The Poetry of Sidney A Alexander

The Poetry of Sidney A. Alexander rescues from oblivion the works, largely unpublished, of a Victorian poet who abandoned his nascent literary ambitions. Alexander (1866-1948) won the prestigious Newdigate Prize for poetry at Oxford, and began to place his poetry in periodicals. His last appearance in those was in 1891, after which he began a rise in the Anglican Church that led to prominence, if not fame. The works in this edition, mostly unpublished, come from a notebook where Alexander transcribed fair copies of his work. Though the juvenilia may be of little interest, Alexander’s sensibilities and capabilities as a poet do develop, and his later works, especially the narrative poems, have a certain power. His works will interest especially those drawn to Victorian religious poetry. The poems are presented as scans of Alexander’s holograph transcriptions accompanied by a typescript transcription and explanatory notes. The last pages of the notebook offer the evidence for Alexander’s contemplating a more sustained poetical career. The editorial matter includes a biographical sketch of Alexander and, in the appendices, his Newdigate poem, an unrecorded printing of a St. Paul’s prize poem, and several works from much later in his career.