Alfred Austin, The Poetry Of

Poetry is a fascinating use of language. With almost a million words at its command it is not surprising that these Isles have produced some of the most beautiful, moving and descriptive verse through the centuries. In this series we look at individual poets who have shaped and influenced their craft and cement their place in our heritage.

In this volume we look at the works of the Victorian Poet Laureate, Alfred Austin.

Born in Headingly, Yorkshire in 1835 Austin went on to graduate from the University of London in 1853. Training to be a barrister was a success but his love was literature and he turned to this full time as a novelist, playwright and poet. After several false starts he published as a poet in 1861, it arrived with a measure of success. In 1870 he wrote a book ‘Poetry Of The Period; which managed to criticise the great Victorian poets of Tennyson, Arnold, Swinburne and Browning without an undue measure of negativity.

With the death of Tennyson in 1892 a number of candidates were looked at for the post of Poet Laureate. Finally in 1896 after it was rejected by William Morris the post was Austin’s.

His work was entwined with his love of Nature and he is a fine example of this Imperial age. His poems have a softness, texture and comfort that is deeply rewarding.

Alfred Austin died in 1913.


Index of Poems
To England
Songs From Lucifer
Agatha
Song, A March Minstrel
An April Fool
An April Love
A Night In June
Give A November Note
Give Me October's Meditative Haze
December Matins
A Border Burn
A Captive Throstle
A Farewell To Youth
A Rare Guest
A Reply To A Pessimist
A Sleepless Night
A Voice From The West
A Wild Rose
At Her Grave
By The Fates
Celestial Heights
Free
Forgiveness
Gleaners Of Fame
How Florence Rings Her Bells
In Praise Of England
In Sutton Woods
Inflexible As Fate
Love’s Harvest
Love’s Unity
My Winter Rose
Primacy Of Mind
Resignation
Since We Must Die
Sorrow’s Importunity
Spartan Mothers
Spiritual Love
The Evening Light
The Mountains
The Passing Of The Century
The Silent Muse
Though All The World
Time’s Weariness
Too Late
Unseasonable Snows
Wardens Of The Wave
When Acorns Fall
When I Am Gone
Winter Violets