The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Circle (A Phoenix Book)

By Cecil Y. Lang

Book Overview

This useful volume presents the major works of the five leading Pre-Raphaelite poets. Foremost in the collection, and included in their entirety are D. G. Rossetti's The House of Life, C. G. Rossetti's "Monna Innominata," William Morris's "Defence of Guenevere," Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon, and Meredith's "Modern Love." Complementing these major poems is a fine, generous selection of the poets' shorter pieces that are typical of their work as a whole. For this second edition, Cecil Lang has substituted two early Swinburne poems, "The Leper" and "Anactoria," for Fitzgerald's The Rub iy t of Omar Khayy m. These poems, which the editor describes as "shocking," show a new aspect of Swinburne not discussed previously.

Lang's Introduction describes briefly the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, discusses each of the Pre-Raphaelite poets, both individually and in relation to the others, and grapples with the questions of definition of Pre-Raphaelitism and the similarities between its painting and poetry. The book is appropriately illustrated with thirty-two works by D. G. Rossetti, John Ruskin, William H. Hunt, and other Pre-Raphaelite artists.

This is the only anthology available that provides a representative selection of the work of these important poets. It will be indispensable to students of Victorian poetry and appreciated by readers interested in the Pre-Raphaelites.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226468666
• ISBN13: 9780226468662
• Release Date: September 1975
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 571 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

the best in its field

I have been using this book in my course on Victorian pictures and writing for over twenty years. It is exceptional in the extensiveness of its contents, the accuracy of its texts, and the suggestive richness of its notes. This is one of the finest anthologies of mid-Victorian poetry now available.