This book covers the whole of Tennyson's work, from the early poems, through the public poems of his mid-career, to the well-known later poems. The book's approach provides an awareness of the genius of Tennyson's use of language as well as the complexity of his sensibility. It draws on recent literary theories to substantiate T.S. Elliot's claim that Tennyson has three qualities which are seldom found together except in the greatest poets: abundance, variety, and complete competence.