The Victorian Age or the Age of Tennyson was a period of productivity and scientific temperament. Lord Alfred Tennyson was a representative poet of the age and others include Robert Browning , Matthew Arnold and Thomas Hardy. They have tried to set the Victorian ideals in their poems and encapsulates the social turmoils and progress and its impact on the society.
The important characteristic of the age was the development of elegy. Victorian poets wrote elegies to translate their own feelings and emotions in their poems. “In Memoriam” is considered to be the second most celebrated elegy after Thomas Gray’s ” Elegy Written in the Country Churchyard”. These elegies transcends the flow of sentiments from the arousal of certain demise in the poet’s own personal life or the impact of progressions that evokes instability on the society.
The Victorian poets focuses on the classical legends. They allude to the classical legends of Ancient poets such as Homer in their writings. The implication is to bridge the parallel comparison between past and present scenario. The elements from past seems no lesser stable than the present situation. Victorian poets transcends their feelings of contemporary age into the mythical narrative.
There is also a spirit of medievalism in their poetry. As the poet focuses on the classics, the characters are drawn from the classical poets like King Arthur , Achilles and others. The spirit of medievalism was the age of chivalry, honor and valor and characters like King Arthur imbue in their personality. The Knights represent honor and holds a position of upper rank in the society. Hence, the spirit of medievalism is also seen in their poems to ensure a classical quality in their writings.
The Victorian era witnessed the search and quest for knowledge. It was not only the journey to the East and discover lands but the developments of understanding the working of the universe and planets. There was a spirit of inquiry and this was a common essence in many of the Victorian poems. Charles Lyell “Principles of Geology” led to the primitive discovery of natural catastrophe and disaster that happens on earth. He tried to inquire the calamity of Noah’s flood in the Bible to be of natural disaster like earthquake which contradicted the Bible and hence it resulted in the early signs of conflict between science and religion.
There was a production of literary style known as dramatic monologue. It was perfected by Robert Browning and it influenced many poets of the age to experiment in dramatic monologue. The main features of the dramatic monologue is the existence of the speaker and the listener. Through dramatic monologue, there is an exploration of social realism. There is the connection between past memorial experiences to the present. There is also a character development of the speaker as well as the character development of the other character being discussed in the poem. The dramatic monologue enabled the poets to express their subjective notions of experiences and emotion through the speaker.
The Victorian era was heavily affected by Charles Darwin’s Theory. He published his book called “On the origin of Species” which caused religious instability in the society. This book tried to highlight the evolution of mankind and stated that there were no intervention of God in creating the mankind. It was the process of evolution that made mankind evolved and it contradicted with the religious doctrine and Bible. Hence, the transitional poets like Matthew Arnold mourns the loss of faith by people due to Darwinian theory.
Lastly, the important aspect of Victorian writing is the echo of utilitarianism. It believes in the superiority of facts than emotions. This resulted in the materialistic mindset of the people and hence the emotions of love, empathy and compassionate were lost. Matthew Arnold echoes the loss of emotions in his poem and it was a direct impact of utilitarianism which led to the engulfment of materialism on the people.
