Tennyson's historical trilogy

This thesis purports to expand substantially upon the only extended treatment of Tennyson's historical trilogy, a thesis written for the University of Amsterdam in 1929. The first three chapters of the present thesis treat Queen Mary, Harold, and Becket in turn. The critical response to the publication of each play is examined, the production history of each play is studied, and reviews by drama critics are surveyed. A sketch of Tennyson's life during the writing of each play begins the respective chapters. The fourth chapter is composed of two sub-chapters. The first begins with a survey of the more important, general depreciations of Tennyson's drama written during the last seventy years. In the critical essays on each play that follow, the particular dramatic deficiencies that prompted the foregoing condemnations are pointed out. A survey of general approbative essays begins the second sub-chapter, and this is followed by essays on the particular aspects of each play that elicited the foregoing appreciations