Conflating deconstructive theory with psychoanalysis, Rowlinson (English, Dartmouth College) proposes an analytic formalism as the appropriate model for reading Tennyson, and demonstrates the utility of the approach with close readings of fragments and poems written from 1824 to 1833, focusing on the nature of place the structuring of desire. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Considers Tennyson's poems, from the elegiac In Memoriam to the Arthurian Idylls of the King, in the context of Victorian interest in philology. How do words come to mean what they mean, and how can we hope to use them precisely when they are constantly changing? The urge to find a word's meaning through its etymology is an old and enduring one, gaining new momentum in the nineteenth century as advocates of the so-called "new philology" argued that major revelations were to be found within the biographies of everyday expressions. Developing hand in hand with a growing national interest in all things "Anglo-Saxon", language study simultaneously seemed to offer a pathway to the roots of English culture and to illuminate human history on a grand scale. Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) came of age in the midst of this exploding popularity of both Anglo-Saxonism and philology, and he did so among men who were to be responsible for advancing both fields. This study places this preeminent Victorian poet in the context of the period's preoccupation with the history of language. It shows that the intellectual milieu that surrounded him encouraged him to revive archaic words and to reveal the literal metaphors lurking within his words. Moreover, his familiarity with past forms of English enabled him to arrange the connotations of his vocabulary for precise effect. Surveying his techniques at every scale, from individual vowels to narratives, this book argues that Tennyson held a more optimistic view of language than scholars have generally supposed, and shows the sophistication of his philological techniques.

In the wake of the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, the subject of In Memoriam, Alfred Tennyson wrote a range of intricately connected poems, many of which feature pivotal scenes of rapture, or being carried away. This book explores Tennyson's representation of rapture as a radical mechanism of transformation-theological, social, political, or personal-and as a figure for critical processes in his own poetics. The poet's fascination with transformation is figured formally in the genre he is credited with inventing, the dramatic monologue. Tennyson's Rapture investigates the poet's previously unrecognized intimacy with the theological movements in early Victorian Britain that are the acknowledged roots of contemporary Pentacostalism, with its belief in the oncoming Rapture, and its formative relation to his poetic innovation. Tennyson's work recurs persistently as well to classical instances of rapture, of mortals being borne away by immortals. Pearsall develops original readings of Tennyson's major classical poems through concentrated attention to his profound intellectual investments in advances in philological scholarship and archeological exploration, including pressing Victorian debates over whether Homer's raptured Troy was a verifiable site, or the province of the poet's imagination. Tennyson's attraction to processes of personal and social change is bound to his significant but generally overlooked Whig ideological commitments, which are illuminated by Hallam's political and philosophical writings, and a half-century of interaction with William Gladstone. Pearsall shows the comprehensive engagement of seemingly apolitical monologues with the rise of democracy over the course of Tennyson's long career. Offering a new approach to reading all Victorian dramatic monologues, this book argues against a critical tradition that sees speakers as unintentionally self-revealing and ignorant of the implications of their speech. Tennyson's Rapture probes the complex aims of these discursive performances, and shows how the ambitions of speakers for vital transformations in themselves and their circumstances are not only articulated in, but attained through, the medium of their monologues.

Seeking to understand Tennyson's poetry as the work of a man concerned with making and then living up to one of the most famous names in Victorian literature, Anna Barton offers close readings of Tennyson's major works. From his obscure beginning as 'A.T.', one of two anonymous brothers, to the height of his success, when he held the impressive title 'Alfred Lord Tennyson, DCL, Poet Laureate', the development of Tennyson's career took place in a period increasingly aware that a name could command considerable cultural capital. In the marketplace goods were sold on the strength of their brand name; in the press the battle for signed articles was fought and won; and in Victorian drawing rooms young ladies collected the autographs of family and friends and pasted them into scrap books. From his early lyrics to his Arthurian Idylls, Barton argues, the laureate's keen sense of professional identity forced him to grapple with modern concerns about the ethics of print in order to establish his own responsible poetic.

Alternative approaches have emerged which have radically altered our understanding of Tennyson's poetry and his relationship to the Victorian age. This text covers the most significant areas of new work on Tennyson, effectively linking feminist and gender studies with deconstructive, psychoanalytic and linguistic attention. The Introduction discusses ways in which orthodox critical approaches have dominated readings of Tennyson's poetry and provides a critical overview of the radical reappraisal of his work. It also provides a guide to the varied ways in which these new debates have shaped and are shaping themselves, with a final discussion of the future directions which Tennyson criticism is likely to take. The essays chosen cover and reflect a range of modes of critical enquiry compelling in themselves.

‘Darwin, Tennyson and Their Readers: Explorations in Victorian Literature and Science’ is an edited collection of essays from leading authorities in the field of Victorian literature and science, including Gillian Beer and George Levine. Darwin, Tennyson, Huxley, Ruskin, Richard Owen, Meredith, Wilde and other major writers are discussed, as established scholars in this area explore the interaction between Victorian literary and scientific figures which helped build the intellectual climate of twenty-first century debates.

Tennyson is the most important English poet of the Victorian age. He knew its key figures and was deeply involved in its science, religion, philosophy and politics. The Palgrave Literary Dictionary for the first time gives easily accessible information, under more than 400 headings, on his poetry, his circle, the period and its contexts.

The poet's reputation has weathered even the most vitriolic attempts to discredit both the man and his writings; and as criticism of the late twentieth century demonstrates, Tennyson's claim to pre-eminence among the Victorians is now unchallenged."

Uncovering Wordsworth's influence on TennysonThis book explores Tennyson's poetic relationship with Wordsworth through a close analysis of Tennyson's borrowing of the earlier poet's words and phrases, an approach that positions Wordsworth in Tennyson's poetry in a more centralised way than previously recognised. Focusing on some of the most representative poems of Tennyson's career, including 'The Lady of Shalott', 'Ulysses' and In Memoriam, the study examines the echoes from Wordsworth that these poems contain and the transformative part they play in his poetry, moving beyond existing accounts of Wordsworthian influence in the selected texts to uncover new and revealing connections and interactions that shed a penetrating light on Tennyson's poetic relationship with his Romantic predecessor.Key FeaturesFirst book-length study of Tennyson's poetic relationship with WordsworthBy focusing on echoes or parallel passages, book reevaluates Tennyson's poetic relationship with Wordsworth Reveals Wordsworth as the lynchpin of Tennyson's poetryRecalibrates critical estimates of Tennyson as poet, Poet Laureate and Post-Romantic poet

Offers an original approach to a number of nineteenth-century authors in terms of what are seen as the constitutive affective dynamics of their work. The author also draws on themes of ethical subjectivity in the work of Stanley Cavell and Gilles Deleuze to provide essential reading for those involved in nineteenth-century literature.