Francis Turner Palgrave is remembered today for his Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language (1861), one of the best-known and loved anthologies in English. In his own time, however, he was known also as a controversial critic of art and literature; a close friend and follower of Alfred, Lord Tennyson; and a poet in his own right. The twentieth century has overlooked Palgrave's original work, preferring his presentation of the works of others, yet Palgrave's criticism was widely respected by his peers, and his poetry shows his desire to experiment with many styles and forms of the lyric.

Born in Great Yarmouth, Palgrave was brought up in London, where his father, the medieval historian Sir Francis Palgrave, worked at setting up the Public Record Office. Although Sir Francis raised his four boys as Anglo-Catholics, he had been born Francis Cohen, becoming a...