11 h 46 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 46 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A woman waits in a moated house, sailors drift toward sleep, and an old king refuses to rest.
The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson gathers verse from the 1820s and 1830s, exploring loss, longing, and noble thought. Here, a young poet tests old stories and finds his own voice. In Mariana, a lonely woman waits for a man who does not come; her enclosed world gives longing a place and shape.
The Lotos-Eaters draws on Homer's Odyssey, while Ulysses gives voice to the restless king of Ithaca after his long wanderings. Across these poems, beautiful sounds and sharp pictures carry questions of duty, loss, and the pull of the past. Grief for Tennyson's close friend Arthur Hallam also colors the early verse, even where his name never appears.
What you’ll discover
- Rooms filled with longing Enter Mariana's moated world, where waiting becomes a feeling you can almost see.
- The spell of sound Follow the sailors of The Lotos-Eaters into an island scene heavy with drowsiness.
- A king still restless Meet Ulysses, whose long wanderings leave him unable to settle into rest.
- Grief beneath the images Discover how loss and doubt give these richly pictured poems their emotional weight.
- Verse worth speaking aloud Read the lines aloud and hear how Tennyson makes poetry work like music.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy melodic verse, Arthurian legend, Greek myth and quiet English landscapes will love this collection. It also suits admirers of Keats and Coleridge and anyone curious about poetic craft.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- One voice grows across three stages
- Quiet years become years of rebuilding
- Repeated cries give loneliness a rhythm
- Shadows cannot keep life outside
- Ancient tales weigh ways to live
- Isolation puts the mind on trial
- Ordinary scenes hold love and loyalty
- Short forms make feeling plain
- A poet makes himself through revision
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The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson
Mariana waits in a moated grange, Ulysses sails for the sunset, and a Lady weaves shadows at Shalott.
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In short
What if a young poet's first books were so flawed that he fell silent for nine years, then rebuilt them line by line? That is the story behind this collection of the poems Alfred, Lord Tennyson published in 1830 and 1832, with the two volumes of 1842 that made his name.
The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 5 min5 h 35 min fast, 8 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 100,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Three periods of work meet in one book
The poems come from three stages of Tennyson's life. Some he wrote as a boy and published in 1830. Some belong to early manhood and appeared at the end of 1832. The rest he wrote between thirty-one and thirty-four, and they reached print in 1842.
The first book held fifty-six pieces, among them Claribel, Mariana and The Kraken. The second held thirty, including The Lady of Shalott and The Lotos Eaters. In 1842 came Morte d'Arthur, Ulysses, Locksley Hall and Sir Galahad.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 40 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Tennyson, Alfred. The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-early-poems-of-alfred-lord-tennyson.
Tennyson, A. (2026). The early poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-early-poems-of-alfred-lord-tennyson
Tennyson, Alfred. The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-early-poems-of-alfred-lord-tennyson.
@book{tennyson2026early,
author = {Tennyson, Alfred},
title = {The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-early-poems-of-alfred-lord-tennyson}
}
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What are Tennyson's early poems about?
They cover love, loneliness, grief, duty and the pull between pleasure and purpose. Some retell Greek myths and Arthurian tales, some paint English country life, and many are short songs and portraits built on mood, image and sound.
Who is Mariana in Tennyson's poem?
Mariana is a woman waiting in a crumbling moated grange for a lover who does not come. The idea comes from a line in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, and Tennyson gave her a second poem, Mariana in the South.
What is The Lotos Eaters about?
It is based on the Odyssey. Sailors reach a land of endless afternoon where the people give them lotos fruit. The poem sets the pull of rest and forgetfulness against the call of home and effort.
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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