Festus is a dramatic narrative poem written by Philip James Bailey, first published in 1839. Instead of adhering to a traditional linear plot structure, the work presents a series of loosely connected episodes, dialogues, and encounters that collectively form the spiritual and philosophical journey of its central character, Festus. Festus embarks on a metaphysical journey through various realms and encounters a wide array of allegorical and mythological figures, representing different facets of human experience, morality, and the eternal struggle between good and evil. Through his interactions with these characters, Festus engages in discussions on topics such as love, death, faith, and the nature of reality. Lucifer is a constant presence on the protagonist’s journey. His interactions with Festus serve as a means of exploring the conflict between good and evil, as well as the challenges and choices that individuals face in their pursuit of enlightenment; he represents the adversarial force that seeks to divert Festus from his path, tempting him with worldly pleasures, doubts, and distractions. Festus was extremely popular in its day, and greatly admired by contemporary poets like Tennyson and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It went through various editions over the years as Bailey continued appending verbatim extracts from his later, less popular poems, until the final edition of 1889 ran over 40,000 lines. This Standard Ebooks edition is based on the 1845 first American edition, which is the last edition to contain material wholly original to Festus. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

This is the epic poem that launched the career of poet Philip James Bailey. A sprawling work that draws on Biblical themes and mythology, Festus tells the story of the eponymous character's search for truth and redemption. With beautiful language and powerful imagery, Bailey creates a work that is both moving and thought-provoking, and has earned a place as one of the great works of English poetry. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1872. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.

Philip James Bailey (1816-1902) is best known for Festus, a work that took him three years to write and which was published when Bailey was 23. It was admired by Tennyson and described as "a vast pageant of theology and philosophy, comprising in some twelve divisions an attempt to represent the relation of God to man and of man to God."