John Kruse

Victorian Fairy Verse John Kruse

The Victorian era saw a peak of popular interest in fairies- in art, literature, popular entertainments and in children's books. Whilst there are several studies that examine Victorian fairy painting, that have been none that are devoted to the fairy poetry of the era. This book showcases the richness and complexity of this genre of nineteenth century verse. The book contains an introduction to the subject, followed by a brief survey of fairy poetry from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries- writers such as Drayton, Herrick and Blake. The fairy verse of the nineteenth century is then surveyed in themed chapters, which examine good and bad fairies, mermaids, Irish fairy verse, North American poetry and the twentieth century legacy of these writings. Each chapter includes a brief introduction, biographies of the poets and notes and discussion on each of the poems. Over eighty poets are included, from well-known names such as Ruskin, Tennyson and Rossetti to a host of much less well-known fairy writers. The author is a specialist in British fairy lore. He is author of 'British Fairies' (Green Magic Publishing, 2017) and writes the popular 'British fairies' blog. He has two books forthcoming with Llewellyn Worldwide, 'Faery' (2020) and 'Beyond Faery' (2021).