The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Circle

This volume presents the major works of the five leading Pre-Raphaelite poets. Foremost in the collection, & included in their entirety are D.G. Rossetti’s The House of Life, C.G. Rossetti’s “Monna Innominata,” Wm Morris’s “Defence of Guenevere,” Swinburne’s Atalanta in Calydon & Meredith’s “Modern Love.” Complementing these major poems is a generous selection of the poets’ shorter pieces typical of their work as a whole. For this 2nd edition, Lang has substituted two early Swinburne poems, “The Leper” & “Anactoria,” for Fitzgerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. These poems, which the editor thinks shocking, show a new aspect of Swinburne not discussed previously. The Introduction describes briefly the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, discusses each of the poets, both individually & in relation to the others, & grapples with the questions of definition of Pre-Raphaelitism & the similarities between its painting & poetry. The book is illustrated with 32 works by D.G. Rossetti, John Ruskin, Wm H. Hunt & other Pre-Raphaelite artists. This anthology provides a representative selection of the work of these poets. It will be indispensable to students of Victorian poetry & appreciated by all interested in the Pre-Raphaelites.