The office of Poet Laureate goes back many centuries – informally to the time of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1389 and followed thereafter by a number of ‘volunteer laureates’. It was formally assigned to Ben Jonson in 1617 and, as a Royal office by letters patent in 1670, to John Dryden. It is a rich, rewarding history that bursts with the words, themes and visions of many great poets that has bound poetry and poets to a Nations soul.
Victoria’s reign is mainly remembered as that which harnessed and amplified The Industrial Revolution with its myriad of inventions and the reinvention of society from agricultural to manufacturing. From there its thirst for markets and raw materials created a massive ‘Age of Empire’ that bestrode the globe yet, in its wake, left many in its homeland, destitute, impoverished and bereft of the advantages it trumpeted on a world stage.
In the Arts its artists flourished, exhibiting and publishing abroad working in new techniques and new media. In literature such noted talents as Dickens, Trollope, Thackeray, the Bronte sisters and many, many others were ambitious and acclaimed. In Poetry we were spoilt for choice; the Brownings, Matthew Arnold, Coventry Patmore, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, an endless succession of wordsmiths.
Those Laureates appointed in Queen Victoria’s reign to represent the Nation are three in number and quite simply are staggering in both verse and talent: William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Alfred Austin.
01 - The Victorian Laureates - An Introduction
02 - William Wordsworth - An Introduction
03 - Composed Upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth
04 - It Was An April Morning Fresh and Clear by William Wordsworth
05 - Ode Composed on a May Morning by William Wordsworth
06 - Surprised By Joy Impatient As the Wind by William Wordsworth
07 - Daffodils by William Wordsworth
08 - My Hearts Leaps Up by William Wordsworth
09 - Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known by William Wordsworth
10 - Written in London September1802 by William Wordsworth
11 - November1806 by William Wordsworth
12 - The Solitary Reaper by William Wordsworth
13 - The Foresaken by William Wordsworth
14 - The Longest Day by William Wordsworth
15 - Tinturn Abbey (Extracts) By William Wordsworth
16 - Alfred Lord Tennyson - An Introduction
17 - Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson
18 - The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson
19 - Maud by Alfred Lord Tennyson
20 - The Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennyson
21 - The Oak by Alfred Lord Tennyson
22 - Spring by Alfred Lord Tennyson
23 - Break Break Break by Alfred Lord Tennyson
24 - Ring Out Wild Bells by Alfred Lord Tennyson
25 - The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson
26 - Sweet and Low by Alfred Lord Tennyson
27 - Song - A Spirit Haunts the Year's Last Hours by Alfred Lord Tennyson
28 - The Death of the Old Year by Alfred Lord Tennyson
29 - Crossing the Bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson
30 - In Memoriam by Alfred Lord Tennyson
31 - Alfred Austin - An Introduction
32 - Agetha by Alfred Austin
33 - A Captive Throstle by Alfred Austin
34 - Though All the World by Alfred Austin
35 - A Night in June by Alfred Austin
36 - Spiritual Love by Alfred Austin
37 - In Praise of England by Alfred Austin
38 - Forgiveness by Alfred Austin
39 - A Farewell To Youth by Alfred Austin
(Tags : The Victorian Laureates: An anthology of poetry's gilded age William Wordsworth Audiobook, William Wordsworth Audio CD )
