The Testament of Beauty

Summary

The Testament of Beauty was Bridges’ last work and was first published in 1929. It is a long poem in four books: 1) Introduction 2) Selfhood 3) Breed 4) Ethick The poem describes a spiritual journey in which the author seeks to resolve philosophical and metaphysical issues raised in his earlier works, particularly in the sonnet sequence, The Growth of Love (1876, 1889, 1898). It is written in an unrhymed style that Bridges described as “loose alexandrines”, which are constructed on the basis of syllables rather than accents, a metrical structure developed by the author himself. The work reflects Bridges’ deep Christian faith and his interest in hymnody. Another notable feature is Bridges’ idiosyncratic approach to the spelling of English.