Tennyson

Lord Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate, published his first collection of poetry in 1830 and died in 1892, only nine years before Queen Victoria. His poetry, highly popular during his lifetime, has come to be regarded as representative of the Victorian age and as such its reputation has suffered at the hands of Modernist writers seeking to release themselves from the burden of what they saw as 'Victorianism'. In recent years, Tennyson's poetry has witnessed a revival of interest and new questions are being asked of his writing. Alternative reading strategies have emerged which have radically altered our understanding of Tennyson's poetry and his relationship to the Victorian age. This new collection of essays displays the richness and diversity of recent re-readings of Tennyson and explores the many different contexts in which his work is now discussed. Issues of empire and imperialism, evolutionary theory, class disruption, the politics of poetry and sexual politics including Victorian models of masculinity, sexuality and same-sex love are considered. The collection includes contributions by Terry Eagleton, Elaine Jordan, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Isobel Armstrong and Alan Sinfield.