Alfred Lord Tennyson

In this series a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to some of the greatest poets in our literature.<br><br>Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92) was born in Somersby Lincolnshire the sixth of eleven children of a clergyman. After a childhood marked by trauma he went up to Cambridge in 1828 where he met Arthur Hallam whose premature death had a lasting influence on Tennysons life and writing. His two volumes of <b>Poems</b> (1842) established him as the leading poet of his generation and of the Victorian period. He was created Poet Laureate in 1850 and in 1883 accepted a peerage.