Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote with a musician's ear and a grief-stricken heart, and this generous selection showcases both in full. As Poet Laureate of Victorian England, he became the undisputed voice of his age, yet his verses speak across centuries to anyone who has ever stood before nature's sublime indifference or mourned what cannot be recovered. Here you will find "The Lady of Shalott," weaving her fatal tapestry in a tower by Camelot, and "The Charge of the Light Brigade," those six hundred riding into the "valley of Death" with sabers drawn. You will encounter "Tears, Idle Tears," perhaps the most achingly beautiful poem about longing ever written in English, its four stanzas capturing the specific sorrow of watching the past recede forever. Tennyson's gift was rendering the intangible: the rustle of the brook, the weight of loss, the ache of loves that exist only in memory. This collection gathers his most celebrated work into a single volume that rewards both dedicated reading and casual opening. It is for anyone who believes poetry should sound like music and feel like recognition.
