Victorian Poetry

Poetry in the British Victorian era was fraught with contradiction. Scientific progress contributed, on the one hand, to a reeling sense of doubt and disorientation within a universe that seemed to be becoming ever more complex and, on the other, to a deeper investment in domesticity and religious faith. Mourning and a sense of loss and melancholy became melodic, as poets sought for ideals and heroism within a self-interested, commercial society. Poets like Alfred, Lord Tennyson and the pre-Raphaelites (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris) turned to the chivalric adventures - knights, battles, and courtly ladies - of Arthurian legend, while others like Robert Browning escaped into the Italian Renaissance for inspiration. The voice of women in poetry grew, expressing ambition and spiritual struggle, speaking out for classical female figures (Xantippe, Circe) in the form of the dramatic monologue, and addressing the plight of the 'fallen woman' and of the virtuous but inexperienced 'angel in the house.' In this course, we will read lyric, dramatic, and narrative poetry by Tennyson, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, D.G. and Christina Rossetti, Morris, Augusta Webster, Amy Levy, Matthew Arnold, Emily and Anne Brontë, Thomas Hardy, George Meredith, and Gerard Manley Hopkins.