Characteristics of Victorian Poetry or Tennyson Age Poetry aka

Later 19th Century Poetry

erses typical of Queen Victoria reign make up the Victorian Poetry.
Accordingly, the characteristics of Victorian Poetry borrow socio-
economic changes under the reign of Queen Victoria and also the
preceding Romantic Age poetry. The literature of this age voices
the strong opinions of Mathew Arnold, Robert Browning, Lord
Tennyson and likes of notable poets. Victorian Poetry era (1830-
1901) succeeded the Romantic era.The Victorian Poetry showcases
the new awareness among the intellectuals and expresses the need
of its age. Some characteristics of Victorian Poetry are an extension
of Romantic Poetry. However, the contemporary intellectual
developments, economic changes and religious revolts made up
for a large part of Victorian poetry.

The Main Characteristics of Victorian Poetry

From ‘Idealism to Realism’ is the prominent differentiator of
Victorian Poetry while, other characteristics include: mass concerns,
morality, challenging authority, questioning God etc. In all, these
features had bearing of industrialization and advancement of
science & Tech.

The Realism
The Victorian Poets were quite realistic and had less idealized view
of nature in contrast to Romanic Poets who were idealists and
believed in Art for the Art Sake. The ‘nature’ in Victorian poetry
lost its idealize position accorded in the Romantic Age. Factually, in
the Tennyson age, Nature dwindled to a source of leisure and
inspiration for the poets. And, that nature was not paramount as

subject for poets. Tennyson himself was less a romantic poet and
more a Victorian- a bridge to Romanticism & Victorian.

Conflict Between Religion & Science

The most remarkable characteristics of Victorian poetry is its
conflict between religion and science. It was a byproduct of the
intellectual developments of this age. The leading poets of this age
reacted to this religious skepticism through their works. Robert
Browning attempted to criticize religion in his poems like ‘Fra
Lippo Lippi’. He also questioned the demands of the church that
go against human nature.Similarly, When Tennyson wrote ‘In
Memoriam’ (1850), he raised many questions on life and death. The
scientific approach to nature and human became a central theme in
Victorian Poetry. Arnold’s poem ‘Dover Beach’ (1867), also
addresses the eroding religious faith of the time.

Showing the Responsibility

You would see Victorian poetry as the object of displaying the rural
and rustic life. Poets raised voice for indiscrimination against the
commoner masses that was done due to industrialization. Victorian
poets took a stand of social reform.

Use of Sensory Elements

In the preceding era poets, they used the imagery vividly. However,
Victorian poets also used imagery and senses to convey the chaos or
struggle between Religion and Science, and ideas about Nature and
Romance.

Lord Alfred Tennyson prominently used the sensory and Imagery

elements in his poems. One notable example in Tennyson’s poem
“Mariana”, he writes- The doors upon their hinges creaked; / The blue fly
sung in the Pane; the mouse / Behind the moldering wainscot shrieked.

These images of the creaking door, the blue fly singing in the window,
and the mouse with the moldy wood paneling, all work together show a
very definite image of an active, yet lonely farmhouse.

Pessimism- Integral to Victorian Poetry

Victorian poets understood the misery that industrial Revolution had
brought about in the society. Thus, Victorian poetry became object and
real; in terms of displaying the urban life. The poets wrote on isolation,
despair, doubt and general pessimism that surrounded the era.On the
surface, Victorians seemed to enjoy the wealth and prosperity but the
feelings of uncertainty, Cynicism and self-doubt very much reflects in the
poems of this age. The issue of psychological isolation is common in
almost all the great poems of the Victorian Era.

Tennyson’s poem, ‘Locksley Hall’ (1842) is about the restless “young

England”. Mathew Arnold explored the “strange disease of modern life”
and the loneliness of modern-age men in his poem ‘The Scholar-Gipsy’
(1853). In ‘The City of Dreadful Night’, Arthur Hugh Clough deals with
the note of Insomnia and Pessimism.

Interest in Medieval Fables and Legends

You can mark Victorian Poetry with medieval legends and fables. Just as
the Pre-Raphaelites attempted to restore the essence of medieval art in
their poems, poets like Tennyson, William Morris and Swinburne wrote
poetry on Arthurian legends of the Medieval Age.

Tennyson’s ‘Idylls of King Arthur’ (1859-1889) was a series of four

books that were centered on King Arthur and the Round Table. In his
other works such as ‘Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere’, ‘Sir Galahad’,
and ‘Morte d’ Arthur’, Tennyson explored the vision of Medieval quests
and tales.

Swinburne idealized Medievalism in his works as the golden Age of

tragic love and Tragic Heroism. It is noteworthy that Victorian poets went
back to Medievalism not as escapists but in order to redirect it to the
contemporary developments in politics, literature and art.

Sentimentality

Another one of the most important characteristics of Victorian poetry is

sentimentality. The Victorians wrote about artistic creations thus giving
way to deeper imaginations. Poets like Alfred Tennyson, Emily Bronte
prominently used the element of sentimentality in their poems.
Development of Dramatic Monologue

Though the Victorians used medieval settings, forms and themes, many
other forms of poetry also held prominence during the Victorian Era. The
dramatic monologue became one of the most popular gifts of Victorian
Poetry to English Literature.

Through works such as Alfred Tennyson’s “Ulysses’ (1842), ‘St Simeon

Stylites’ (1842) and Mathew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach’ & ‘Stanzas from
the Grand Chartreuse’ the monologue seems having gained.

Robert Browning popularized dramatic monologue in most of his works

such as ‘My Last Duchess’, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, ‘Soliloquy of the
Spanish Cloister’, ‘Men and Women’ and such others. These poems were
published in Browning’s ‘Dramatic Lyrics’ in 1842.

Apart from the famous dramatic monologue, the Victorian poets also
explored Sonnets, Epics, Elegies and Ballads. In this way, the Victorian
poetry is the direct outcome of the Prevailing socio-economic, political
and literary activities of the time.

Victorian Poetry in conclusion

Victorian Poetry is marked by its own distinct features. This poetry

evolved during the reign of Queen Victoria and although it assimilated
some of the attributes of Romantic Poetry and era but has clear
distinctions.. Instead, being idealistic, the Victorian Poets were highly
realistic in their poetic approach.

While, the Romantic poets revered the nature in an idealistic and

romantic light in their works, the Victorians had influence of scientific
and technological discoveries. Essentially, Romantic era (1800- 1837) )
was movement of being intellectual and artistic and hence their literature
had emotional and aesthetic value in high proportions.

Era of Victorian poetry is believed to span over 1830- 1901 during which
Industrial revolution took place. Hence, the authors & poets of this era
took to realistic portrayal of life. Nature was also one of the pillars of
Victorian poetry but portrayal of it was realistic and social issues
abounded their works.