← Table of contents
Beacon Lights of History, Volume 13

Volume 13 — Introductory material

Reading edition

THE SPIRIT OF MODERN POETRY.

BY G. MERCER ADAM.

Tennyson's supreme excellence--his transcendent art.

His work the perfection of literary form; his melody exquisite.

Representative of the age's highest thought and culture.

Keen interpreter of the deep underlying spirit of his time.

Contemplative and brooding verse, full of rhythmic beauty.

The "Idylls of the King," their deep ethical motive and underlying purpose.

His profound religious convictions and belief in the eternal verities.

Hallam Tennyson's memoir of the poet; his friends and intimates.

The poet's birth, family, and youthful characteristics.

Early publishing ventures; his volume of 1842 gave him high rank.

Personal appearance, habits, and mental traits.

"In Memoriam," its noble, artistic expression of sorrow for Arthur Hallam.

"The Princess" and its moral, in the treatment of its "Woman Question" theme.

The metrical romance "Maud," and "The Idylls of the King," an epic of chivalry.

"Enoch Arden," and the dramas "Harold," "Becket," and "Queen Mary".

Other dramatic compositions: "The Falcon," "The Cup," and "The Promise of May".

The pastoral play, "The Foresters," and later collections of poems and ballads.

The poet's high faith, and belief that "good is the final goal of ill".

His exalted place among the great literary influences of his era.

Expressive to his age of the high and hallowing Spirit of Modern Poetry.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME XIII.

The Young Goethe at Frankfort

Frontispiece

After the painting by Frank Kirchbach

.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

After the painting by M. Q. de la Tour, Chantilly, France

.

Sir Walter Scott

After the painting by Sir Henry Raeburn, R. A

.

Lord Byron

After the painting by P. Krämer

.

François Marie Arouet de Voltaire

After the painting by M. Q. de la Tour, Endoxe Marville Collection, Paris

.

Thomas Carlyle

After a photograph from life

Thomas Babington Macaulay

After a photograph by Maule, London

.

William Shakspeare

After the "Chandos Portrait," National Portrait Gallery, London

.

John Milton

After the painting by Pieter van der Plaas

.

Milton Visits the Aged Galileo

After the painting by T. Lessi

.

Goethe

After the painting by C. Jaeger

.

Alfred (Lord) Tennyson

After the painting by G. F. Watts, R. A

.

Tennyson's Elaine

After the painting by T. E. Rosenthal

.

Explore with AITake your curiosity a little further.

Reading settings