Romantic and Victorian Long Poems: A Guide

This study is the first to provide detailed and wide-ranging accounts of all of the varieties of long poem - epic, romance, verse-novel and sequences - published in the Romantic and Victorian periods. From famous works (The Prelude, In Memoriam, The Ring and the Book) to lesser-known marvels (Erasmus Darwin's The Loves of the Plants or Edward Lytton's King Poppy: a story without an end), this study provides a detailed book-by-book precis, relevant contextual information, biographical entries on authors and critical entries on the categories of long poem. A critical introduction examines why it was that the long poem was so central to Romantic and Victorian art and why 'epic' remains one of the weightiest modes of writing.

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While contemporary readers are unlikely to read all 900 pages of Bailey's then popular , Roberts (English, U. of London) argues that those who want to understand 19th-century English literature dare not overlook its varieties of long poem. In alphabetical order, the author provides summaries and critiques of masterpieces of the form such as Wordsworth's and Robert Browning's , as well as lower-rated works like Edward Lytton's aptly named (in 12 volumes). He also contends that epic films like are heirs to this poetic legacy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)