Victorian Poetry: Poetry, Poets and Politics (Routledge Critical History of Victorian Poetry S)

In a uniquely comprehensive and theoretically astute study, Armstrong rescues Victorian poetry from its images as a "moralized form of romantic verse" and unearth its often subversive critique of nineteenth-century culture and politics. EEn......Page 0 Victorian Poetry - Poetry, Poetics and Politics......Page 1 Preface......Page 2 Acknowledgements......Page 4 Introduction - Rereading Victorian Poetry......Page 5 Part I - Conservative and Benthamite Aesthetics of the Avant-Garde - Tennyson and Browning in the 1830s......Page 25 1 - Two Systems of Concentric Circles......Page 26 2 - Experiments of 1830 - Tennyson and the formation of subversive, conservative poetry......Page 41 3 - 1832: Critique of the Poetry of Sensation......Page 76 4 - Experiments in the 1830s - Browning and the Benthamite formation......Page 110 5 - The Politics of Dramatic Form......Page 134 Part II - Mid-Century: European Revolution and Crimean War - Democratic, liberal, radical and feminine voices......Page 160 6 - Individualism Under Pressure......Page 161 7 - The Radical in Crisis: Clough......Page 174 8 - The Liberal in Crisis: Arnold......Page 200 9 - A New Radical Aesthetic - The Grotesque as cultural critique: Morris......Page 226 10 - Tennyson in the 1850s - New experiments in conservative poetry and the Type......Page 245 11 - Browning in the 1850s and After - New experiments in radical poetry and the Grotesque......Page 276 12 - 'A Music of Thine Own' - Women's poetry--an expressive tradition?......Page 308 Part III - Another Culture? Another Poetics?......Page 366 Introduction - The 1860s and After - Aesthetics, language, power and high finance......Page 367 13 - Swinburne: Agonistic Republican - The poetry of sensation as democratic critique......Page 387 14 - Hopkins: Agonistic Reactionary - The Grotesque as conservative form......Page 405 15 - Meredith and Others - Hard, gem-like dissidence......Page 424 16 - James Thomson: Atheist, Blasphemer and Anarchist - The Grotesque sublime......Page 443 Postscript......Page 460 Notes......Page 472 Index......Page 516 Literature EEn 1 Victorian Poetry - Poetry, Poetics and Politics 1 Preface 2 Acknowledgements 4 Introduction - Rereading Victorian Poetry 5 Part I - Conservative and Benthamite Aesthetics of the Avant-Garde - Tennyson and Browning in the 1830s 25 1 - Two Systems of Concentric Circles 26 2 - Experiments of 1830 - Tennyson and the formation of subversive, conservative poetry 41 3 - 1832: Critique of the Poetry of Sensation 76 4 - Experiments in the 1830s - Browning and the Benthamite formation 110 5 - The Politics of Dramatic Form 134 Part II - Mid-Century: European Revolution and Crimean War - Democratic, liberal, radical and feminine voices 160 6 - Individualism Under Pressure 161 7 - The Radical in Crisis: Clough 174 8 - The Liberal in Crisis: Arnold 200 9 - A New Radical Aesthetic - The Grotesque as cultural critique: Morris 226 10 - Tennyson in the 1850s - New experiments in conservative poetry and the Type 245 11 - Browning in the 1850s and After - New experiments in radical poetry and the Grotesque 276 12 - 'A Music of Thine Own' - Women's poetry--an expressive tradition? 308 Part III - Another Culture? Another Poetics? 366 Introduction - The 1860s and After - Aesthetics, language, power and high finance 367 13 - Swinburne: Agonistic Republican - The poetry of sensation as democratic critique 387 14 - Hopkins: Agonistic Reactionary - The Grotesque as conservative form 405 15 - Meredith and Others - Hard, gem-like dissidence 424 16 - James Thomson: Atheist, Blasphemer and Anarchist - The Grotesque sublime 443 Postscript 460 Notes 472 Index 516 Victorian Poetry is a major re-evaluation of the genre by one of the foremost scholars of the period. In a work that is uniquely comprehensive, Isobel Armstrong demonstrates the sophistication of Victorian poetry and rescues it from its longstanding image as a moralised form of romantic verse'. For the first time, familiar middle-class male poets, such as Tennyson, Swinburne, Hopkins and Browning, are related to female and working-class poets. For the first time also, the aesthetics and politics of Victorian poetry, both conservative and radical, are brought together in a sustained historical discussion. Armstrong's analysis is theoretically astute and challenges some of the major issues in contemporary criticism in a way that is clear and unassuming. Re-reading Victorian poetry from the midst of contemporary literary criticism, this volume constitutes a landmark in the appreciation and understanding of Victorian literature In a work that is uniquely comprehensive and theoretically astute, Isobel Armstrong rescues Victorian poetry from its longstanding sepia image as `a moralised form of romantic verse', and unearths its often subversive critique of nineteenth-century culture and politics. In a comprehensive and theoretically astute study, Armstrong rescues Victorian poetry from its images as a `moralised form of romantic verse' and unearths its often subversive critique of nineteenth-century culture and politics. In this comprehensive and astute critique of Victorian poetry Isobel Armstrong unearths its often subversive attack on 19th century culture and politics