1865 Selections from the Works of Alfred Tennyson, Edward Moxon's Poet Series HC

Selections from the Works of Alfred Tennyson

Published by Edward Moxon & Co., 1865

Moxon's Miniature Poets Series

Leather Spine, Hardcover

Accented with gold gilt text and decorative raised hubbed spine, marbled edges, marbled end-sheets, frontispiece engraving by Vincent Brooks from a photograph taken by the London Stereoscopic  Company, Nov 28th, 1864.

Dedication inscription dated 1870 neatly written on the front blank end-page.

“Mary Mason, 1870, with the loss of her friend”

Very Good Antiquarian Condition. The book is clean, covers attached, secure binding, 1870 front- end-page inscription, otherwise unmarked, no internal writing, no highlighting, no water stains, no ripped pages, no edge chipping, no corner folds, no crease marks, no remainder marks, not ex-library. Some  light visible surface and edge wear from age, use, storage and handling. Light page toning. Random age spots. 

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Alfred Tennyson  (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the  Poet Laureate  during much of  Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the  Chancellor's Gold Medal  at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems,  Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although described by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including  Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the  Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Tennyson also excelled at short lyrics, such as "Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears", and "Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on  classical  mythological themes, such as "Ulysses". "In Memoriam A.H.H." was written to commemorate his friend  Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and student at  Trinity College, Cambridge, after he died of a stroke at the age of 22. Tennyson also wrote some notable  blank verse  including  Idylls of the King, "Ulysses", and "Tithonus". During his career, Tennyson attempted drama, but his plays enjoyed little success. A number of phrases from Tennyson's work have become commonplace in the English language, including "Nature, red in tooth and claw" ("In Memoriam A.H.H."), "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all", "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die", "My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure", "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers", and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new". He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in  The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

As source material for his poetry, Tennyson used a wide range of subject matter ranging from medieval legends to classical myths and from domestic situations to observations of nature. The influence of  John Keats  and other  Romantic poets  published before and during his childhood is evident from the richness of his imagery and descriptive writing. He also handled rhythm masterfully. The insistent beat of  Break, Break, Break  emphasises the relentless sadness of the subject matter. Tennyson's use of the musical qualities of words to emphasise his rhythms and meanings is sensitive. Tennyson was a craftsman who polished and revised his manuscripts extensively, to the point where his efforts at self-editing were described by his contemporary  Robert Browning  as "insane", symptomatic of "mental infirmity". His complex compositional practice and frequent redrafting also demonstrates a dynamic relationship between images and words, as can be seen in the many notebooks he worked in. Few poets have used such a variety of styles with such an exact understanding of  metre; like many Victorian poets, he experimented in adapting the  quantitative metres  of Greek and Latin poetry to English. He reflects the  Victorian period  of his maturity in his feeling for order and his tendency towards moralising. He also reflects a concern common among  Victorian writers  in being troubled by the conflict between religious faith and expanding scientific knowledge. Tennyson possessed a strong poetic power, which his early readers often attributed to his "Englishness" and his masculinity. Well-known among his longer works are  Maud  and  Idylls of the King, the latter arguably the most famous Victorian adaptation of the legend of  King Arthur  and the  Knights of the Round Table. A common thread of grief, melancholy, and loss connects much of his poetry (including  Mariana,  The Lotos Eaters,  Tears, Idle Tears,  In Memoriam), possibly reflecting Tennyson's own lifelong struggle with debilitating depression. T.  S. Eliot famously described Tennyson as "the saddest of all English poets", whose technical mastery of verse and language provided a "surface" to his poetry's "depths, to the abyss of sorrow". Other poets such as  W. H. Auden  maintained a more critical stance, stating that Tennyson was the "stupidest" of all the English poets, adding that: "There was little about melancholia he didn't know; there was little else that he did."