Tales 1812 and Selected Poems

This 1967 book aims to provide the student and general reader with a large selection of Crabbe's poems. It includes all of the Tales of 1812, two-thirds of The Parish Register and nearly half of The Borough, besides other poems - in all, a good third of Crabbe's prolific work. The introduction offers the reader a survey of Crabbe's life and his varied poems, and takes issue with persistent prejudices about Crabbe. It traces his relationship to the Romantic Age in which he wrote most of his work, takes up moral and social elements in his writing, and raises a number of critical discussions. A bibliography and chronology of Crabbe's life are included, with a selection of Crabbe's own notes to the poems. Before this book was published, the lack of a generous selection of Crabbe's work has largely excluded him from study. This volume addresses this dearth.