Publisher's Synopsis
A commonplace of literary criticism has been the pejorative judgment of 19th century drama. Yet at the height of his fame as Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson devoted eight valuable years and all his rich gifts to seven plays that he considered to be the best work he had done, and, like the Idylls of the King, to form an epical history of England. This book examines the plays of Tennyson and argues that current criticism that neglects, ignores, or denigrates Tennyson's drama does a great disservice to the importance of the poet's dramatic works.