Alfred, Lord Tennyson: Selected Poems

While not an avid reader of Tennyson myself, I bought this book for my brother's birthday. I was very impressed. The selection of peices was large and the book printed on high quality paper, with no cramped spaces. The work was presented in a setting very attractive to a poetry reader and was small enough to slip in anywhere. If you want to know about the poetry you will have to read it for yourself, but it was wonderfully presented in this volume.

By the way, this Penguin book has the COMPLETE text of "In Memoriam." The Everyman's edition does not.

This is a rich collection of the work of Tennyson, and those who care for his verse will derive great pleasure from it. For myself most of Tennyson's longer poems have been more skimmed and tasted by me than really chewed and digested. Tennyson lives as a poet to me primarily through one poem, 'Ulysses'. This poem to my mind perfectly embodies a certain heroic stance toward life. It does this in immortal lines. The poem tells the story of the great Ulysses returning home after having voyaged and become ' a part of all I have met' . He is now not the youth who set out in the beginning but an elderly veteran. He begins with , 'Though much is taken much abides' And so in mid-life or in late- life having come home he is not content to rest. But is an ' old man explorer' who sets out again to meet and make his destiny. ' Though much is taken much abides, and though we are not that strength, which in old days, moved earth and heaven, that which we are we are, one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.' This kind of determination not only spoke to the Victorian world, and to Tennyson's own life- situation with its great losses and difficulties, but I believe will speak to mankind for so long as we are human.

This is an eminently readable collection of Tennyson's most memorable poems. Both the price and the content are of great value to today's readers. Our present times reflect stress and change which parrallels Tennyson's world. The poems are timeless and language is no barrier for a new millenium reader of this valient poet. For those looking for guidlines to courage and consistency, I recommend that you read and enjoy this book. Your gain will be ten-fold the price.

This is one of the best collections of Tennyson's poems I have ever read. Tennyson's wonderful poems are artfully compiled into this book. I would recommend it to anyone who loves Tennyson's poetry or just wants to see what its all about.