Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Sherwood, M

Titel

Tennyson and the Fabrication of Englishness

Auflage

1

Ort / Verlag

London: Palgrave Macmillan

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• 01 02 Both Tennyson and the term 'Englishness' - coined in 1804 - date from the same decade and critics identified Tennyson as an English poet from the first reviews of his published poems in the 1820s. As Poet Laureate, Tennyson became the authoritative public voice of English poetry and one of the 'thinking men of England'. By the late nineteenth century, an ideology of Englishness had been established which was reflected in and shaped by cultural forces and emerging myths in general and Tennyson's poetry in particular. This wide-ranging study examines Tennyson's 'domestic poetry' - his portrayals of English nature and landscape, monarchy, medievalism, and the 'English Empire', written throughout his career and in their changing nineteenth-century context - to confirm that many representations of England and the English were fabrications, more idealised than real. 08 02 "This study offers a timely and scholarly account of Tennyson's involvement in debates around the crucial topic of English national identity. Elegantly written and intelligently structured, Tennyson and the Fabrication of Englishness makes a valuable and original contribution to our reading of Tennyson's poetry, and to our understanding of the wider Victorian cultural and political context." – Roger Ebbatson, Lancaster University, UK 13 02 Marion Sherwood is an independent scholar, having retired from a career in investment banking and returning to full-time education. She studied English at postgraduate level with the Open University, writing her PhD on Tennyson, on whom she has also published several journal articles. 04 02 A Note on the Text Preface Introduction: The Enigma of Englishness 1. 'A Poet in the Truest and Highest Sense': The Early Poems and their Reception 2. 'Mr. Tennyson's Singular Genius': The Reception of Poems (1832) 3. 'Mr. Tennyson's Truly English Spirit': Landscape and Nature in Poems (1842) 4. 'Fair Victoria's Golden Age': Tennyson and Monarchy 5. 'To Serve as Model for the Mighty World': Tennyson and Medievalism 6. 'Ever-broadening England': Tennyson and Empire Conclusion: Fabricating Englishness Works Cited Index 02 02 Through an examination of Tennyson's 'domestic poetry' - his portrayals of England and the English - in their changing nineteenth-century context, this book demonstrates that many of his representations were 'fabrications', more idealized than real, which played a vital part in the country's developing identity and sense of its place in the world.