3 h 1 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A princess opens the doors of learning to women—and bars men on pain of death.
Princess Ida founds a women's college and swears off marriage. But the unnamed Prince, promised to her in childhood, refuses to stay away. With his friends Cyril and Florian, he dresses as a woman and seeks admission as a student. Their disguise brings a stubborn wish for love into a place built to keep men outside.
In The Princess, Alfred, Lord Tennyson sets this conflict within a summer gathering, where friends tell the tale aloud. His long poem blends fairy tale, comedy, battle and debate with lyric songs. Mostly written in blank verse, it moves between playfulness and serious questions: what should women learn, and what should women and men be to each other?
What you’ll discover
- A princess with purpose Meet Ida, whose fierce belief in education challenges the rules that bind women.
- An audacious college disguise Follow the Prince, Cyril and Florian as they enter Ida's forbidden world as students.
- Learning, love and power Explore a debate in which the desire for learning meets the claims of marriage.
- A summer day's storytelling Step onto Sir Walter Vivian's estate, where a celebration frames the tale.
- Verse with shifting moods Discover lyric songs woven through a story that pairs wit with tenderness.
Who will love it
For readers who love Victorian poetry, stories woven with debate, and the history of ideas about women's education, independence and love.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A summer day frames a tale
- A prince promised to a vanished bride
- Three young men in women's dress
- Ida, her laws, and a disguise that fails
- What the poem argues about women and men
- A medley told by many voices
Who’s who
- The PrinceA gentle, stubborn young man, betrothed in childhood to Ida, who sets out in disguise to win her despite the law against men.
- Princess IdaA proud and brilliant princess who founds a women's college and swears off marriage, hoping to free women through learning.
- CyrilThe prince's lively, joking friend, who joins the disguise and is the least careful of the three.
- FlorianThe prince's friend, whose sister teaches at the college, and who goes with him into the forbidden place.
- Lady PsycheA warm and learned teacher at the college, who has a baby daughter and is Florian's sister.
- Lady BlancheA sharp, ambitious teacher at the college and mother of Melissa, who watches Ida's power with envy.
- King GamaIda's father, a nervous and sly king who cannot bring his daughter home and fears the prince's family.
- MelissaA gentle young student at the college and daughter of Lady Blanche, kind to those around her.
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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The Princess
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1847
A prince enters Ida's women's college in disguise, risking death to reach the princess promised to him.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A summer day frames a tale
The poem opens in a prologue on the estate of Sir Walter Vivian. It is a day of celebration, and the local people have been invited to the grounds. There are games, science demonstrations and tours of the house. Among the guests are a group of young men from a university and Sir Walter's son and daughters.
While they wander, the young people look over the family's old papers and find a record of an ancestress who once fought in a battle. This sets off a lively talk about women and what they can do. One of the young women, Lilia, speaks with spirit about how women might build their own college and have their own learning. The young men tease her, half in fun and half in earnest.
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What is The Princess by Tennyson about?
It tells of a prince promised in childhood to Princess Ida, who has founded a women's college and barred men from it. He enters in disguise. The poem weighs women's education against love and marriage.
Why is The Princess called a medley?
Tennyson gave it that subtitle because it mixes many things: fairy tale, comedy, battle, debate and songs. It is also told by a group of friends who take turns, each adding to the tale.
Is The Princess a feminist poem?
It is mixed. It treats women's learning with respect, which was bold in the 1840s, yet it also worries about what is lost when the sexes are kept apart. Readers still argue about how far Tennyson went.
The author
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1809–1892 · English Victorian poet
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) was an English poet born in Somersby, Lincolnshire. He later lived on the Isle of Wight and in Surrey. He wrote The Princess (1847), In Memoriam (1850), and Enoch Arden (1864). Idylls of the King appeared between 1859 and 1885. He became Poet Laureate in 1850.
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