Rhythm and Will in Victorian Poetry (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, Series Number 22)

In Rhythm and Will in Victorian Poetry, first published in 1999, Matthew Campbell explores the work of four Victorian poets - Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins and Hardy - as they show a consistent and innovative concern with questions of human agency and will. The Victorians saw the virtues attendant upon a strong will as central to themselves and to their culture, and Victorian poetry strove to find an aesthetic form to represent this sense of the human will. Through close study of the metre, rhyme and rhythm of a wide range of poems - including monologue, lyric and elegy - Campbell reveals how closely technical questions of poetics are related, in the work of these poets, to issues of psychology, ethics and social change. He goes on to discuss more general questions of poetics, and the implications of the achievement of the Victorian poets in a wider context, from Milton through Romanticism and into contemporary critical debate. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 6 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Dedication......Page 9 Contents......Page 11 Preface and acknowledgements......Page 13 Texts used......Page 16 CHAPTER 1 Introduction: two decisions......Page 17 PART ONE Rhythms of will......Page 29 THE NAKED THEW AND SINEW OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE......Page 31 Harry Ploughman......Page 37 IMMEASURABLE SAND......Page 39 Will......Page 42 THE CREATIVE WILL (1): WILLIAM WORDSWORTH......Page 48 THE CREATIVE WILL (2): THE BROWNINGS......Page 58 O sorrowful great gift......Page 60 AN INTERPENETRATION OF PASSION AND OF WILL......Page 64 Neutral Tones......Page 73 CHAPTER 3 Tennyson, Browning and the absorbing soul......Page 80 PART TWO Monologue and monodrama......Page 113 CHAPTER 4 Browning and the element of action......Page 115 CHAPTER 5 ‘ ’Tis well that I should bluster’: Tennyson’s monologues......Page 141 PART THREE Making a will......Page 171 CHAPTER 6 The drift of In Memoriam......Page 173 CHAPTER 7 Incarnating elegy in The Wreck of the Deutschland......Page 203 CHAPTER 8 The mere continuator: Thomas Hardy and the end of elegy......Page 226 1 INTRODUCTION: TWO DECISIONS......Page 255 2 RHYTHMS OF WILL......Page 256 3 TENNYSON, BROWNING AND THE ABSORBING SOUL......Page 260 4 BROWNING AND THE ELEMENT OF ACTION......Page 263 5 ‘ ’TIS WELL THAT I SHOULD BLUSTER’: TENNYSON’S MONOLOGUES......Page 265 6 THE DRIFT OF IN MEMORIAM......Page 267 7 INCARNATING ELEGY IN THE WRECK OF THE DEUTSCHLAND......Page 270 8 THE MERE CONTINUATOR: THOMAS HARDY AND THE END OF ELEGY......Page 272 Bibliography......Page 275 Index......Page 285 Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series-title 6 Title 7 Copyright 8 Dedication 9 Contents 11 Preface and acknowledgements 13 Texts used 16 CHAPTER 1 Introduction: two decisions 17 PART ONE Rhythms of will 29 CHAPTER 2 Rhythms of Will 31 THE NAKED THEW AND SINEW OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 31 Harry Ploughman 37 IMMEASURABLE SAND 39 Will 42 THE CREATIVE WILL (1): WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 48 THE CREATIVE WILL (2): THE BROWNINGS 58 While Art 60 O sorrowful great gift 60 AN INTERPENETRATION OF PASSION AND OF WILL 64 Neutral Tones 73 CHAPTER 3 Tennyson, Browning and the absorbing soul 80 PART TWO Monologue and monodrama 113 CHAPTER 4 Browning and the element of action 115 CHAPTER 5 ‘ ’Tis well that I should bluster’: Tennyson’s monologues 141 PART THREE Making a will 171 CHAPTER 6 The drift of In Memoriam 173 CHAPTER 7 Incarnating elegy in The Wreck of the Deutschland 203 CHAPTER 8 The mere continuator: Thomas Hardy and the end of elegy 226 Notes 255 PREFACE 255 1 INTRODUCTION: TWO DECISIONS 255 2 RHYTHMS OF WILL 256 3 TENNYSON, BROWNING AND THE ABSORBING SOUL 260 4 BROWNING AND THE ELEMENT OF ACTION 263 5 ‘ ’TIS WELL THAT I SHOULD BLUSTER’: TENNYSON’S MONOLOGUES 265 6 THE DRIFT OF IN MEMORIAM 267 7 INCARNATING ELEGY IN THE WRECK OF THE DEUTSCHLAND 270 8 THE MERE CONTINUATOR: THOMAS HARDY AND THE END OF ELEGY 272 Bibliography 275 Index 285 "In Rhythm and Will in Victorian Poetry, Matthew Campbell explores the work of four Victorian poets - Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins and Hardy - as they show a consistent and innovative concern with questions of human agency and will. The Victorians saw the virtues attendant upon a strong will as central to themselves and to their culture, and Victorian poetry strove to find an aesthetic form to represent this sense of the human will. Through close study of the metre, rhyme and rhythm of a wide range of poems - including monologue, lyric and elegy - Campbell reveals how closely technical questions of poetics are related, in the work of these poets, to issues of psychology, ethics and social change. He goes on to discuss more general questions of poetics, and the implications of the achievement of the Victorian poets in a wider context, from Milton through Romanticism and into contemporary critical debate."--Jacket

Matthew Campbell explores the work of four Victorian poets—Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins and Hardy—in the context of their concern with questions of human agency and will. Through close study of meter, rhyme and rhythm, Campbell reveals how closely, for these poets, questions of poetics are related to issues of psychology, ethics and social change. He goes on to discuss more general questions of poetics, from Milton through Romanticism and into contemporary critical debate, making a major contribution to the current renewal of interest in formalist readings of poetry.

With characteristic humility, Hallam Tennyson omits to name himself as the recipient of this advice from his father: I cannot refrain form setting down his talk to a young man who was going to the University. Matthew Campbell. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 259-268) And Index.