In Memoriam: A Norton Critical Edition / Edition 2

by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Erik Gray

Overview

Tennyson’s central poem is presented with an extensive introduction that provides background information on the poet and poem as well as an overview of In Memoriam’s formal and thematic peculiarities, including Tennyson’s use of the stanza and the poem’s rhyme scheme.

The authoritative text is again that of the Eversley Edition of Tennyson’s Works, published in 1901–8, which is accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations.


“Criticism” contains thirteen essays-—seven of which are new to the Second Edition—among them examples of formal (Sarah Gates), contextual (W. David Shaw), reader-response (Timothy Peltason), queer (Jeff Nunokawa), and genre (Alan Sinfield) criticism. A chapter from Christopher Ricks’s influential biography, Tennyson, is included.


A Chronology, Selected Bibliography, and Index of First Lines are also included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393979268
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/19/2003
Series:	Norton Critical Editions Series
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Erik Gray is Assistant Professor of English at Harvard University and a specialist in Romantic and Victorian Poetry. He is the author of several articles, including ones on Tennyson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Matthew Arnold, and various Romantic and Victorian topics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Alfred Tennyson: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text

In Memoriam

Appendix A: Writings of Arthur Hallam

1. Meditative Fragment 1 (1829)
2. Sonnet [After first meeting Emily Tennyson] (1829)
3. Sonnet [The garden trees] (1831)
4. From “On Sympathy” (1830)

Appendix B: Writings on Natural History, Taxonomy, and Evolution, 1802–44

1. From William Paley, Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (1802)
2. From Charles Lyell, The Principles of Geology, Vol. 1 (1830)
3. From Robert Chambers, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844)

Appendix C: Victorian Courtship and Marriage in Fiction

1. From Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery (1824)
2. From Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)

Appendix D: The Poetic Sequence, 1827–54

1. From John Keble, The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holidays Throughout the Year (1827)
2. From Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850)
3. From Coventry Patmore, The Angel in the House: The Betrothal (1854)

Appendix E: Reviews of In Memoriam, 1850–55

1. From [John Forster?], The Examiner (8 June 1850)
2. From The Literary Gazette (15 June 1850)
3. From The North British Review (August 1850)
4. From The Eclectic Review (September 1850)
5. From The English Review (September 1850)
6. From [Charles Kingsley], Fraser’s Magazine (September 1850)
7. From [Manley Hopkins?], The Times (28 November 1851)
8. From [Coventry Patmore], The Edinburgh Review (October 1855)

Appendix F: From Hallam Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son (1897)

Select Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

“This is a very helpful edition which will be of great value to the student reader. Rowlinson’s introduction, notes and appendices supply the reader with intelligent and useful contextual information and offer an engaging, thoroughly informed guide to the ways in which the poem has been read since first publication.” — Kirstie Blair, University of Stirling

“This edition is remarkably comprehensive for such a slim book, including a six-part appendix followed by a reliable and select bibliography, setting good foundations for further reading. The poem’s achievement and legacy are convincingly demonstrated by the fascinating range of appendixed primary sources, including selections from the writings of Arthur Henry Hallam, natural history, Victorian courtship fiction, the poetic sequence form, reviews of In Memoriam, and an extract from Hallam’s Tennyson’s Memoir. These groupings not only prove the central position of primary resources in the valuation of the poem, but establish for undergraduate readers a firm foundation for reference and inference.” — John Francis Davies, Tennyson Research Bulletin

From the Publisher