VICTORIAN POETRY

1
VICTORIAN POETRY

• POETRY WAS A LUCRATIVE LITERARY ENTERPRISE DURING
  THE VICTORI-AN AGE, OFTEN SELLING AS WELL AS THE
  BEST-SELLING FICTION.

2
VICTORIAN POETRY (cont.)

• POETRY MATTERED, AND LONG NAR-RATIVE POEMS WERE
  PARTICULARLY POPULAR.

3
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

• THE MOST POPULAR POET OF HIS DAY POET LAUREATE
  AFTER WORDS-WORTH, HIS FAME WAS ENHANCED BY HIS
  COLORFUL APPEARANCE.

4
(No Transcript)
5
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.

6
TENNYSON (cont.)

• HIS MIND WAS DRAWN TO STATES OF WEARINESS
  MELANCHOLY ISOLA-TION THAT WERE A COUNTERPOINT TO
  THE ENERGY DYNAMISM OF THE AGE.

7
ROBERT BROWNING

• INFLUENCED BY PERCY SHELLEY, AT AGE 14 HE BECAME
  AN ATHEIST A LIBERAL, THOUGH HE LATER GREW AWAY
  FROM BOTH.

8
(No Transcript)
9
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.

10
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 POETS MEAN-ING.

11
BROWNING (cont.)

• UNLIKE TENNYSONS SMOOTH, POL-ISHED, ELEVATED
  VERSE, HIS STYLE IS VERY UN-VICTORIAN, BEING
  DIS-CORDANT, COLLOQUIAL, FULL OF UNEXPECTED
  JUXTAPOSITIONS.

12
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.

13
BROWNING (cont.)

• PROBABLY HIS MOST VICTORIAN QUALITY IS HIS
  EXUBERANCE ENERGY.

14
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 COUNTRYS
  GREATEST NEEDA SOUND SYSTEM OF EDUCATION FOR THE
  MIDDLE CLASS.

15
(No Transcript)
16
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.

17
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.

18
(No Transcript)
19
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.

20
HOUSMAN (cont.)

• BECAUSE OF ITS NOSTALGIC DEPIC-TION OF BRAVE
  ENGLISH SOLDIERS, THE BOOK GAINED GREAT
  POPULAR-ITY DURING WORLD WAR I.

21
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

• A CATHOLIC PRIEST ONE OF THE GREATEST VICTORIAN
  POETS, HE IS KNOWN FOR HIS EXPERIMENTS W/
  LANGUAGE RHYME ESPECIALLY SPRUNG RHYTHM.

22
(No Transcript)
23
HOPKINS (cont.)

• IN SPRUNG RHYTHM, LINES HAVE A SET NUMBER OF
  STRESSES, BUT THE NUMBER PLACEMENT OF THE UN-
  STRESSED SYLLABLES VARIES GREAT-LY.

24
HOPKINS (cont.)

• REGARDED AS A PIONEER OF MOD-ERN LITERATURE, HIS
  POEMS WERE NOT PUBLISHED UNTIL ALMOST 30 YEARS
  AFTER HIS DEATH.

25
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.

26
(No Transcript)