Poetry in the Victorian Period (1837-1901)

The Victorian Period is the only movement of poetry covered in this series that takes its name from a monarch. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to her death in 1901. Her reign covered a period of accelerated industrialization, a homogenization of manners and civility, the expansive growth of urban spaces and of the global empire, social reform and education acts, and the rise of the middle class.

Viewing the literary topography of the Victorian period from afar, a few major mountain ranges rise in the distance. The peaks of great novelists such as the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Willkie Collins rise to prominence out of the atmospheric haze. We see the outlines of essayists and short story-writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Carlyle, and Walter Pater. It’s a period known predominantly for its prose.

But what about Victorian poetry?

Poetry in the Victorian period is prolific and diverse. There are few defining characteristics by which the entire period may be described. So for this lecture, I’m going to introduce you to three major poets (Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Robert Browning; Matthew Arnold) and place a poem of each in conversation with some of the major cultural interests shared by many other poets.

Introduction 0:00-4:31
Victorian Medievalism & Tennyson 4:31-17:23
Dramatic Voice & Browning 17:23-31:53
The Ebbing Sea of Faith & Arnold 31:53-44:06

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