Tennyson and Geology: Poetry and Poetics : WestminsterResearch

Publication dates
Title	Tennyson and Geology: Poetry and Poetics
Authors	Geric, M.
Abstract	This book offers new interpretations of Tennyson’s major poems along-side contemporary geology, and specifically Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology (1830-3). Employing various approaches, from close readings both poetic and geological texts, historical contextualisation and the application of Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism, this book demonstrates, not only the significance of geology for Tennyson’s poetry, but the vital import of Tennyson’s poetics in explicating the implications of geology for the nineteenth century and beyond. Gender ideologies in The Princess (1847) are read via High Miller’s geology, while Lyell’s writings are examined for their significance for In Memoriam’s (1851) form. Maud’s (1855) figuration of fossil remains is read along-side methods in comparative anatomy, while Bakhtinian theory is applied to In Memoriam and Maud to demonstrate Tennyson’s remarkable production of a Lyellian and ‘uniformitarian’ poetics. This book will appeal to students and scholars of literature and science, the history of science and of ideas and Bakhtin scholars.
Keywords	Tennyson
	geology
	fossils
	Lyell
	Miller
	language
Year	2018
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Published	18 Jan 2018
Place of publication	London
ISBN	9783319661094

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