The Victorian Laureates: An anthology of poetry's gilded age

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