterwork tonight. It is great, and the Delphi version preserves the correct layout for the verse. The other version I bought first did not. It matters very much in understanding poetry that the layout be maintained.
Tennyson is a silver-tongued wordsmith of the first magnitude. One phrase that struck me was "hollow, rolling heavens." I will add more to this review as I read more of his work. Delphi does it right. Inexpensive, well planned editions of the complete work of various artists, poets, philosophers, etc. Check them out.
Tennyson is a silver-tongued wordsmith of the first magnitude. One phrase that struck me was "hollow, rolling heavens." I will add more to this review as I read more of his work. Delphi does it right. Inexpensive, well planned editions of the complete work of various artists, poets, philosophers, etc. Check them out.
January 31, 2018
I have no idea why Tennyson’s poetry is held in such high regard. The Arthurian stuff and The Merman were basically the only things worth reading, and even then, much of the Arthurian poems were a chore to read. I would not recommend anyone read anything by Tennyson.
August 4, 2019
Inspired by the quote read by Judi Dench in Skyfall, I thought I'd get into poetry... ya, not my cup of tea.
July 1, 2020
Broad variety of poems and plays. I liked his plays better than much of his poetry, but he wrote a lot of good poems. I like him better than Wordsworth and Blake.
Read
February 9, 2021A shadow flits before me,
Not thou, but like to thee:
Ah Christ, that we were possible
For one short hour to see
The souls we loved, that they might tell us
What and where they be!
Not thou, but like to thee:
Ah Christ, that we were possible
For one short hour to see
The souls we loved, that they might tell us
What and where they be!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2023
Tennyson is a master of poetry, a master of his craft entirely.
Want to read
October 5, 2009I'm actually reading from an 1885 edition of his complete works. Amazingly enough I'm borrowing it from the Library, it's old enough to be in a rare bookstore!
The Lady of Shalott is still my favorite, I haven't found anything to surpass it yet, anyone have recommendations of their favorite Tennyson poem?
The Lady of Shalott is still my favorite, I haven't found anything to surpass it yet, anyone have recommendations of their favorite Tennyson poem?
February 25, 2009
Obviously, I did not read this particular edition in 1997 - mine is from 1885... I love Tennyson!
June 26, 2016
A favorite to reread from time to time:)
January 23, 2023
"We are ashes and dust."
Amazing, amazing poetry! Easy to read in pieces when you have the time (I carried my copy around for days and days, reading pieces in between life).
Amazing, amazing poetry! Easy to read in pieces when you have the time (I carried my copy around for days and days, reading pieces in between life).
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews