Note the changes to the assignment as explained in class. From the original 7 poems assigned, I'm asking you to read 4.
About Victorian Poetry
As the Introduction to the Victorian period in the NA explains, the poetry of the period was influenced by the development of the novel and by the Romantic poetry in the early part of the century. For some Victorian writers, the Romantic idea of the poet and artist as almost divinely inspired continued. Also, the influence of the novel resulted in a rise of narrative poems, some of which reached the length of novels. With these narrative poems and the developing Victorian interest in psychology, the dramatic monologue—a poem with a speaker (not the poet) telling a story and/or reflecting from the first person perspective—became increasingly popular. Many dramatic monologues reflected the experiences very different from the poet and his/her readers.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning and ‘Runaway Slave’
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a well-educated and widely admired woman poet of the Victorian period. Though her love sonnets are some of the most widely known today ( ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.’ is the opening line of Sonnet 43 in her Sonnets from the Portuguese), Barrett Browning was known during her lifetime for her verse novel Aurora Leigh about the life of a woman poet and some of her poems that critique major issues of the day. “Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” is one of these poems where she supports the American work toward the abolition of slavery. The poem is a dramatic monologue from the perspective of the female runaway slave of the title.
Christina Rossetti and ‘Goblin Market’
Christina Rossetti was another woman poet of the Victorian period and was part of a literary family. She was deeply religious, spending a significant amount of time volunteering for the local Anglican church and serving in a role almost as a non-cloistered nun. One of the causes important to her in the 1860s was the situation of the “fallen woman.” Victorian society shunned women considered impure and some even believed that the impurities of prostitutes could spread to their pure counterparts. “Goblin Market” tells the story of two sisters, one of whom becomes a fallen woman and suffers from her fall. The poem relies on symbolism throughout and doesn’t explicitly talk about sexuality and impurity.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti and ‘Jenny’
Christina’s brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti was also a poet and an artist who lived a very sexually liberated lifestyle unlike his much more reserved sister. He married a model that he painted, and after her death, he had an affair with his close friend’s wife while that friend was out of the country. Rossetti was criticized during his lifetime for some of his more erotic poems about the love and passion between he and his wife. “Jenny” also takes up the issue of the fallen woman from the perspective of a man watching the sleeping prostitute in his room. It is a dramatic monologue from that man’s view.
Augusta Webster and ‘A Castaway’
During her lifetime, Augusta Webster was considered by some to be a successor to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Much of her poetry focuses on the issues of women, and she campaigned strongly for women’s suffrage. One of her most well known volumes of poetry includes a series of dramatic monologues and is titled Portraits. From this volume, we have the dramatic monologue “A Castaway.” This poem is an interesting companion to “Jenny” in that it is written from the perspective of a high-class courtesan reflecting on her choice to live as a fallen woman. She provides a rational view of her work and choices.
Questions for Thinking and Discussion
- What do you think of the form of the dramatic monologue in these poems? What is the effect of reading these first-person narrators reflecting on important issues of the period?
- How does each poem handle the issue of the fallen woman?
- What differences do you notice from the Romantic poems we read last week? Which types do you prefer?
- How do these poems take up the issue of the body? What types of bodies are represented in these poems? How are the bodies important in the larger focuses of the poems?
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