VICTORIAN POETS

Matthew Arnold Alfred, Lord Tennyson Elisabeth Barret Browning Christina Rossetti
(1822-1888) (1809-1892) (1806-1861) (1830-1894)

A sage writer, one of the fathers Succeeded Wordsworth as Poet
of Cultural Studies. The writer Laureate in 1850. His friend
instructs the reader about Arthur Hallam was his most
contemporary social issues. He immediate early critic. Universally
defined the Victorian period as popular, mourned as the “voice of
“unpoetic” due to the growing England.
prestige of the novel and rise of Also mocked by some
the Victorian realism making modernists.
Victorian poetry inadequate.
Arnold argued that in a scientific
Themes
Darwinian Victorian period,
Predominantly melancholic,
people turned to poetry “to many of his poems deal with
interpret life for us, to console us,
death-like states or death as a
to sustain us”. release. Considered a poet of
sadness and loss. Great
Themes musicality and primary interest in
Literature reflects society and feelings.
should present its values and Dramatises the struggle of Faith
concerns. and Doubt (Christianity and
human destiny).
Famous poet in both UK and the
USA during her lifetime, from the
age of 15. Her work influenced
reform in child labour legislation
and she campaigned for the
abolition of slavery. Suffered
great sickness for her entire adult
life. The poet Robert Browning
wrote to her as a fan ending up
marrying.
Themes
Feminist writer, passionate
reader of Wollstonecraft and
Aurora Leigh. Against the
stereotype of a submissive
daughter and wife (love and
sacrifice).
Christina Rossetti wrote from her
childhood and began
experimenting with verse forms
such as sonnets, hymns and
ballads while drawing narratives
from the Bible, folk tales and the
lives of saints. Ambivalent about
women’s suffrage but many have
found feminist themes in her
work. She opposed slavery in the
USA, cruelty to animals and
exploitation of girls in underage
prostitution.
Themes
Early pieces often meditate on
death and loss in the Romantic
tradition. She worked voluntarily
in a refuge for ex-prostitutes
(1859-1870). It is suggested that
Goblin Market may have been
inspired by "fallen women" she
came to know.

“Dover Beach” (1867) “In Memoriam A. H. H.” (1850) “How Do I Love Thee?” (1850) “In an Artist’s Studio” (1856,
Culture and Anarchy (1869) a “The Charge of the Light “A Man’s Requirements” (1838) published in 1896)
theoretical book where he is Brigade” (1854) “Goblin Market” (1862) “When I Am Dead My Dearest”
defending culture. (1848)
 VICTORIAN NOVELISTS

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) Emily Brontë (1818-1848) & Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)

Themes Themes Themes

Great Expectations (1861) Emily Brontë - Wuthering Heights (1847) The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre (1847)
 Romantic features Victorian features

● Absorbing both Neoclassical and Romantic literary

tradition: Victorians were highly conscious of its connections
V to their past and also perceived its role in shaping the future.
S

● Passion and revolution ● The idea of self-control (behaviour), uneasiness with

● Emotions, intuition, being spontaneous, revolt against
social conventions
● The idea of freedom: personality, sincerity, honesty, the
expression of the self.
passion (no emotionality), duty and reform
● Classical “decorum”, politeness and beauty.
● Realism, scepticism and a sense of responsibility:
highlighting social injustice.
● Domestic space of the middle-class home.
● Victorian respectability, and Victorian values.

● Nature, the power of nature, vastness, the idea of the ● Nature continues to inspire our Victorian poets but from a
sublime calm and melancholic point of view.
● Man’s natural innocence (“noble savage”)
● Rejection of civilization

● Focus on the past. ● The past and the present:

○ Tennyson’s In Memoriam A. H. H.
○ Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Aurora Leigh

● Religion: religious doubt and solid faith at the same time. ● Religion: religious doubt and solid faith at the same time

● Focus on the individual ● Focus on the ordinary life.

● The artist as a protagonist, a creative genius. ● Focus on the characters: a character is telling a story and a
● The power of imagination. speech that focuses on the character. → a dramatic
● Glamourous idea of taking drugs and committing suicide. monologue where a character is telling the story and a
speech that focuses on the character
 Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” (1867)

Introduction
Matthew Arnold was considered a sage writer and one of the fathers of Cultural Studies (Culture & Anarchy, 1869).
The victorian period had an unprecedented growth of literary works due to 1) spread of education, 2) emergence
of the middle classes 3) proliferation of more affordable reading materials. It was a period of rapid changes
and development. Double standards: great national success vs terrible circumstances of poverty. The writer
instructs about contemporary social issues. He defined the Victorian period as “unpoetic” due to the growing
prestige of the novel and rise of the Victorian realism making Victorian poetry inadequate. Arnold argued that in a
scientific Darwinian Victorian period, people turned to poetry “to interpret life for us, to console us, to sustain us”.
According to the author, literature reflects society and should present its values and concerns, profoundly
influenced by the Victorian era.

Body
This poem was supposedly written in 1851 during his honeymoon, shortly after Matthew Arnold’s marriage but it
was not published until 1867.
The main theme of the poem is the loss of faith and disenchantment with the world, not only in religious faith but
also in humanity and progress. It could be considered that foreshadows modernist literature. Other relevant
themes are alienation from nature and a different relationship with nature than the Romantics have. This piece
depicts a calm and maybe nostalgic picture using a peaceful semantic field (calm, tranquil bay), the setting is a
piece of land between the country and the sea (France-England), as a transitional point. The place in between
could be interpreted as a spiritual crisis due to new scientific and technological advances (The Origin of the
Species) during the Industrial revolution. An existential dilemma between embracing religion or science.
Suggests that the emergence of science created scepticism in the minds and hearts of people, causing
uncertainty and sadness as in the verse The eternal note of sadness in which emphasises melancholy and the
inevitable sense of loss. Considerable use of Christian imagery helps the audience to identify the loss of
spirituality, as far as we know he was deeply religious. This sense of failure is also transmitted by the use of
alliteration in Faith, full, folds, furled in the 3rd stanza. Through the use of repetition, he describes his
scepticism of progress: so various, so beautiful, so new. Furthermore, Nor certitude, nor peace, no help for pain
conveys that sense of uncertainty, as the reader is insignificant in this world.
Sophocles is an example of the appealing to the past, a writer of tragical endings emphasising pessimistic
perspective. Last two verses are meaningful where the author portrays the lack of answers from science.
The use of pathetic fallacy is similar to personification but you attribute human emotions to an inanimate thing.
The rhyme is very irregular, generally iambic but with many exceptions.
Apostrophe → addressing somebody that cannot answer (his wife) in the verse Ah, love, let us be true.
Thesis Statement→ This poem depicts the loss of fatih (spiritual crisis, humanity, progress) emerged from the
fast-paced development of the Victorian society (→ existential dilemma between religion and science) and the
alienation from nature (different relationship than Romantics have).
 Alfred, Lord Tennyson “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854)
Thesis Statement
Although the structure of the poem which
reminds of a medieval ballad suggests an epic
and heroic achievement, the writer uses the form
to emphasize a moral that needs to be learnt from
the defeat. Furthermore, the rhythm of this poem
conveys a critique of the boundlessness
obedience of the soldiers and their sense of duty
Introduction
Alfred Tennyson succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850. He was universally popular and
mourned as the “voice of England”, although it was also mocked by modernists. His friend Arthur Hallam
was his most immediate early critic (“In Memoriam A. H. H.” in 1850). Victorian era was a period of changes
and maximum expansion of the British Empire (1877, Empress of India). Double standards: great national
success vs terrible circumstances of poverty. The Origin of the Species and the theory of natural selection
provoked a sense of loss and uncertainty in Victorian society changing their minds. Rise of the novels and
Victorian realism. Tennyson is predominantly melancholic and many of his poems deal with death-like
states or with death as a release. His works depict great musicality and a primary interest in feelings. He
was also considered a poet of sadness and loss.
Body
This poem was written in 1854 as a reaction to the military disaster of the Battle of Balaclava where a
British brigade was sent to support Russian troops in the Crimean War (1854-56) against the Ottoman
Empire. The main themes of the poem are the sense of duty and courage until death. One interpretation
would be his critique of this blind obedience to power since there was scepticism in relation to the reason
why they were involved in this war, Russia wanted to expand and Ottoman forces threatened their trade
routes. The structure is associated with a ballad which was a historic form of poetry, often it was sung and
conveyed a moral. This form emphasizes the bravery of the soldiers as well as the educational point of
the defeat. One of the most relevant points of this poem is the meter built in dactylic dimeter such as in
Cannon to the right of them, / Cannon to the lft of them → the first syllable is stressed transmitting the effect
of the galloping horses riding towards their unavoidable fate (DUMdada, military rhythm?). The verse
Someone had blundered breaks the rhythm in purpose, draws attention to this blunder (a
misunderstanding that condemned them, they were not supposed to charge). The religious reference is
portrayed by the verse All in the valley of Death is an allusion to The Bible (Psalm 23) where King David
fought against Goliath emphasizing soldiers’ bravery in confronting a superior force. The poem is divided in
6 stanzas focused on order and the obedience of the brigade as it is reflected at the end of each
paragraph, repeating Rode the six hundred. Even though he uses very ambiguous language, many
scholars agree that this is a critique and not just an ode to the battle. All the world wondered →
questioning again the senselessness of their participation in the contest.
A criticism towards both: against upper classes and blind obedience → Victorian values & duty, for
instance, emphasize in these verses with anaphora: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, /
Theirs but to do and die. Recording of Tennyson reading the poem → he increases the pace as he
progresses as a kind of galloping towards the end. Another interpretation, it reflects the falling of the
leading them to a suicidal mission.
Thesis Statement → ?
soldiers in the battle.
Elisabeth Barret Browning “How Do I Love Thee?” (1850)
Introduction
E. Barret Browning was a very successful poet in both the UK and the USA during her lifetime, from the age of 15.
Her work influenced reform in child labour legislation and she campaigned for the abolition of slavery. Suffered
great sickness for her entire adult life. The poet Robert Browning wrote to her as a fan ending up marrying. As a
feminist writer, and passionate reader of Wollstonecraft and Aurora Leigh. Against the stereotype of a submissive
daughter and wife (love and sacrifice). The Victorian era was a period of changes and maximum expansion of the
British Empire (1877, Empress of India). Double standards: great national success vs terrible circumstances of
poverty. The Origin of the Species and the theory of natural selection provoked a sense of loss and uncertainty in
Victorian society changing their minds. Men and women have completely separated spheres but the rise of
education encouraged women to claim their rights. Rise of the novels and Victorian realism.
Body
This poem was written in 1850 as an apostrophe directed, traditionally suspected, to Robert Browning who will
become his husband. The structure of the poem is a sonnet that could be divided into 2 parts due to its rhyme: an
octet (ABBA-ABBA) and a sextet (CDCDCD). In terms of theme, the writer describes the quality of true love and
its spiritual and rational nature. The first 8 lines of the piece portray spiritual love through metaphors of God
reflected in words such as soul and grace contraposing scientific language such as sight. Increases the power of
love through I love thee to the level of every day’s / Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight meaning from birth to
death, until older ages. Victorian values such as duty and modesty are enhanced through two riveting similes in
the verses I love thee freely, as men strive for right. / I love the purely, as they turn from praise. On top of that, the
anaphora of these verses emphasize her love and Victorian values, I love thee x 3.
There is a turn in the final sextet which makes a comparison between the intensity of her feelings to the feelings of
her childhood. It conveys a kind of loss of her faith and the desire to find it again in order to love purely → faith vs
adulthood and death. She exerts her rational knowledge associated with spiritual language. The allusion to passion
could be interpreted as a reference to the passion of Christ which is highly related to pain and suffering (Greek
etymology meaning suffering). In the verse In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith probably she is referring
to her illness and to her crisis of faith which was a general suffering in Victorian society due to scientific
advances such as the Theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. It is reinforced the loss of faith with more
intensity throughout the use of enjambment in the verses I love thee with a love I seemed to lose / With my lost
saints. The poem concludes by transmitting a regain of faith and depicting a profound spiritual love writing
that she will love him even more in the afterlife.

Christina Rossetti “In an Artist’s studio?” (1856, published in 1896)
Thesis Statement →
Rossetti’s poem is a critique of the
idealised image of women that
Pre-Raphaelite artists conveyed as
beautiful or angelic beings and the
objectification of women as objects of
desire.
Clichés → woman as moon and
joyful
Thesis Statement → true romantic love and spiritual faith
Introduction
Christina Rossetti wrote from her childhood and began experimenting with verse forms such as sonnets, hymns
and ballads while drawing narratives from the Bible, folk tales and the lives of saints. Her early pieces often
meditate on death and loss in the Romantic tradition. Rossetti worked voluntarily in a refuge for ex-prostitutes
(1859-1870). It is suggested that Goblin Market may have been inspired by "fallen women" she came to know.
Ambivalent about women’s suffrage but many have found feminist themes in her work. She opposed slavery in the
USA, cruelty to animals and exploitation of girls in underage prostitution. The Victorian era was a period of
changes and double standards: great national success vs terrible circumstances of poverty. The Origin of the
Species and the theory of natural selection provoked a sense of loss and uncertainty in Victorian society. Men
and women have completely separated spheres but the rise of education encouraged women to claim their rights.
Morality vs depravity. His brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a Pre-Raphaelite painter → women were depicted
as vulnerable, usually suffering women who were beautiful but delicate at the same time. Most of them verge on
death.
Body
This poem is a sonnet which was written in 1856 and it is seen as a critical reflection on the artistic movement of
her brother Dante, Pre-Raphaelite art which tend to objectify females representing them as angels, saints and
queens, idealised views of beauty that are not realistic at all. A sonnet is usually written about love, a man writes
about a woman, an unrequited love. However, the writer uses this form to criticise the objectification of women by
the artist, following a pattern → idealised way of beauty (in reality, the muse is full of sorrow).
Themes: the reality is greater than art, objectification of women in art. Female beauty is idealised vs the reality of a
woman who is sad. → Criticism of the Victorian system of patriarchy.
1st (ABBA-ABBA) part: description of the muse. The poem starts describing the scene and the muse of the
artist. We found her behind those screens as there was something hidden. The Petrarchan sonnet’s rhyme per se
can be repetitious (ABBA-ABBA-CDCDCD), therefore, the anaphoras that are found in the text serve to underline
this effect and highlight the sense of the representation of a pattern (the object of desire), such as in verses 5, 6
and 7 where all of them start with A, listing superficial qualities.
2nd (CDCDCD - slant rhyme, iambic pentameter) a critique of the objectification of the women, the object of
desire of the male artist. There is a shift in this second part, the focus on the muse changes to another perspective.
It is not necessary a “however” since the sonnet structure implies this movement. The obsession of the artist is
portrayed by several repetitions in the whole work such as alliterations in the verse He feeds upon her face by day
 and night. On top of that, the verb feeds conveys a cannibalistic meaning maybe suggesting that the painter is like
a vampire wanting to possess her. Rossetti's key message appears in the last three verses, which convey that the
muse is not represented by the artist as she really is, something emphasised not only by the anaphora Not ... / Not
... / Not ... but also by the caesura, which reinforces that she is not at all what he has painted.

Charles Dickens Great Expectations (1861) - 1

Introduction
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was a very prolific writer whose works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime.
He’s considered one of the finest writers of the Victorian period and his works continue to inspire adaptations in different
artistic genres. The writer's father was imprisoned for debt and this situation left a mental scar of shame and humiliation.
His themes are characteristic of lost and abused children. Dickens set many of his works in London. Sometimes critised for
his sentimentality. The victorian period had an unprecedented growth of literary works due to 1) spread of education, 2)
emergence of the middle classes 3) proliferation of more affordable reading materials. Growing prestige of the novel and
rise of the Victorian realism. It was a period of rapid changes and development, Industrial Revolution leading to a explosion
of population. Double standards: great national success vs terrible circumstances of poverty. The writer instructs about
contemporary social issues. The Origin of the Species and the theory of natural selection provoked a sense of loss and
uncertainty in Victorian society. Morality vs depravity.

Theme → benevolence, childhood, prisons, law, social class, wealth

The novel is a bildungsroman (the search for “self” or identity, as in Oliver Twist) in which Pit, the protagonist, is trying to
succeed in society. It is not a crime novel but there is a mystery to be solved: who is the benefactor? Some Gothic elements
are depicted in the book such as the castle, the idea of the frozen bride and the femme fatale. The novel clearly conveys its
didactic purpose since it wants to educate the reader about people who care about you are more valuable than people with
money and power (position).
Thesis Statement

What do we expect from gentlemen? politeness, recpectability, good manners, well-dressed. Consequently, it is related to
social class since without money it was difficult to acquire knowledge and manners. It was not affordable for the whole of
society. The notion of a gentleman is slowly being critised, the moral of the novel is that to be a true gentleman means to be
kind with others. Therefore, the real gentleman is Joe since his kindness and and politeness are paramount in the story.
Dickens portrays wealth, power, pride and ambition as treats that dehumanise individuals and society.

Great Expectations. Because of the Industrial Revolution, people from the lower classes started to think about upward
mobility, so it could be a depiction of social expectations. The novel is also about how we define success and happiness or
thriving in life as well as expectations of marriage.
Crime, law & prisons. Dickens was very critical of the the legal system and also of the British prisons. The legal system was
overcrowded and people were treated like animals. He also mentions metaphorical prisons as it could be social class. Death
penalty was widely used and criminals were often shipped abroad to the colonies (Australia) → like a wicked Noah’s ark,
treated like animals. Lawyer is a recurrent character in his works, probably due to its personal experience with them.

Charles Dickens Great Expectations (1861) - 2

Female characters. Female characters are found in domestic spheres. Husband and wife occupied separate spheres which
complemented each other. In Victorian society, values, moral and religious guides came from men. Bitty is the only female
character which fits in the idea of Victorian values. Stella is also confined in certain moments for her femininity but she has a
strong character that does not fit in the femininity of these values. Ms Havisham does not fit as well since she is not caring
about her home in an appropriate way.

Femme fatale. Estella could be considered as a manipulative femme fatale rather than a virtuous angel in the house.
However, she is also manipulated by Ms Havisham. It could be considered that Estella is objectificated by Ms Havisham who
uses her adoptive daughter for revenge against men.

Literary Criticism of Great Expectations

- Marxist Criticism → Critizing of social class
- Feminist Criticism → Estella as a femme fatale
- Postcolonial Criticism → importance of Australia as a penal colony
 Brontë Sisters
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847)
● a female bildungsroman → focuses on the psychological and
moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood
○ novel of development
○ from childhood and innocence to maturity and experience
○ Jane Eyre opposite of Victorian passivity and meekness.
● a kind of first person autobiography:
○ orphan heroine suffers, and triumphs
● opposes the misuses of authority → an aunt, a clergyman, an
employer, an admirer (St John Rivers)
● Mr Rochester, a Byronic hero could be compared to Heathcliff
● puts conscience before love
● Gothic elements:
○ nightmarish red room in Aunt Reed’s house
○ Jane’s Byronic master and his mad creole wife (Bertha)
○ foiled bigamy and Jane’s surprise legacy
○ telepathic call across de wall
○ blazing firein Thornfield Hall (kind of a castle)
● Brontë’s life was “gothic”:
○ 2 sister died of illnes at boarding school
○ strict father who kept to himself, lonely personage
○ brother with financial problems (opium).
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)
● Emotions and passions (vs. Dickens, George Eliot → society)
○ Critics of the time thought there is an excess of emotions. In
Great Expectations the focus is on cruelty of society (moral
message, be kind) whereas in Wuthering HEights the focus is
on characters description and development.
● Influences: Lord Byron (Bryronic hero) and William Wordsworth (focus
on nature).
● Heathcliff, no as Byronic hero as Mr Rochester.
● Complexity of narration
● Example of Victorian Gothic
● Emotional extremism (Rom) + realism (Vic), but first considered
morbid and violent.
● Romantic elements → Gothic elements in the movie:
○ the location and the use of light
○ tragic ending
○ romantic love
○ Byronic hero, Heath cliff
○ the representation of the landscape
● Victorian elements:
○ Catherine’s marriage (with Edgar Linton) → social and
economic stability, social conventions and social class.
○ Victorian gender roles → Edgar’s roles
○ Orphanates → associated with Victorian period, appeared in
orer to support society.
 Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

Introduction
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was a very prolific Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, poet and critic.
● Aesthetic movement → should not convey a moral, sentimental or educational message but should give you
personal pleasure. → Art for Art’s sake.

● happy ending, but prejudices and manners of Victorian society are strongly fixed
● a play of identities are key in to the story what it is seen as a critique of heteronormativity

Dandy
● No moral convictions
● Egocentric → you present yourself as a work of art → yourself as a performance
● Beyond the binary male/female → kind of androgenic being
Victorian Chronology
● 1497-1763 → 1st British Empire → slave trade
● 19th century → 2nd British Empire → colonialism
● 1756-1762 → Seven Years’ War → (British vs French)
● 1776 → American Independence
● 1789 → French Revolution
● 1806 → Elisabeth Barret Browning’s birth
● 1807 → Abolishment of the slave trade
● 1809 → Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s birth
● 1812 → Charles Dickens’ birth
● 1816 → Charlotte Brontë’s birth
● 1818 → Emily Brontë’s birth
● 1822 → Matthew Arnold’s birth
● 1830 → Christina Rossetti’s birth
● 1832 → Great Reform Bill of 1832 → wider vote
● 1837-1901 → Reign of Queen Victoria
● 1847 → Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
● 1847 → Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
● 1848 → Emily Brontë’s death
● 1848 → Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels, a
catalyst for political changes and the creation of social class
● 1850 → Elisabeth Barret Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee?
● 1851 → Great Exhibition
● 1854-56 → Crimean War (against Russia)
● 1854 → Oscar Wilde’s birth
● 1854 → Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light
Brigade”
● 1856 → Christina Rossetti’s “In an Artist’s Studio”, but
published in 1896.
● 1855 → Charlotte Brontë’s death
● 1859 → Darwin’s Origin of the Species → from the
idealism of the Romantics to a more empirical worldview
● 1861 → Elisabeth Barret Browning’s birth
● 1861 → Charles Dickens published Great Expectations.
● 1867 → Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach”
● 1870 → Charles Dickens’ death
● 1877 → Queen Victoria was named Empress of India →
culminating the idea of British Empire.
● 1888 → Matthew Arnold’s death
● 1892 → Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s death
● 1895 → Oscar Wilde’s The importance of being Earnest.
● 1894 → Christina Rossetti’s death
● 1896 → Christina Rossetti’s “In an Artist’s Studio” is
published after 40 years.
● 1900 → Oscar Wilde’s death