Pre-Raphaelites and Their Circle

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 &quote;Monna Innominata,&quote; William Morris's &quote;Defence of Guenevere,&quote; Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon, and Meredith's &quote;Modern Love.&quote; 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, &quote;The Leper&quote; and &quote;Anactoria,&quote; for Fitzgerald's The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. These poems, which the editor describes as &quote;shocking,&quote; 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.