The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Poetry (Oxford Handbooks)

'I am inclined to think that we want new forms . . . as well as thoughts', confessed Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning in 1845. The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Poetry provides a closely-read appreciation of the vibrancy and variety of Victorian poetic forms, and attends to poems as both shaped and shaping forces. The volume is divided into four main sections. The first section on 'Form' looks at a few central innovations and engagements ― 'Rhythm', 'Beat', 'Address', 'Rhyme', 'Diction', 'Syntax', and 'Story'. The second section, 'Literary Landscapes', examines the traditions and writers (from classical times to the present day) that influence and take their bearings from Victorian poets. The third section provides 'Readings' of twenty-three poets by concentrating on particular poems or collections of poems, offering focused, nuanced engagements with the pleasures and challenges offered by particular styles of thinking and writing. The final section, 'The Place of Poetry', conceives and explores 'place' in a range of ways in order to situate Victorian poetry within broader contexts and discussions: the places in which poems were encountered; the poetic representation and embodiment of various sites and spaces; the location of the 'Victorian' alongside other territories and nationalities; and debates about the place - and displacement - of poetry in Victorian society. This Handbook is designed to be not only an essential resource for those interested in Victorian poetry and poetics, but also a landmark publication ― a provocative, seminal volume that will offer a lasting contribution to future studies in the area. This Handbook Offers An Authorative Collection Of Original Essays And Is An Essential Resource For Those Interested In Victorian Poetry And Poetics. Rhythm / Michael Hurley -- Beat / Derek Attridge -- Address / Robert Douglas-fairhurst -- Rhyme / Matthew Campbell -- Diction / Garrett Stewart -- Syntax / Isobel Armstrong -- Story / Herbert Tucker -- Victorian Poetry And The Classics / Isobel Hurst -- Victorian Medievalisms / Matthew Townend -- Victorian Miltons / Erik Gray -- Victorian Shakespeares / Bharat Tandon -- The Romantic Bequest : Arnold And Others / Michael O'neill -- American Intersections : Poetry In The United States 1837-1901 / Elisa New -- The Poetry Of Modern Life : On The Pavement / Peter Robinson -- Modernist Victorianism / Adam Piette -- 'dispatched Dark Regions Far Afield And Farther' : Contemporary Poetry And Victorianism / David Wheatley -- Rhyme, Rhythm, Violence : Elizabeth Barrett Browning On Slavery / Caroline Levine -- Tennyson : Echo And Harmony, Music, And Thought / Ruth Padel -- Browning's Balancing Acts / Ross Wilson -- Edward Lear And 'the Fiddlediddlety Of Representation' / Hugh Haughton --^ Crime And Conjecture : Emily Brontë's Poems / Michael Wood -- Arthur Hugh Clough : The Reception And Conception Of Amours De Voyage / Adam Phillips -- Matthew Arnold, Out Of Time / Jane Wright -- Modern Men And Women : Meredith's Challenge To Browning / Andrew Elfenbein -- Raising The Dead : Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'willowwood' Sonnets / J.b. Bullen -- Christina Rossetti : Ravens, Cockatoos And Range / Constance W. Hassett -- William Barnes : Views Of Field Labour In Poems Of Rural Life / Marcus Waithe -- Dreaming Reality : The Poetry Of William Morris / Clive Wilmer -- City Of Pain : The Poetry Of James Thomson / Mark Ford -- Augusta Webster : Time And The Lyric Ideal / Emily Harrington -- Swinburne : The Insuperable Sea / Simon Jarvis -- Hardy's Imperfections / Seamus Perry -- Hopkins's Beauty / Martin Dubois -- Michael Field (katherine Bradley & Edith Cooper) : Sight And Song And Significant Form / Linda K. Hughes -- Alice Meynell, Again And Again / Meredith Martin --^ Housman's Difficulty / Janet Gezari -- Rudyard Kipling Plays The Empire / Peter Howarth -- Victorian Yeats / Peter Mcdonald -- The Passion Of Charlotte Mew / Tim Kendall -- Marketplaces / Samantha Matthews -- Inner Space : Bodies And Minds / Stephanie Kuduk Weiner -- Outer Space : Physical Science / Anna Henchman -- City And Street / Rolf P. Lessenich -- In The Artist's Studio / Catherine Maxwell -- On Not Hearing : Victorian Poetry And Music / Francis O'gorman -- Church Going / Kirstie Blair -- Irish Poetry In The Victorian Age / Justin Quinn -- Empire And Orientalisms / Joe Phelan -- The Jokes In The Machine : Comic Verse / James Williams -- 'the Song-bird Whose Name Is Legion' : Bad Verse And Its Critics / Danny Karlin. Edited By Matthew Bevis. Edition Statement From Dust Jacket. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover VICTORIAN POETRY Copyright Acknowledgements Contents Illustrations Notes on Contributors 1. Introduction: At Work with Victorian Poetry PART I FORM 2. Rhythm 3. Beat 4. Address 5. Rhyme 6. Diction 7. Syntax 8. Story PART II LITERARY LANDSCAPES 9. Victorian Poetry and the Classics 10. Victorian Medievalisms 11. Victorian Miltons 12. Victorian Shakespeares 13. The Romantic Bequest: Arnold and Others 14. American Intersections: Poetry in the United States 1837–1901 15. The Poetry of Modern Life: On the Pavement 16. Modernist Victorianism 17. ‘Dispatched Dark Regions Far Afield and Farther’: Contemporary Poetry and Victorianism PART III READINGS 18. Rhyme, Rhythm, Violence: Elizabeth Barrett Browning on Slavery 19. Tennyson: Echo and Harmony, Music and Thought 20. Browning’s Balancing Acts 21. Edward Lear and ‘The fiddlediddlety of representation’ 22. Crime and Conjecture: Emily Brontë’s Poems 23. Arthur Hugh Clough: The Reception and Conception of Amours de Voyage 24. Matthew Arnold, Out of Time 25. Modern Men and Women: Meredith’s Challenge to Browning 26. Raising the Dead: Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘Willowwood’ Sonnets 27. Christina Rossetti: Ravens, Cockatoos, and Range 28. William Barnes: Views of Field Labour in Poems of Rural Life 29. Dreaming Reality: The Poetry of William Morris 30. City of Pain: The Poetry of James Thomson 31. Augusta Webster: Time and the Lyric Ideal 32. Swinburne: The Insuperable Sea 33. Hardy’s Imperfections 34. Hopkins’s Beauty 35. Michael Field (Katharine Bradley & Edith Cooper): Sight and Song and Signifi cant Form 36. Alice Meynell, Again and Again 37. Housman’s Diffi culty 38. Rudyard Kipling Plays the Empire 39. Victorian Yeats 40. The Passion of Charlotte Mew PART IV THE PLACE OF POETRY 41. Marketplaces 42. Inner Space: Bodies and Minds 43. Outer Space: Physical Science 44. City and Street 45. In the Artist’s Studio 46. On Not Hearing: Victorian Poetry and Music 47. Church Going 48. Irish Poetry in the Victorian Age 49. Empire and Orientalisms 50. The Jokes in the Machine: Comic Verse 51. ‘The song-bird whose name is Legion’: Bad Verse and its Critics Index This volume explores the history, functions and forms of poetry in Victorian England. It examines the syntax, rhyme, rhythm and metre in Victorian poetry and describes different types of poems and poetry publishing. It also analyses the works of several Victorian poets including Gerard Manley Hopkins, James Thomson, A.E. Housman, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Augusta Webster, Christian Rossetti and Michael Field. This volume also examines how church-going, music and arts were reflected in Victorian poetry