Lalla Rookh

lal'a-rook, the longest and most complete of the poetic works of Thomas Moore. It was published in 1817. It consists of four narrative poems, The Veiled Prophet, The Fire Worshipers, Paradise and the Peri, and The Light of the Harem. The four stories are represented as having been related to Lalla Rookh, an oriental princess, on her journey to meet her future husband. The story-teller, who, in the disguise of a minstrel, has helped to while away the tedium of the journey, proved to be the lover she is going to meet. Paradise and the Peri is the best of the four poems. The entire work is brilliant but somewhat wearisome. There is evidence of learning and of ingenuity on the part of the author. The versification is musical, and when considered in connection with the fact that Moore was a great favorite already, it is not to be wondered at that Lalla Rookh, this "confectionery composition," as it has been called, was applauded eagerly by the whole English world. For years it was regarded as a great work, and is still considered by many as unequaled by any other oriental poem in the English language. See Moore; Thomas