377. DSC 101: Victorian Poetry (2)

1) Characteresitics of Victorian Poetry:

In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from June 1837 until her death on January 1901. The Poetry written in England during this phase is referred to as Victorian poetry. The most prolific and well- regarded poets of the age include Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Matthew Arnold.

The Victorian age was an age of material prosperity. The British Empire spread far and wide during the rule of Queen Victoria. Naturally, the Victorians became highly complacent. The age refers to contradictory qualities of the mind and the spirit. It was outwardly materialistic but inwardly also guided by a deep spiritual vitality. This period was marked by the tremendous cultural upheaval. There were a drastic change and development in the form of literature, art and music. Although the Victorian Poetry was quite different from that of the preceding era, yet there were some similarities that existed between the two periods.

Characteristics of Victorian Poetry:

1) Sensory Elements:

The most important and obvious characteristic of Victorian Poetry is the use of sensory elements. Most of the Victorian Poets used imagery and the senses to convey the scenes of struggles between Religion and Science, and ideas about Nature and Romance. This transported into the minds and hearts of the people of the Victorian age.

2) Realism:

The Victorian Poetry was quite realistic in nature and quite less idealised as compared to the Romanic Poets who were idealists and believed in Art for Art's Sake. Nature, that was everything for the Romantics lost that idealised position in the Victorian era and became just a source of leisure and inspiration for the poets.

3) Focus on Masses:

The Romantic Poetry mainly had focused on rural and rustic life. It was no way related to the city life. On the other hand, Victorian poets used language as well as themes common to the city life and thus wrote about the masses and for the masses.

4) Pessimism:

As already discussed, Victorians were quite realistic and thus were more

concerned about the reality rather than the ideal world. Due to Industrial revolution and advancement in science and technology, there was a drastic increase in the city population that gave rise to slums, poverty, unemployment, corruption,  diseases, deaths, etc. Thus, Victorian Poetry which focused on the pains and sufferings of commoners had a note of

pessimism.

5) Science and Technology:

The advancement in science and inventions was welcomed by the Victorian poets. It made them believe that a man can find all solutions to his problems and

sufferings. They made their readers believe that they should use science for their betterment.

6) Questioning God:

It was an important feature of Victorian poetry. The development of empirical science, rationalism and radicalism led the people to give up religious thoughts

and be more sceptic. Moreover, corruption in the Church, defining the morality of the Priests, etc also led the people to question the religious institutions.

7) A sense of Responsibility:

The Romantics believed in “return to nature”. A number of the Romantics did not like the city life and instead of giving voice to the victims of industrialisation, they left the city life. On the other hand, Victorian poets took the responsibility of social reform and gave voice to the commoners by living with them.

8) Morality:

Though morality saw a steep decline in Victorian Era, a number of poets tried to

retain it by encouraging the people to be honest and noble.

9) Interest in Medieval Myths and Folklore: The Victorians showed great favour towards Medieval Literature. They loved mythical and chivalrous anecdotes of Medieval Knights, Courtly Love, etc. This interest is on contrary to the Romantics as the latter loved classical myths and legends.

10) Sentimentality:

The Victorians wrote about artistic creations thus giving way to deeper imagination and sentimentality.

11) Humour:

A number of poets wrote humorous and whimsical verses. Victorian poetry employs more humour than the prior Romantic Period. Despite the whimsy,

in the Victorian Era, poetry and literature take a more harsh and utilitarian view of

nature and philosophy.

12) Style of Victorian Poetry:

Victorian form favored narrative and length over the short, lyric poems that were popular in Romantic poetry. They

emphasized less on imagery and instead they focused on meter and rhythm. Themes were much more realistic, identifying emotions such as isolation, despair and general pessimism.

2) Major Victorian Poets:

i) Alfred Lord Tennyson:

Tennyson is one of the most skilled and self-conscious poets of the Victorian age. He is typical Victorian who adopted the conventional religious, social views and values of his age. His early poems were not much accepted, but gradually he sharpened his skill. Tennyson's later poems are serious, thoughtful and musical. His poem "The Idylls of the King" is preferred by many people even today. In "Morte D Arthur" he turned Malory’s story into poetry. He did

experiment with different meters. In his long poem "In Memoriam" he laments for the death of his friend Arthur Hallam. Tennyson’s shorter poems are generally better than longer ones. "Ulysses" is his

most controlled and perfectly written poem which presents the heroic voice of the aged hero. "The Princess" is the collection of his fine lyric which shows his best mysterious and musical quality.

ii) Robert Browning:

Browning is a major Victorian poet who voiced the mood of optimism in his works. For Browning the intellect was more important than the music. His great knowledge was the

result of his self-study and travels. His reputation is higher as the writer of dramatic monologue. One of his successful dramatic poems is "Pippa Passes". We find many such poems in his dramas, but his natural gift was in poetry. Sometimes we notice his poetic style very difficult. It is because of his unusual knowledge of words and his strange sentence structure. Sordello is a good example of his difficult poem. "The Ring and the Book" is a poem based on a book that he found in Florence. "Asolando" is a collection of many fine poems which was published on the day of Browning death.

iii) Matthew Arnold:

Arnold was a great poet and critic of his time. He had been a professor of poetry in Oxford for ten years. His works truly represent his age. A sad undertone runs through nearly all his poetry. His views of modern life, of its complexity, its sick hurry and divided aims are present in his poetry.Arnold was also the headmaster of Rugby School. He wrote a poem entitled Rugby Chapel. "Thyrsis" is a poem of lament for his friend, Clough. In his poem "The Scholar Gipsy" the poet

talks about an Oxford man who joins a band of gypsies and wanders with them. "Memorial Verses" is his sad poem in which the poet laments for the deaths of many poets at home and abroad. He also

wrote a critical sonnet of Shakespeare, whom he praised too much. One of his other poems, "Empedocles on Etna," has been highly praised, perhaps because it is not altogether sad.

iv) Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

Rossetti was a poet as well as a noted painter. His sonnets are among the most musical in English. Many critics have accused him of writing a moral poems belonging to the Fleshy School of poetry. But he argued that poetry ought to be based on the senses. Many of his poetic lines are written in a way a painter’s eye captures the beauty of the thing. Rosseti wrote about nature with his eye on it, but did not feel it in his bones as Wordsworth does. Rossetti was too fond of alliteration.

v) Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

Another great poetess of this time was Elizabeth Barrett, who, on her marriage, became Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Some of her poems are too long, but in a sonnet

she could not write too much because the form is limited to fourteen lines. Thus much of her best work is contained in "Sonnets from the Portuguese." She pretended at first that these sonnets were

translated from the Portuguese; they were really an entirely original expression of her love for Robert Browning.

vi) Algernon Charles Swinburne: Swinburne followed the poetic style of Rossetti, but could not use alliteration so much successfully in his poems as did Rossetti. Critics argue that his poetry does not contain much thought, though it can be sung well. When his work "Poems and Ballads" appeared in 1866, he was much blamed for moral reasons. A later book of "Poems and Ballads" is not so much

offensive as the previous one. It shows his interest in French writers and includes the laments for them. "Tristram of Lyonesse" is usually considered to be his best work. It tells the undying story of Tristram and Iseult.

vii) Edward Fitzgerald:

One of the greatest poetic translators was Edward Fitzgerald. He translated

six of Calderon’s plays. Most translations lose something and are not as good as the originals. But this book is considered by some Persian scholars to be better than Omar Khayyam’s work. In his translation of the Rubaiyat, he entirely omitted the hidden meanings of the original.

viii) The other poets of this age are

Arthur Clough, and Christina Rossetti.