1Pintu

English Pathsala

VICTORIAN POETRY: CHARACTERISTIC

FEATURES:

Pintu -9938362332
Telegram -English Pathsala

INTRODUCTION :

Victorian poetry refers to poetry written during the

reign of Queen Victoria in England during 1837 to
1901. This period in English literature is preceded by
the Romantic period. Victorian poetry is considered
as the beginning phase of modernism in English
literature. These poems were strongly influenced by
the existing social, political and cultural conditions in
England. Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92), Robert
Browning (1812-89), Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(1806-61), Matthew Arnold (1822-88), Edward
Fitzgerald (1809-83), Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-61),
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82), Christina
Georgina Rossetti (1830-94), William Morris
(1834-96) and Algernon Charles Swinburne
(1837-1909) are the prominent poets in Victorian
period. These poets exhibited the Victorian living
2Pintu
English Pathsala

condition or the life in general of the Victorian people

in their poems. Of them Alfred Lord Tennyson and
Robert Browning are considered as the popular
poets in Victorian poetry.

VICTORIAN POETRY: CHARACTERISTIC

FEATURES;

The poems written during the Victorian period in

England are termed as Victorian poetry in English.
The major Victorian poets are Alfred Lord Tennyson
(1809-92), Robert Browning (1812-89), Elizabeth
Barrett Browning (1806-61), Matthew Arnold
(1822-88), Edward Fitzgerald (1809-83), Arthur
Hugh Clough (1819-61), Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1828-82), Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-94),
William Morris (1834-96) and Algernon Charles
Swinburne (1837-1909). The characteristic features
exhibited in the poems of these poets are generally
termed as the characteristic features of Victorian
poetry.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF VICTORIAN

POETRY:
3Pintu
English Pathsala

The major Victorian poets exhibited some features in

their poems.These features are commonly termed
as the characteristic features of Victorian poems.
These features are prominently political, sociological
and stylistic in nature and structure.

The major characteristic features of Victorian Poetry

are given below:

°1. Victorian Dilemma or Spiritualism versus

Materialism

°2. Dramatic Monologue

°3. Pessimistic and Realistic Poetry

°4. Scepticism

°5. Victorian Morality

°6. Sensuous, Pictorial and Symbolical Poems of the

Pre-Raphaelite
4Pintu
English Pathsala

During the Victorian period, the people were in great

confusion. This sociological confusion or dilemma is
discussing under the title of “Victorian dilemma or
Spiritualism versus Materialism.” Dramatic
monologue was actually a new form of poetry started
during this period.

°1. VICTORIAN DILEMMA OR SPIRITUALISM

VERSUS MATERIALISM:

The word dilemma means confusion. Cambridge

dictionary defines the term as “a situation in which a
difficult choice has to be made between two different
things you could do.” The word also signifies “a
difficult situation or problem.” Victorian dilemma was
a major sociological feature of Victorian England.
Charles Darwin’s remarkable scientific text “On the
Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or
the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle
for life” was published in 1859. The publication of
this text (shortly named as “On the Origin of
Species”) was a bolt out of a clear sky in Victorian
society. The publication of this text and its theme
questioned the spiritual and divine aspects in the
5Pintu
English Pathsala

society. The text stroked the very foundation of

theological discourses in human life. Moreover,
scientific and technological advancement was also
contributed for the emergence of blatant materialism
in England. The Victorian people were in a great
confusion. This dilemma is powerfully presented in
Matthew Arnold’s poem Dover Beach;

The sea of Faith

Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world

Here the poet examines the world of belief and

disbelief. According to the poet, the Sea of Faith, the
world of religion and spirituality, was once at its
peak. That world of faith was just like a bright girdle
furled around earth shore. However, that is not seen
now. The poet could only hear its melancholy and
long withdrawing roar. The advancement of science
6Pintu
English Pathsala

and technology vehemently questioned the spirit in

religion and faith. Victorian period was the period of
advancement of science and technology and the
withdrawing of religion and faith. Here, the Victorian
people became confused. Both spiritualism and
materialism thrived in front of them. They don’t know
what to choose and what to reject. This dilemma or
confusion is termed as the Victorian dilemma. This
sociological feature is prominently reflected in
Victorian poetry. Poets like Matthew Arnold are
suggesting the subject of “Love” as a major solution
to this chaotic world.

°2. DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE:

Dramatic Monologue is a form of poetry popularised

by the major Victorian Poet Robert Browning. It was
one of the major features of Victorian poetry. In
Dramatic monologue one character alone speaks
while one or two characters silently hear the words
of the speaker. It is a mono (single) speech (logue).
Here, the listeners are mute spectators. Dramatic
monologue also exposes the inner psychological
mind of the speaker too while he/she talks to the
7Pintu
English Pathsala

listeners. M. H. Abrams in his A Glossary of Literary

Terms specifically says that a dramatic monologue
has the following features;

(1) A single person, who is patently not the poet,

utters the speech that makes up the whole of the
poem, in a specific situation at a critical moment.

(2) This person addresses and interacts with one or

more other people.

(3) The main principle controlling the poet’s

formulation of what the lyric speaker says is to
reveal the reader (...) the speaker’s temperament
and character (P70).

In short, dramatic monologue is a lyrical poem

through which the solo speaker exposes his/her
character and temperaments to the mute listeners.
Robert Browning was a prominent Victorian poet
who composed many of his poems in Dramatic
Monologue. His poems My Last Duchess, Fra Lippo
Lippi, and Andrea del Sarto are dramatic
8Pintu
English Pathsala

monologues. In his poem My Last Duchess the

Duke, the speaker, says to the listeners:

Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,

Whenever I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below, then.

The Duchess was a jovial lady and hence she

smiled at everyone without any reservation which
was against the wish of her husband. So, the Duke
gave the commands and all her smiles stopped
together. Her portrait is hanging in the wall. The
portrait is as beautiful as she is alive. Here, the poet
is exposing the mind of a psychopath Duke and the
innocence of his wife, the last Duchess. The poem
delineates the inner psychology of urbanism in
Victorian period. This psychological study of
Victorian period became so powerful in the hands of
Robert Browning through his Dramatic Monologue.

°3. PESSIMISTIC AND REALISTIC POETRY:

9Pintu
English Pathsala

Victorian poems are generally considered as

pessimistic and realistic poems. The word
pessimism means negative thinking. Cambridge
dictionary defines pessimism as “emphasizing or
thinking of the bad part of a situation rather than the
good part, or the feeling that bad things are likely to
happen than good things.” With the advent of
industrialization and science and technology stiff
competition arose in the societal life. The condition
of human life became so stark with the advent of
machines in his/her work environment. The outlook
was pessimistic in general during this era. Matthew
Arnold exemplifies this pessimistic nature of
Victorian England in his poem Dover Beach:

Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
10Pintu
English Pathsala

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Here the poet is delineating the world as a land of

dreams which is so various, beautiful and new.
However, the new world has neither joy, nor love,
nor light, nor certitude and peace. The advent of
industrialization brought blatant materialism in
Victorian England. But it only made lucrative material
advancement. It failed to bring joy, love, light and
peace in the world. The poet is comparing such a
world to a darkling plain where ignorant armies clash
by night without knowing who the friend is and who
the foe is. Realism is another characteristic feature
of Victorian poetry. Realism is a movement in
literature which presented the world as it is in
literature. Realism was actually a revolt against
romanticism. Realistic presentation of life in literature
is named as realism. There were many realistic
poets in Victorian period. Alfred Lord Tennyson was
the prominent realistic poet in Victorian period. His
poem Ulysses vividly marked the features of
Industrialization and the following geographical
explorations. Tennyson presented the Victorian
England as it is in his poem Ulysses. The poem was
11Pintu
English Pathsala

an exemplary dramatic monologue. In the poem the

speaker Ulysses says:

I am a part of all I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move

Here, the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson marks the

advent of industrialization and the following
geographical explorations in England. Expansion of
the kingdom was a prominent motto of Victorian
England. Different explorers began to explore at
different unknown nations. Ulysses says that he
became the part of all that he had met as an
explorer. However, all these explorations and its
experiences are an arch where through he could see
the untraveled world. The poet means that each
exploration and its experience is an impetus for the
next exploration. Victorian English poems are the
reflection of the Victorian England.

°4. SCEPTICISM:
12Pintu
English Pathsala

The word scepticism means doubt. Merriam Webster

dictionary defines scepticism as “an attitude of doubt
or a disposition to incredulity either in general or
toward a particular object.” The Victorian poems
specifically exhibited the theme of scepticism. The
advent of industrialization brought blatant
materialism in England and the people were in a
great void. They were sceptical about the
existence/role of institutions like religion. This
scepticism, according to poets like Alfred Lord
Tennyson, was essential in order to open the world
of reason and to fight against their uncertainties. In
his remarkable poem In Memoriam, Alfred Lord
Tennyson says:

Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds,

At last he beat his music out.
There lives more faith in honest
doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds.

He fought his doubts and gathered strength,

He would not make his judgment blind,
He faced the spectres of the mind
And laid them: thus he came at length
13Pintu
English Pathsala

To find a stronger faith his own;

And power was with him in the night,
Which makes the darkness and the light,
And dwells not in the light alone,

But in the darkness and the cloud,

As over Sinai’s peaks of old,
While Israel made their gods of gold,
Altho’ the trumpet blew so loud (Tennyson).

In Memoriam was a poem written over the untimely

demise of the poet’s close friend Arthur Henry
Hallam. Here the poet exclusively describes the role
of doubt and scepticism to bring light. According to
the poet faith lives in honest doubt. He says that his
friend gathered strength by fighting against doubts.
He made his judgment not blindly but rationally.
According the poet that his friend confronted the
ghosts/threats of his mind rationally without any
institutional prejudices. In Memoriam was a poem in
search of identity and meaning by rejecting the age
old institutionalized meanings of life. It took place by
bringing sceptical thought. It was this sceptical
14Pintu
English Pathsala

thought which brought in later the rational/scientific

spirit in the societal discourses.

°5. VICTORIAN MORALITY:

Victorian morality is another prominent feature of

Victorian poetry. The industrial revolution and the
following advancement in science and technology
made a leviathan form of social advancement in
Victorian England. This social advancement brought
some kinds of repressive and suppressive moral
codes in Victorian England. This is commonly known
as Victorian morality. Robert Browning in his
dramatic monologue My Last Duchess portraits the
picture of a morality ridden man: the Duke. He was
too severe and harsh towards his wife, the Duchess.
She hasn't the freedom even to smile at strangers
due to her feminine identity.

Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,

Whenever I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
15Pintu
English Pathsala

The company below, then.

Here, the Duchess unconsciously smiles at

strangers out of innocence. However, the moral
ridden society takes it as a crime. Hence, her
husband, the Duke,commanded her death. The
same Duke is now talking about his second marriage
with a new woman.

°6. SENSUOUS, PICTORIAL AND SYMBOLICAL

POEMS OF THE PRE-RAPHAELITE:

One of the striking features of Victorian poetry is its

sensuous, pictorial and symbolical quality. Such a
genre in Victorian English poetry was actually
introduced by the Pre-Raphaelites. Pre-Raphaelites
are those groups of painter poets who wrote
sensuous, pictorial and symbolical poems. The
themes of these poems could be painted very easily.
This group includes the remarkable Victorian English
poets Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti,
William Morris and Algernon Charles Swinburne.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed by
three English painters: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John
16Pintu
English Pathsala

Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt in 1848.

Amongst them Dante Gabriel Rossetti and some of
his companions like William Morris and Algernon
Charles Swinburne were poets too. Hence, they
were popularly known as “painter poets.” They made
“painting” effects to their poetry by inserting
sensuous, pictorial and symbolic elements in their
poetry. This movement was an escape from the
materialism of the Victorian period. The main aim of
their poetry was nothing but pure enjoyment. Hence,
they totally rejected the didactic purpose of poetry.
The pictorial effect of Victorian poetry could be seen
in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Blessed Damozel:

The blessed damozel leaned out

From the gold bar of Heaven;
Her eyes were deeper than the depth
Of waters stilled at even;
She had three lilies in her hand,
And the stars in her hair were seven

This group of Victorian poets followed themes of

medieval lore and spirit. Rossetti’s The Blessed
Damozel, Rose Mary, Sister Helen, and Mary
17Pintu
English Pathsala

Sister’s Sleep is the prominent Victorian

Pre-Raphaelites poems which are deeply steeped
with the themes of medieval spirit. The medieval
touch in theme and presentation could be seen in
the poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne. His
poems like The Garden of Prosperpine, Venus and
Adonis and Hero and Leander exhibits the theme of
medieval lore. One of the striking qualities of
Pre-Raphaelites poems is that its musicality.
Algernon Charles Swinburne’s Chorus from ‘Atlanta’
exhibits this musical quality of Victorian poems:

The ivy falls with the Bacchanal’s hair

Over her eyebrows hiding her eyes;
The wild vine slipping down leaves bare
Her bright breast shortening into sighs;
The wild vine slips with the weight of its leaves,
But the berried ivy catches and cleaves
To the limbs that glitter, the feet that scare
The wolf that follows, the fawn that flies (Swinburne).

It was Robert Buchanan who called the

Pre-Raphaelite poetry as “the fleshy school of
poetry.” They made their poems too voluptuous and
18Pintu
English Pathsala

sensuous as part of their ornamentation of poetry.

Usually they decorated the feminine beauty with
such voluptuous and sensuous language. Dante
Gabriel Rossetti brings such a sensuous language in
the second stanza of his poem The Blessed
Damozel:

Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem,

No wrought flowers did adorn,
But a white rose of Mary’s gift,
For service meetly worn;
Her hair that lay along her back
Was yellow like ripe corn

The poet in the eighth stanza of the same poem

pictorially represents the blessed damozel in the
following language:

And still she bowed herself and stooped

Out of the circling charm;
Until her bosom must have made
The bar she leaned on warm,
And the lilies lay as if asleep
Along her bended arm.
19Pintu
English Pathsala

The sensuous and voluptuous language in Victorian

poetries mostly abounds in the poems of Dante
Gabriel Rossetti. In his another poem titled as Troy
Town, the poet explicitly presents the heroine as:

See my breast how like it is,

See it bare for the air to kiss;
Is the cup to thy heart’s desire
O for the breast, O make it his (Rossetti).

The same poem begins with a sensuous, voluptuous

and pictorial representation of Helen of the Troy. It
follows:

Heavenborn Helen, Sparta’s queen,

Had two breasts of heavenly sheen,
The sun and moon of the heart's desire:
All Love’s lordship lay between (Rossetti).

We can see abundant of examples for sensuous,

pictorial and symbolic elements in Victorian poetry.
This group of poets who wrote sensuous, pictorial
20Pintu
English Pathsala

and symbolic poems during the Victorian period is

popularly known as Pre-Raphaelite poets.

In essence, Victorian English poetry abounds with

innumerable characteristic features. All of these
characteristic features are essentially reflects the
Victorian society in general. Scientific and
technological advancement brought vehement
changes in England like Industrialization and
colonization. The scientific outlook in society made a
direct clash with religious and spiritual institutions in
the Victorian England. People became so confused
what to choose and what to reject. The blatant
urbanization forced to infuse some ludicrous moral
aspects in society which were totally against minority
sections like women. Poets wrote about these
realistic and pessimistic undercurrents in society.
New forms of poetries like Dramatic monologue
became so popular. The Pre-Raphaelite poets wrote
sensuous, pictorial and symbolic poems that could
be “painted” with equal effect. Victorian poetries
were the exact representation of Victorian England
tinged with the artistic and aesthetic qualities.
21Pintu
English Pathsala

EMINENT POETS AND THEIR LEGACIES

1. ALFRED LORD TENNYSON

As Poet Laureate, Tennyson’s work captures the

Victorian ethos with its exploration of loss, heroism,
and existential reflection. His poem "In Memoriam"
offers a profound meditation on grief and
consolation.

Example: "In Memoriam"

"Be near me when my light is low,

When the blood creeps, and the nerves are still;
Be near me when the heart is chill,
With a mother’s care, and love."

Tennyson’s elegy reflects the depth of personal loss

and the solace found in enduring love and memory.

2. ROBERT BROWNING:

Browning’s dramatic monologues, such as "My Last

Duchess" and "The Ring and the Book," showcase
22Pintu
English Pathsala

his innovation and exploration of psychological

depth.

Example: "The Ring and the Book"

"I was born to be a poet, and I am one:

I have not learned to speak a word of rhyme."

Browning’s use of dramatic monologue allows for an

exploration of complex characters and narratives,
providing a nuanced view of human experience.

3. MATTHEW ARNOLD:

Arnold’s reflective and contemplative poetry,

including "Dover Beach," addresses the
uncertainties of the Victorian era and the search for
meaning.

Example: "Dover Beach"

"And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."
23Pintu
English Pathsala

Arnold’s melancholy tone and reflective themes offer

insight into the anxieties and search for meaning in a
rapidly changing world.

SOME IMPORTANT TERMS WHICH WE HAVE

USED IN THIS ARTICLE:

1 VICTORIAN DILEMMA: A confusion of Victorian

people about what to choose and what to reject;
either science or religion.

2. DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE: A form of poem in

which one character alone speaks while one or two
characters silently hear the talk of the speaker.

3. PRE-RAPHAELITE POETS: A group of

painter-poets who wrote sensuous, pictorial and
symbolic poems that could be painted with equal
effect.

4. SCEPTICISM: The attitude of doubting knowledge

claims set forth in various areas.
24Pintu
English Pathsala

5. PESSIMISM: A tendency to see the worst or

negative aspects of the things.

6. REALISM: Presenting the world as it is instead of

presenting the world as it appears to the state of
mind of the writers.

Thank you