Once the most-read poets in English, Tennyson wrote poems that are not just Victorian artifacts. We’ll read several poems that are surprisingly modern—dealing with what a young idealist can do in a rapidly-changing, industrializing capitalist world, the seductions of that new world, difficult choices in a democracy that may be producing as many problems as it solves, and the spiritual crises provoked by modern science. The problems of 200 years ago are at the roots of today's controversies—and often don’t look that different.

Donna Richardson is Professor Emerita at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where she taught for over 30 years. Her favorite topics include British Romanticism, poetry of just about any era, and Russian literature.