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The Victorian Age (1830-1901) - Literary guide 2 - Coggle Diagram
The Victorian Age (1830-1901) - Literary guide 2
Poetry: Victorian introspection and doubt
Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) has been a bereaved poet since Arthur Hallam's death. His poems were set in medieval past, describing emotional states.
He reflected upon the nature of reality, the place of religion in a scientific age.
EX.In Memorian (1850) presents a meditation on providence, death, belief and doubt.
Poetry bis
Pre-raphaelites was a group of painters who aimed to return to early Christian art and to elevate people's heart by portraying noble scenes.
Robert Browning (1812-1889) is known for his monologues in which the speakers adress a silent listener. they betray themselves so that the reader discovers their secret.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) wrote love poems to her husband in Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850).
Sensual and religious ecstasy
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) drew his inspiration from early Italian painting, Dante. His poems sanctify sexual love.
His sister, Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) was inspired by her religious devotion. Cf. A Pageant.
William Morris (1834-1896) wrote The Eatherly Paradise which is an epic poem about myths.
Algernon Charles Swinburne's poems stir a sensation in a country where puritanical morality prevailed, since he has written about masochism.
Drama
The Theatres Act of 1843 limited the licensing powers of the Lord Chamberlain. As a result, new theatres were created.
The most popular genre was melodrama, farce and pantomime. W.S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan lampoon Victorian institutions: the legal profession, social status, respectability and bureaucracy.
The Ballad of Reading Goal (1898) by Oscar Wilde was inspired by his imprisonment due to his homosexuality.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) believed the theatre could shock people out of ther hypocrisy and snoberry. With Pygmalion, he rewrites the myth of an artist who falls in love with his creation.
Mrs Warren's profession (1893) tackles the prostitution as a job to earn a living.