The text of In Memoriam reprinted in this Norton Critical Edition is that of the Eversley Edition of Tennyson's Works, published in 1907-8, edited by the poet's son, Hallam, Lord Tennyson, and annotated by Tennyson himself. The Criticism section offers a variety of more recent commentary on such matters as the relationship of In Memoriam to mid-Victorian science; Tennyson's struggles with religious faith and doubt; the poet's aesthetic creed; and...
On this date in 1595, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was first performed (not officially published until 1597). Although the renowned tragedy was by no means the first literary story of doomed love, it coined the phrase "star-cross'd lovers" and continues to inspire heartbreaking sagas even today.