Trends in Victorian Poetry

Introduction:

       The poetic material of the Victorian age is not materially different from that of early ninetieth century.

       There is a contribution of Romantic Tradition. They are individualism, play of imagination, love of picaresque, and interact in past and love of nature. It is little different from Romantic temper, in its response to the changed political, social, economic, religious and moral condition.

 

Ethical and Spiritual:

      The Victorian poetry is characterized by its ethical and spiritual tone. Tennyson, Browning, Clough and Arnold are deeply moral and didactic in their verses. Prof. O. Elton rightly remarked that the remarkable quality of literature between 1830 and 1880 in ‘the quality of nobleness’ the poets of the age were concern with the grave and serious issues of the life and conduct. As compared to these the Romantics were not so concerned with these issues. The Victorian poetry abounds in passages showing the nobility of spirit and temper. Thus in Tennyson we have –

“Not unbecoming men that strove in God

Say not the struggle naught availed”

Such passages may be easily multiplied. They are the example of poetry written in ‘grand style’. The Victorians might have been confused bewildered at places but they did fix their gaze on what was noble and beautiful. They shaped their art for ‘life sake’ and not for arts sake.

 

Revolt:

      The Victorian poetry struck the note of revolt. It was against deadening effect and cramping inertia cased by the growing material and mechanical affluence (richness) of the age. It also raised its voice against effete conventions. However their voice was louder and stronger in fiction. Some of poet fed up with the atmosphere around adopted an escapist tendency. They look refuge in cozy beliefs of Middle Ages. It is particularly true of the Pre-Raphaelites. D. G. Rossetti delved (searched) in the folklores (the traditional beliefs) of the medieval age. Unlike the Arnold stood all for “art for art’s sake’. They were true possessors of aesthetes of the 1890s.

Individuality:

        The poetry of the Victorian Age is also marked by a touch of individuality. Though it is not much original in theme, it is yet distinctly individual in its voice. Tennyson loved to sing songs in praise of sturdy independence in England. His Princess (1847) is a forceful statement of woman’s liberty. Browning cultivated a poetic mode full of eccentricity and whimsicality. In that lies his striking individuality and inimitable originality. Arnold was concern with the best ideas.

Pessimism and Optimism:

       A note of pessimism and optimism is runs through the age in poetry. The poetry of Arnold, Clough, Fitzgerald and Tennyson is deeply coloured with pessimism and scepticism. Even Tennyson ‘In Memoriam’ is so. This was all the direct result of Darwin’s evolutionary theory. The Bad conditions prevailing in mills and factories seems to be strengthening the people’s disbelief in God. But Browning was glorying exception. He was an optimist to the core of his heart. His ideal belief in life hereafter might be questionable, but his spirit remains still unquestionable in all circumstances. His poems ‘Rabbi Ben Ezra’, ‘Prospice’, and  ‘Epilogue To Asolando’ are good examples.

A Sense of Patriotism:

       Another feature of the Victorian poetry is a sense of patriotism. Like Dickens. Thackeray in Fiction, Tennyson felt sense of national pride in his countries superiority over the countries. His Patriotic Emotions (insights) are clear in the following lines:

“…. A land of settled government,

A land of just an old renown….”

Different from the Romantic Poetry:

        A Contrasted to the Romantic Poetry, it written largely for the delight of the poets himself only, while the Victorian poetry was written for the enjoyment of the reader. The poets of Romantic Revival were interested in nature, in past and lesser degree of art, but had not interest in men and women of the world at the large. The Victorian poetry came to be related human beings with the same warmth and glow that the Romantics given to the nature. The Victorian Poets and novelist added humanity to nature and art as a subject matter of literature.

Two Groups of Poets:

       The Scientific and Romantic trends run parallel in most of the poetry of the Victorian age. There were two distinct groups of poets writing at the same time. One was influenced by the Contemporary Scientific movement like Tennyson and Arnold. The other was motivated by a desire for idealistic scope. This group being represented by Beddoes, Hood, Eliot, Rossetti, Morris and Fitzgerald.

Treatment of nature:

      Under the impact of science, the general attitude of the Victorian poets toward nature has somewhat challenged. Nature was no longer invested with divinity or with philosophical significance. It was what the science had revealed to men – matter in motion, tracking an inconceivable variety of form, but always in it variety of acting rigidly according to certain ways, which for want of wiser term, we call law.

Poetic Form:

       Much attention was paid to finish of form and polish of technique in the poetry of period. There was an attempt at the technical excellence and the poetical variety. Browning and Hopkins took immense library with English language almost to the point of obscurity and unintelligibility. As for the variety of form lyric, elegy, song, ballad and so on were written by poets.