“Bloomluxuriance:” Compound Words in the Poetry of the 1830s and 1840s

Abstract

This article examines the use of compound words in the poetry of the 1830s and 40s in the light of contemporary theories about the origins and development of the English language. Focusing especially on the changes made by Tennyson to 'Oenone', it argues that compound words formed an integral part of a self-consciously radical and experimental poetics which was subsequently repudiated by the poets themselves in the pursuit of orthodoxy and respectability.