VICTORIAN POETRY

POETRY WAS A LUCRATIVE LITERARY

ENTERPRISE DURING THE VICTORI-

AN AGE, OFTEN SELLING AS WELL

AS THE BEST-SELLING FICTION.

VICTORIAN POETRY (cont.)

POETRY MATTERED, AND LONG

NAR-RATIVE POEMS WERE

PARTICULARLY POPULAR.

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

THE MOST POPULAR POET OF HIS DAY

& POET LAUREATE AFTER WORDS-

WORTH, HIS FAME WAS ENHANCED

BY HIS COLORFUL APPEARANCE.

TENNYSON (cont.)

TENNYSON WROTE IN A

DIGNIFIED BLANK VERSE THAT HE

WORKED HARD TO DEVELOP, AND

HE WAS ESPECIALLY INSPIRED BY

THE CLASS-ICAL PAST.

TENNYSON (cont.)

HIS MIND WAS DRAWN TO STATES

OF WEARINESS & MELANCHOLY

ISOLA-TION THAT WERE A

COUNTERPOINT TO THE ENERGY

& DYNAMISM OF THE AGE.

ROBERT BROWNING

INFLUENCED BY PERCY SHELLEY, AT

AGE 14 HE BECAME AN ATHEIST & A

LIBERAL, THOUGH HE LATER GREW

AWAY FROM BOTH.

BROWNING (cont.)

EARLY IN HIS CAREER HE WAS MUCH

LESS APPRECIATED AS A POET THAN

HIS WIFE, ELIZABETH BARRETT, BUT

BY THE 1860S HE WAS CONSIDERED

THE RIVAL OF TENNYSON.

BROWNING (cont.)

BROWNING IS ESPECIALLY REGARD-

ED FOR HIS INNOVATIONS IN THE

DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE, IN WHICH

THE WORDS OF A SPEAKER OTHER

THAN THE POET MUST BE

ANALYZED TO DETERMINE THE

POET’S MEAN-ING.

BROWNING (cont.)

UNLIKE TENNYSON’S SMOOTH, POL-

ISHED, ELEVATED VERSE, HIS STYLE

IS VERY UN-VICTORIAN, BEING DIS-

CORDANT, COLLOQUIAL, & FULL OF

UNEXPECTED JUXTAPOSITIONS.

BROWNING (cont.)

THOUGH SEEMINGLY UNLIKE OTHER

VICTORIAN POETS, HE HAS MUCH IN

COMMON W/ PROSE WRITERS OF

THE DAY IN HIS EMPHASIS ON THE

GROTESQUE & ON REVEALING THE

COMPLEXITY OF HUMAN MOTIVES &

THE WORKINGS OF THE MIND.

BROWNING (cont.)

PROBABLY HIS MOST

VICTORIAN QUALITY IS HIS

EXUBERANCE & ENERGY.

MATTHEW ARNOLD

IN ADDITION TO HIS LITERARY CA-

REER, ARNOLD SPENT 35 YRS. AS AN

INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS, WHICH HE

SAW AS IMPORTANT WORK DEALING

W/ HIS COUNTRY’S GREATEST NEED

—A SOUND SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS.

ARNOLD (cont.)

OF HIS 40-YEAR LITERARY CAREER, THE 1850S WERE DEVOTED PRIMARI-LY TO POETRY. OFTEN AT HIS BEST WHEN WRITING ABOUT NATURE, HE USUALLY RECORDS HIS OWN EXPER-IENCES, FEELINGS OF LONELINESS & ISOLATION, SADNESS & DESPAIR, AND SO FORTH.

A. E. HOUSMAN

WHILE EMPLOYED FOR 10 YRS. AS

A PATENT OFFICE CLERK,

HOUSMAN STUDIED THE GREEK &

ROMAN CLASS-ICS, EVENTUALLY

BECOMING A PRO-FESSOR OF

LATIN AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.

HOUSMAN (cont.)

HIS MOST FAMOUS WORK IS A

SHROP-SHIRE LAD (1896), A SERIES

OF SPARE, NOSTALGIC VERSES

EXPLORING SUCH THEMES AS THE

BEAUTY OF NATURE, UNREQUITED

LOVE, THE TRANSIENCE OF YOUTH,

GRIEF, & DEATH.

HOUSMAN (cont.)

BECAUSE OF ITS NOSTALGIC DEPIC-

TION OF BRAVE ENGLISH SOLDIERS,

THE BOOK GAINED GREAT POPULAR-

ITY DURING WORLD WAR I.

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

A CATHOLIC PRIEST & ONE OF THE

GREATEST VICTORIAN POETS, HE

IS KNOWN FOR HIS EXPERIMENTS

W/ LANGUAGE & RHYME &

ESPECIALLY “SPRUNG RHYTHM.”

HOPKINS (cont.)

IN SPRUNG RHYTHM, LINES HAVE

A SET NUMBER OF STRESSES, BUT

THE NUMBER & PLACEMENT OF

THE UN- STRESSED SYLLABLES

VARIES GREAT-LY.

HOPKINS (cont.)

REGARDED AS A PIONEER OF MOD-

ERN LITERATURE, HIS POEMS WERE

NOT PUBLISHED UNTIL ALMOST 30

YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH.

LEWIS CARROLL

THE PSEUDONYM OF CHARLES L. DODGSON: MATHEMATICIAN, ANGLI-CAN DEACON, PIONEERING PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER, & AUTHOR OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND & THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, WHICH INCLUDED SOME CLASSIC EXAMPLES OF NON-SENSE VERSE.