Victorian Authors

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold

(1822-1888)

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was a British poet and critic during the Victorian era. Born in Laleham, a village in the valley to the Thames, Arnold spent his childhood near a river, which would act as a great influence later on in his life. In 1837, Arnold first attended the Rugby School where his father, Thomas Arnold, was the headmaster. Following the Rugby School, Arnold attended Oxford beginning in 1841 and while a student, focused less on his studies and was regarded as a “dandy.” The youthful frivolity displayed did not last long, as Arnold took the post of private secretary to Lord Lansdowne in 1847. Lord Lansdowne helped Arnold secure his job as Inspector of Schools in 1851 and for 35 years, he assumed this position. During the 1860s, Arnold acquired his reputation as a critic and shortly after became a public figure. His major works during this time period include Essays in Criticism, Culture and Anarchy, and Literature and Dogma. Following his time spent in the public spotlight, Arnold retired from school inspecting in 1886 and died of a heart failure on April 15, 1888. Arnold is remembered for his abilities as a poet and critic alike, as he stimulated change and inspiration in the world.

Arnold and The Church

Matthew Arnold had a very interesting relationship with religion, especially for living during the victorian era. He was raised in a very liberal Anglican household, yet was heavily influenced by John Henry Newman, who was a very important figure in the church at the time. Arnold highly respected Newman, a conservative Catholic, for his spirituality, Arnold became an agnostic later in life. Although he had his own religious doubts, a source of great anxiety for him, he sought to capture the true essence of Christianity in many of his essays. His arguments for a renewed religious faith and an adoption of classical and aesthetic morals were representative of the main stream ideas of the Victorian era. At this point in time, Oxford movements of evangelicals worked to re-establish the morals of Christianity in everyday life. Arnold supported a movement for spirituality, yet he had difficulty believing it for himself and much of this is reflected in his works such as “Last Essays On Church and Religion”.

For an analysis of Arnold’s poem Dover Beach, click here: Dover Beach

Arnold’s Prose Work
Arnold’s prose work could be dissected into several sections. The most common divisions that are suggested are Literary, Social & Theological Theory & Criticism.
It is said that when the poet in Arnold died, the critic was born; and it is true that from this time onward he turned almost entirely to prose. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
For a complete list of all of his works of prose, please refer to the following link:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/88
This link includes prose that he completed throughout his lifetime. While Arnold was highly acclaimed for his work in these many areas, it is argued by many that his most notable was prose. Here is an excerpt of a letter written to his mother about his own self reflection:

“My poems represent, on the whole, the main movement of mind over the last quarter of a century, and thus they will probably have their day as people become conscious to themselves of what that movement of mind is, and interested in the literary productions which reflect it. It might be fairly urged that I have less practical sentiment than Tennyson, and less intellectual vigour and abundance than Browning; yet, because I have perhaps more of a fusion of the two than either of them, and have more regularly applied that fusion to the main line of modern development, I am likely enough to have my turn, as they have had theirs.” (http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-bio/bl-marnold.htm)

Criticism
Criticism began to take a more important place in his output, and he published his Lectures on Translating Homer in 1861 (39), followed by Last Words on Translating Homer in 1862 (40) and Essays on Criticism in 1865 (43), most of his writings appearing initially as individual essays in periodicals. (www.adnax.com/biogs/ma.htm)

Theology and social theory
He began devoting his attention to social and theological subjects, and Literature and Dogma (1873, 51), which addressed the then huge market for religious publications, and dealt with the contemporary concerns of religious faith and the perceived crisis of Christianity, sold more than 100,000 copies. His Last Essays on Church and Religion (1877, 55) included the essay The Church of England, first delivered as a lecture to the London Clergy at [[@http://www.adnax.com/notes/6victoriannotes.htm#Sion College|Sion College]] at the invitation of Henry Milman, in which he berated them for their obsequiousness to the landed and propertied classes, pointing out that such attitudes had no place in the Christian religion. He concluded his writings on religion with the observation that he believed Christianity would survive because the teachings of Christ addressed issues central to the moral experience of mankind. (www.adnax.com/biogs/ma.htm)

Only a quarter of his productive life was given to writing poetry, but many of the same values, attitudes, and feelings that are expressed in his poems achieve a fuller or more balanced formulation in his prose. This unity was obscured for most earlier readers by the usual evaluations of his poetry as gnomic or thought-laden, or as melancholy or elegiac, and of his prose as urbane, didactic, and often satirically witty in its self-imposed task of enlightening the social consciousness of England. (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/matthew-arnold#poet)

Although he continued to publish and write poems, Arnold turned increasingly to prose and became in the last three decades of his life a widely influential social and literary critic whose works continue to shape and provoke contemporary debate. (http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/authors/arnoldm.html)

Complete List of Prose
Essays, Letters, and Reviews by Matthew Arnold Essays, Letters, and Reviews by Matthew Arnold (1960)Friendship’s Garland (1883)”Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve,” in Encyclopedia Britannica, ninth edition, IX: 162-165 (1886)”Isaiah of Jerusalem” in the Authorized English Version, with an Introduction, Corrections and Notes (1883)”Schools,” in The Reign of Queen Victoria (1887)A Bible-Reading for Schools: The Great Prophecy of Israel’s Restoration (1872)A French Eton; or, Middle Class Education and the State (1864)Arnold as Dramatic Critic (1903)Civilization in the United States: First and Last Impressions of America (1888)Complete Prose Works (1960)Culture and Anarchy (1883)Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism (1869)Culture and the State (1965)Discourses in America (1885)Education Department (1886)England and the Italian Question (1859)England and the Italian Question, (1953)Essays in Criticism (1865)Essays in Criticism: Second Series (1888)Essays in Criticism: Third Series (1910)Five Uncollected Essays of Matthew Arnold (1953)General Grant, with a Rejoinder by Mark Twain (1966)General Grant: An Estimate (1887)God and the Bible: A Review of Objections to “Literature and Dogma” (1875)Heinrich Heine (1863)Higher Schools and Universities in Germany (1874)Irish Essays, and Others (1882)Isaiah XLLXVI; with the Shorter Prophecies Allied to It (1875)Last Essays on Church and Religion (1877)Letters of Matthew Arnold, 1848-1888 (1895)Letters of an Old Playgoer (1919)Letters, Speeches and Tracts on Irish Affairs by Edmund Burke (1881)Literature and Dogma: An Essay towards a Better Apprehension of the Bible (1873)Matthew Arnold’s Letters: A Descriptive Checklist (1968)Matthew Arnold’s Notebooks (1902)Mixed Essays (1879)On Home Rule for Ireland: Two Letters to “The Times” (1891)On Translating Homer: Last Words: A Lecture Given at Oxford (1862)On Translating Homer: Three Lectures Given at Oxford (1861)On the Modern Element in Literature (1869)On the Study of Celtic Literature (1883)Poems of Wordsworth (1879)Poetry of Byron (1881)Reports on Elementary Schools 1852-1882 (1889)Schools and Universities on the Continent (1867)St. Paul and Protestantism; with an Introduction on Puritanism and the Church of England (1883)The Hundred Greatest Men: Portraits of the One Hundred Greatest Men of History (1879)The Letters of Matthew Arnold to Arthur Hugh Clough (1932)The Note-Books of Matthew Arnold (1952)The Popular Education of France, with Notices of That of Holland and Switzerland (1861)The Six Chief Lives from Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets,” with Macaulay’s “Life of Johnson,” (1878)The Study of Poetry (1880)Thoughts on Education Chosen From the Writings of Matthew Arnold (1912)Unpublished Letters of Matthew Arnold (1923)
(http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/88)

Sources:
The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Gen. ed. David Damrosch and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. 4th ed. Vol. 1C. New York: Longman, 2010.
2441-58. Print.
Collini, Stefan. Arnold. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print.
Hamilton, Ian. A Gift Imprisoned: The Poetic Life of Matthew Arnold. London: Bloomsbury, 1998. Print.
George Levine
Victorian Poetry , Vol. 26, No. 1/2, Centennial of Matthew Arnold: 1822-1888 (Spring – Summer, 1988), pp. 143-162
Photograph-http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/matthew-arnold

Emily Brontë

A Declaration of Catherine and Heathcliff’s Love

The Life of Emily Brontë

Biographical Information:
Emily Brontë was born on July 30th 1818 in Thornton, Yorkshire, which is located in England. She was born to her mother, Maria Branwell Brontë and her father, Patrick Brontë and was the fifth of six children. Unfortunately, Emily and her family lost her mother early on, just shortly after her younger sister Anne, who eventually became a writer too, was born. As a result of losing her mother, Emily’s maternal aunt, Elizabeth Branwell, took on the responsibility as mother and caretaker of the family and came to assist the family. Both Patrick and Elizabeth Branwell were Methodists and this is where she got some of her religious education. Tragedy struck the Brontë family once again when Emily was seven when her two older sisters, Elizabeth and Maria died from tuberculosis (Brownson). After this, Emily’s father made the decision to keep his daughters at home instead of sending them back to school. It is perhaps this turn of events that helped Emily and her two sisters become writers since most of their free time was now spent at home reading and brainstorming and exchanging stories between siblings. Emily, her two sisters Charlotte and Anne, her brother and even her father are all said to have had great imaginations and creativity. Though Emily had many deaths in her family her upbringing was reported as surprisingly normal. (Brownson)

Emily went on to write almost 200 poems in her life but only a small fraction were published in her life time (Brownson). Her only novel,Wuthering Heights, is one of her most famous works. Emily was often seen as a very strange woman who never was able to leave this isolation. This made her seem even more mysterious and created many myths about her. Not much is known about the last the last couple of years of Emily’s life except for the fact that her family continued to be cursed with sickness. This included her father becoming nearly blind and her brother dying from consumption (also known as tuberculosis) in September 1848. She became sick with consumption and refused medical attention in October 1848. Emily sadly died at the age of 30 only a few months later on December 9 (Brownson).

Throughout the Victorian Era, social class was an important topic of debate and that can be seen throughout Wuthering Heights. This topic clearly influences Emily’s work since society was very concerned with one’s social class as well as the restricted rights for women, despite a women’s social class status. Emily describes how one’s social class affects his or her character rather than discussing the issue as a satire. Throughout her work, Emily displays afocus on the fact that actions have consequences and that the characteristics that one displays is very important to their overall character as a person. Her focus on the issues of conduct also helps to contribute to make Wuthering Heights a realistic novel. During this time period there was also a loss of optimism and a sense of uncertainty in what was to come. This may be reflected in Emily’s work as Wuthering Heights constantly has people dying rather unexpected and most of the people end up living pretty miserable lives.

Assessment of Wuthering Heights

Family Connections

The Brontë sisters

Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, but it was Charlotte who edited and published the novel after Emily’s death, in addition to penning the preface to the work (it was originally published in 1847, a year before Emily died and three years before Charlotte’s edition was published). Charlotte additionally added a Biographical Notice, publicly admitting for the first time that the mysterious authors Currer, Ellis, and Action Bell were in fact three women (Ref 2). Charlotte takes the preface as a chance to both praise her sister’s work and express doubt on the inclusion of some of the controversial elements.

The Preface reveals that, while Charlotte admired her sister’s work, she was not afraid to point to its “faults,” or to debate the controversial elements of Wuthering Heights. She discusses the great loss that many readers will experience, as anyone unfamiliar with the passions and wildness of northern England will not be able to appreciate Emily’s skill in representing these qualities. She also acknowledges that Emily–a woman not inclined to converse with the people around her yet knew much about them by listening–may have had a darker view of people than most; as Charlotte claims, when all one knows of people is facts about them, the mind clings to “tragic and terrible traits,” which stick out in memory. Charlotte also expresses doubt that it is “right or advisable” for her sister to have written a character as dark as Heathcliff; however, she notes that it hardly matters, because the writer is “not always master” of her art, and “little deserve[s] blame” if her creative product is unattractive (Ref 3). Even having pointed to these faults, though, Charlotte herself does not even hint at the contention that any of these elements make Wuthering Heights of lesser quality. In fact, she ends her Preface first on the concept that Emily–or an author, for that matter–is not necessarily responsible for the controversial elements of the novel, at least the ones that she addresses in the Preface. She also notes that, despite all this, Wuthering Heights is an impressive work, and ends her Preface on that note.

Themes
Race/Social Class
Wuthering Heights mainly follows characters Heathcliff and Catherine. Healthcliff comes from a gypsy background, and is adopted into the Earnshaw family. Both the father and the daughter, Catherine, are very welcoming to Heathcliff. Hindley Earnshaw however, is not very welcoming. Much like the Wuthering Heights society, Heathcliff isconsidered a beast because of both his ethnicity and also his poor economic background.

The way that Heathcliff is treated reflects the moral intent of Wuthering Heights, which is to criticize society and the definition of civilization. Following the in the tradition of other famous Victorian novelists, Wuthering Heights fiercely criticizes certain elements of society. Emily Brontë’s writing implies that the concept of civilization promotes selfishness, that organized religion is hypocritical, and that the basis for family life is not love, but greed. Each of these criticisms are typical of Victorian writing; all can easily be found in Emily’s sister’s writing, or even in Dickens’ novels. Heathcliff’s family, the Earnshaws, are the vehicles for many of these criticisms. Mrs. Earnshaw’s desire to be rid of Heathcliff, in particular, reflects a selfishness seen as acceptable within the world of the novel. Additionally, the behavior of the Earnshaw family demonstrates the contention that family life in the society of the time was built around the desire for wealth or power. Brontë moves outside the family in order to criticize organized religion. The character Joseph is hypocritical in typical Victorian fashion (Robert Browning takes the same approach in “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”): he sees everyone damned but himself, but any outside observer can tell that he is truly selfish and worse than those he condemns.

Love
Despite these social differences Catherine and Heathcliff fall in love. As a child Catherine is described as being wicked, and she did whatever she pleased. Heathcliff would have followed her anywhere. Yet, as they grew older their love became overshadowed by social status. Heathcliff knows that Catherine would never marry him without having any prospects. He leaves to make something of himself to impress Catherine. When Heathcliff returns he discovers that Catherine had already married a man named Linton. Linton came from a wealthy family with high social status. Both Catherine and Heathcliff know that Catherine married merely for money and class. Upon learning of her marriage Healthcliff tries in a doomed attempt to convince Catherine to be with him. He explains “if he loved with all the powers of puny being, he couldn’t love much as in eighty years as I could in a single day.”

Catherine even tells Nelly “My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff’s miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it.—My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don’t talk of our separation again: it is impracticable.” (Bronte, 79)

Unfortunately, Catherine chooses vanity and wealth above the love that they share. She later dies with regret wishing that she had spent her life with Heathcliff.

Revenge
Throughout most of the novel Heathcliff is constantly looking for revenge. He does everything he can to hurt those who are related to Catherine and Edgar. Healthcliff marries Edgars sister in order to spite him and Catherine. Throughout their marriage he treats his wife with hate because she is not Catherine. He also holds distaste for his own son because of his Isabel. Healthcliffs last act of revenge was hiring Catherine’s daughter to work for him. He treats her horribly because she reminds him of Catherine, he believes the birth killed Catherine, and because he wasn’t her father.

Supernatural
The ghost of Catherine haunts Heathcliff constantly. Her ghost drives him insane, but he would rather be insane than live in a world without Catherine in it. At the end of the novel Heathcliff is found dead in the Moors after walking with Catherines ghost.

Symbols
Ghosts

Catherines ghost drives Healthcliff to insanity. Her ghost reminds him of the pain of not being able to be with her.
Yet, it also brings him peace. Knowing that Catherines spirit never left him makes him feel whole.
Upon Heathcliffs death he is seen happy and smiling with Catherines ghost. He died happy and at peace because he was with Catherine.
Catherine’s ghost represents Heathcliffs longing but also his peace

The Moors

Example of Moors

The Moors symbolizes youth and freedom. This was the place Heathcliff and Catherine would run away together as children.
It represented hope and contrasted with Wuthering Heights where they could not be together and had to uphold to social expectations.
In comparison to society, the Moors were wild and unpredictable. It was a place for Catherine and Healthcliff to dream. Meanwhile, once back in society those dreams are crushed.

Other Works
Emily Brontë’s canon is not as extensive as that of other Victorian writers, in part due to her early death. Additionally, Wuthering Heights is by far the most famous of her works. However, she did have a history of talented writing, and was also a poet in addition to being novelist. Her poetry was published in the volume Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846) under the pen name Ellis Bell.

This might be helpful
https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/Emily20Bronte20Biography.pdf

Works Cited

E‍‍ditors, Biography.com. Emily Brontë. 23 10 2015. 20 4 2017. <http://www.biography.com/people/emily-bronte-9227381>.

Heathcliff and Catherine Image: https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/il_340x270.1105653303_r6sx.jpg

Moors Image: https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/wensleydale_yorkshire_dales_0.jpg

Family Image: https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/BronteSisters-large-1.jpg

Brownson, Siobhan Craft. “Emily Brontë.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/emily-bronte>‍‍

Shapiro, Arnold. “Wuthering Heights as a Victorian Novel.” DISCovering Authors, Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2101202067/SUIC?u=lblesd&xid=e1927b23. Accessed 28 Apr. 2017.

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 1847. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.

Contributors
Heather McAdams
Alyssa Ainsworth
Kaitlyn Kaczka
Lauren Heiges

Charlotte Brontë

1850 Portrait of Charlotte Brontë

Background Information

Charlotte Brontë, the eldest of the famous Brontë sisters, was a novelist and poet born in 1816. Her most well-known work, Jane Eyre, was published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell (one of three pseudonyms under which she published), the same year that her sisters Emily and Anne published Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, respectively (Ref 1).

*Paragraph on Early Life/Bronte Family

*Paragraph on School Career

*Paragraph on Writing Career

*List of Works (Creative Format? Maybe framed like we distinguish between all the sisters’ works?)

Assessment of Wuthering Heights

Charlotte’s sister Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, but it was Charlotte who edited and published the novel after Emily’s death, in addition to penning the preface to the work (it was originally published in 1847, a year before Emily died and three years before Charlotte’s edition was published). Charlotte additionally added a Biographical Notice, publicly admitting for the first time that the mysterious authors Currer, Ellis, and Action Bell were in fact three women (Ref 2). Charlotte takes the preface as a chance to both praise her sister’s work and express doubt on the inclusion of some of the controversial elements.

*Paragraph on our Assessment

References

Ref 1: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio.html
Ref 2: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/charlotte-bronts-1850-preface-to-wuthering-heights

Ref 3 Wuthering Heights Preface

Ref 4 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3523

Etc.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Browning,Elizabeth.jpg

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Biographical Information

An Original Letter from Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett

Works

Sonnets from the Portuguese

References

Biographical Information

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806 in Durham, England. The Barrett family was very wealthy and she enjoyed an incredible childhood. As a young child Elizabeth loved to read and write. Shakespeare was her favorite writer. Inspiration from Shakespeare had Elizabeth writing her own poetry (primarily sonnets) by the time she became a young teenager. Elizabeth was very close to her family, and suffered deep depressions after losing family members. After the death of her favorite brother, she locked herself in her room and refused to come out. Instead of talking, she expressed herself through poetry. She also battled health issues and was never completely happy until she fell in love. She met Robert Browning after he wrote a letter praising her poetry. Her love with Robert Browning inspired her famous “Sonnets from the Portuguese.” Elizabeth died in Robert’s arms June 29, 1861.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one who was admired and sometimes criticized by many. Robert Bernard Martin had a more specific view:

“Elizabeth Barrett Browning has always been one of those writers who act like a polished surface to reflect the concerns of those who write about them. . . . Part of the popular appeal her life has always exerted comes from its evocation of half-recognized motifs from legends, fairy-tales and other fictions; Sleeping Beauty, Juliet and Cinderella all jostle elbows in most accounts of her elopement and marriage, and when Browning reordered them in The Ring and the Book, he found cognates in the stories of Andromeda and Perseus, of St George and the princess victim, even — somewhat embarrassingly — in the flight into Egypt of the Holy Family. Probably a bit too pat for modern readers, particularly when Elizabeth seems to have cast herself in the leading roles. Not the least of their wish fulfilling quality has been that these youthful adventures all happened to a middle-aged woman.”

An Original Letter from Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Works

Sonnets from the Portuguese

The “Sonnets from the Portuguese” were inspired by Robert Browning. It consisted of a series of 44 sonnets describing the love that Elizabeth felt for Robert. This dedication to Robert made it clear that her love was unconditional. These sonnets became very popular among the Victorian period, and young women longed to experience the love that Browning herself got to enjoy.

A Timeline of Browning’s Life
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ebb/ebtl.html

References

Martin, Robert Bernard. “A Valetudinarian and Her Values,” Times Literary Supplement (August 18-25, 1988): 900.
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/152
Pictures taken from http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/loveletter.htm
“Elizabeth Barrett Browning.” Spectrum Biographies. http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/BrowningEB.html
Contributors
Kaitlin Baird
Keiana Williams
Tegan Orzechowski

Robert Browning

Robert Browning
1812-1889

Robert Browning

“God is the perfect poet, Who in his person acts his own creations.”
~Robert Browning

Biographical Information

Robert Browning was born on May 7, 1812 in Camberwell, London. His father was a bank clerk for the Bank of England and his mother was a religious woman with great love for music. Browning’s father kept a large library where Browning spent a lot of his time. Although he went off to study at a boarding school close to Cambridge, and was a student for a short while at the University of London, Browning preferred educating himself in his home library. He loved to read and was tutored in everything from foreign languages to boxing.

Browning’s first published poem was Pauline, printed in 1833 when he was twenty-one. He had modeled the poem after the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, a hero of his. Pauline was a very confessional poem, with Browning exposing his true feelings through the narrator. When John Stuart Mill reviewed Pauline, he noted that the young Browning was suffering from an “intense and morbid self-consciousness.” Browning was very embarrassed by that statement and attempted to never self-disclose himself in his works ever again.

He began writing plays for the London stage. The first play he ever wrote was titled Strafford which was shown for four days. He ended up not being too successful in the theater business, but theater did lead him to discover something else he was good at : writing dramatic monologues. He composed a book made up of the many dramatic monologues he began to write and called it Dramatic Lyrics. It was published in 1842.

Browning met his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1845. They later eloped to Italy. Browning’s book of poems, Men and Women, is about the time he spent in Italy with his love. When Elizabeth died in 1861, Browning moved back to London with his son. There he published another book of dramatic monologues called Dramatis Personae in 1864. Four years later, he published his longest poem, The Ring and the Book, inspired by a true murder story. He died in 1889 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He was remembered by his close friends as an eccentric man that was interested in many subjects. Thomas Hardy went so far as to deem him “the literary puzzle of the nineteenth century.”

Relationship with Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In 1845, Robert Browning wrote a letter to Miss Elizabeth Barrett, admiring her writing. From that point on, Robert and Elizabeth exchanged approximately 600 letters. They met in person later that year and fell in love. It seemed like an unlikely match at first since Elizabeth was six years older than Robert, was a semi-invalid, and was ordered by her father never to be married. In 1846, however, they eloped and were married at St. Marylebone Parish Church. They then moved to Italy together to try and help a lung condition that Elizabeth suffered from. In 1849, in Florence, Italy, Elizabeth gave birth to their son Robert Weidermann Barrett Browning.

Click here to view the original love letter sent from Robert to Elizabeth in 1945.

Works

The Voice of Robert Browning

A phonograph recording of Robert Browning’s voice was made in 1889. Browning was at a dinner party of his artist friend, Rudolf Lehmann, when he was offered the chance to say a few words. The following is a copy of the original recording. In it, Browning recites his poem “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix” from memory. He stops reciting after a few lines because he can not remember all of it.

A transcription can be found below the recording.

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/how-they-brought-good-news-ghent-aix-extract
“I sprang to the saddle, and Joris, and he;
I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
‘Speed’ echoed the wall to us galloping through . .
‘Speed’ echoed the . . .
Then the gate shut behind us, the lights sank to rest. . .

I’m terrible sorry but I can’t remember me own verses, but one thing that I shall
remember all me life is the astonishing [inaudible] by your wonderful invention.

Robert Browning.

[Other voices]
Bravo, bravo.
Hip, hip, hooray.
Hip, hip, hooray.
Hip, hip, hooray.
Bravo!”

Here is a link to the full text of “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix.”

References

1. Image 1: <http://images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com/image/A2189/218981/300_218981.jpg>.
2. Image 2: <http://www.browningguide.org/>.
3. Image 3: Beerbohm, Max. Robert Browning, Taking Tea with the Browning Society. <http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/mb/browning.html>.
4. Abrams, M. H. & Steven Greenblatt (Ed.) (2001). The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company.
5. “Robert Browning.” Nation Master Encyclopedia. 2005. NationMaster. 7 Dec. 2008. <http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Robert-Browning>.
6. “Robert Browning.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 7 Dec. 2008
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/81841/Robert-Browning>.
7. “Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elope.” 2008. The History Channel website. 8 Dec. 2008, <[[http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do? action=Article&id=4089|http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=4089]]>.
8. “Robert Browning.” Poetry Archive. 2005. 10 Dec. 2008, <http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1545>.
9. “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix- An Extract.” Poetry Archive. 2005. 10 Dec. 2008, <http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=1546>.

Contributors

Sarah Stevenson

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

The Life of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens full name was, Charles John Huffam Dickens. He was born in Landport, Portsea, England on February 7th, 1812. He was the second child of eight children, but the first son, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. John was a clerk in the Navy Pay office, with little pay. The Navy transferred John and his family to London, then two years later to Chatham. He lived there from 1817-1821, and relocated to Camden Town, London in 1822. In 1824, John Dickens fell into debt and was sent to prison along with the rest of the family, except for Charles. Charles was sent to work at Warren’s Shoe Blacking Factory at age ten. He was sent there to paste labels on blacking-pots. The little money he made was to help his family out.He lived in a boarding house and walked to work everyday.On Sundays he would go to visit his father in prison. Dickens’s father had a little pension saved away which he gave to his son to live in a better quarters. An elder of the Dickens family di ed and have left the family some money, which finally released them from prison. Dickens’s father quickly released him from the blacking factory and was placed in school.

Wellington House Academy

He was happy at Wellington House Academy at the age of twelve for two years. During this time, Dickens started writing small tales to his fellow classmates. At age fourteen he was employed as a clerk in an attorney’s office. From 1830 he worked as a shorthand reporter in the courts and afterward as a parliamentary and newspaper reporter.In 1833 Dickens started putting some of his short stories and essays into periodicals. His first story, “A Dinner at a Popular Walk,” was published in the Monthly Magazine. His first book, Sketches by Boz, was published in 1836. Dickens adopted this name “Boz” because “he was not sure of the reception which the public would give his writings” (Rupert, p.15).

Catherine Dickens

Later in 1836, Dickens his editor’s daughter, Catherine Hogarth.Then in 1837 he has his first child and later having ten children altogether. Later that year Catherine’s sister died and Dickens started to publish Oliver Twist.In addition, he published daily editorials for Bentley’s Miscellany. After this he toured the continent and returned to London to start writing The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Through the next three years published The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge.

In 1842 Dickens and Catherine traveled to America. Then in 1843 Dickens’s famous novel, A Christmas Carol was published. In 1848, Dickens sister, Fanny died. Later that year his last Christmas book was published, The Haunted Man.In 1849, Dickens started to publish David Copperfield. In 1851, things started to get a little rough for Dickens. His wife and new baby were taken severely ill. They were taken to country lodgings at Great Malverin. Almost two weeks later his father fell ill; he went to visit him in London. He arrived at his bedside and his father did not remember him. Dickens later wrote a letter “He did not know me. He began to sink at about noon…and never rallied afterwords. I remained there till he died-O so quietly…I hardly know what to do” (Rupert, p.45). Ten days later Dickens was called back again to London to preside as a chairman at a great public dinner given for the General Theatrical Fund. After he made the speech at the dinner, he was handed a letter that told him his baby daughter, Dora,that had fell ill earlier was now dead. Catherine recovered from her illness; however she was not back to her same self again. Throughout his life Dickens was interested in the theatre and organized and participated in many amateur theatricals. For instance, during this time period, he presented Not so Bad as We Seem, before Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort.

Up until 1858 he published numerous works; Hard Times, Bleak House, and Little Dorrit.Then later he separated from his wife, Catherine.The next year in 1859 he published the famous, A Tale of Two Cities.The next year he published Great Expectations. Later in 1860, Dickens’s brother, Alfred, died. Three years later, Dickens’s mother Elizabeth died.On Christmas Eve, his lifelong friend Thackeray died. The following February, in 1864, his son,Walter, died in Calcutta.All of these events sunk him into a great depression which had greatly affected his health. He started doctoring plays for Lyceum Theatre Management. By the end of that year, Dickens old friend, John Leech died. In addition, by the start of 1865 he suffered a severe illness which left him with a lameness in his left foot for the remainder of his life.Two years later he was on his way back to London when he was in a railway accident near Staplehurst.Ten people were killed and twenty were injured. Dickens remembered while exiting the train that the manuscript of Our Mutual Friend was in his luggage, so he crawled back on the train and retrieved his manuscript.

In 1867, he revisited the Americas, and had seen the cities size doubled.In 1868 he started making tours and reading to his audience.This is when he started getting ill again.He lost his sight, memory and he suffered attacks of numbness on the left side of his face which later spread to his whole body. In April 1868, he collapsed and his physicians said he suffered great fatigue from his readings. A year later, Dickens gave a final series for twelve farewell readings in London.His last reading was given in March of 1870. Dickens spent his last days in his home in Gad’s Hill with the care of his sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth. He died on June 9th, 1870.

Historical Contexts of Great Expectations

Great Expectations is one of the most well-known works of the Victorian Era. Originally published in All the Year Round, a periodical founded by Dickens, the novel ran in serialized pieces from December 1860 to August 1861. The novel is said, by Frazier Russell in his Introduction “When I Was a Child,” to be “Dickens’s most psychologically acute self- portrait.” Although the novel was one of Dickens’ last, written late in his life, it can be argued that many of the characters and struggles chronicled by Dickens are inspired by events and people in his own young life. For example, Pip “can be viewed as a kind of excavation for its author, a cathartic attempt to come to terms with the painful facts of his childhood” (Russell). Another major influence surrounding Dickens’ literary symphony lies in his personal life at the time of its composition. Russell tells us that the period in which Dickens began writing Great Expectations was “a peak of emotional intensity for its author.”

Great Expectations can be seen as a reflection not only of Dickens’ personal life, however, but also of greater society at the time. Victorian England was undergoing significant change in the mid-19th century, especially in the areas of industrialization, class distinction, and crime. As a result, the themes and characters of Great Expectations can be seen almost as “an allegory of a nation’s transformation” (Cottom, 103). As readers follow Pip on his journey from life as a working-class boy in a simple, rural home to a well-off London “gentleman,” they also get a glimpse of the real-life struggles, deceit, and mystery behind a timeless story of upward mobility. Whether or not Dickens intended for this novel to be a critique or to inspire revolution is up for debate. According to some, Dickens hoped for social reform; for others, Great Expectations was simply “designed to establish and express the truth as Dickens and (at least some of) his readers saw it” (Walder, 161). If anything, much of what Dickens spoke to was the potential for moral reform, as morality seemed to be the greatest victim of these times. Regardless, Dickens uses Pip and the other characters in his novel to help expose the falsehoods that seemed to support Victoria England’s class structure. When Magwitch is revealed as Pip’s true benefactor and the worlds of the criminal and the luxurious come crashing together, Pip, as well as Dickens’s readers, are forced “to confront an ironic likeness between qualities that otherwise would appear to be absolutely contradictory: gentility and vulgarity, respectability and criminality, wealth and poverty, violence and civilization, and so on” (Cottom, 109-110).

Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution in England took place from approximately the mid-18th through mid-19th centuries. There were huge changes in technologies, populations, and employment for the people of England, and the effects that came about as a result of these changes can be seen in many aspects of life, specifically the two talked about below: class distinction and crime. Link this to article on Indust. Rev.

New technologies came about in a number of areas. Agriculturally, new technologies brought about a large increase in the raw materials available to feed the textile industry, as well as more food to sustain the now hugely populated industrial centers. The textile industry moved out of homes and small businesses and into mechanized factories that could produce significantly more product, and therefore, more profits. As textile factories grew up around London, workers flocked to these locations. Wages proved to be higher in industrial centers than rural areas, and more food could be found here. As far as wages were concerned, however, factories worked hard to employ the cheapest labor they could find, including (and, in fact, comprised mostly of) women and children. By 1860, approximately half of London’s children were enrolled in some kind of school; the other half, however, were forced to work. Transportation also modernized during this time, as the railroad system grew tremendously. Over 7,000 miles of railroad existed in England by 1852 (Montagna where does this source start?), and these rail systems were used to increase the trade of products both foreign and domestic. The invention of steam power also aided in the rapid growth of transportation and factory production.

As much as many people saw this revolution as a time of growth and golden prosperity, it was also a time of obsession with material wealth and luxury at the expense of the goodness of humanity. Dorothy van Ghent remarks that “Dickens lived in a time…in which a full-scale demolition of traditional values was going on…a process brought about by industrialization, colonial imperialism, and the exploitation of the human being as a ‘thing’…capable of being used for profit” (246). Prior to industrialization, land owning was the main determiner of wealth. This revolution, however, also brought with it a new wealth in the form of business and trade. Capitalists were coming to power, and people became socially ranked more in terms of their material possessions. While this idea of material wealth appears numerous times in Great Expectations as Pip lives amidst capitalist London, an early example of this expectation is when Estella, upon first meeting Pip (and later, Joe), does not take the time to judge him for his character but rather for his worn clothing and boots, signs of rural poverty in her otherwise pristine world. Pip realizes this distinction in social importance, and as soon as he is given the opportunity to go to London, one of the first things that occurs is the buying of more respectable clothing.

Class Distinctions

As mentioned above, prior to the Industrial Revolution, the land-owning aristocracy maintained much of the power in England. As the Victorian Era progressed, however, class distinctions became more developed and changed according to those who were now gaining economic power. The old aristocracy became known as the “upper class,” and the new wealthy capitalists began to make up the top of the “middle class.” And while originally, those in the middle class had developed themselves in opposition to the upper aristocracy, “increasingly, after the French Revolution, the middle class defined its identity…in the marginalization of the working class” (Morris, 8). And even those of the “working class” were split up: first there were those “skilled laborers” who seemed to have the ability to increase their standing, then “unskilled laborers,” and finally the “under class” of those stricken by poverty (Victorian Web). At the same time, throughout the 1850s and 60s, the middle class became increasingly wealthy, and as they became intent on a life of luxury, began to construct a myth for their time, where people were all autonomous individuals who could shape themselves regardless of outside influence and rise to important positions in society. In truth, however, “social mobility actually decreased after 1850, and the huge increase in national prosperity barely trickled down to the working class” in the next decades (Morris, 105). In response to this idealistic social mobility, Great Expectations constructs its own fable “aimed at an ironic exposure of the national enchantment with the myth of great expectations for all” (Morris, 108). The character of Pip is seduced by the fairy tale of wealth, but just when he seems to find it he realizes he has lost himself and all he stood for along the way. The myth is again exposed later, when Estella’s birth is discovered and asked to be kept a secret; should people know of her criminal birth, her privileged life would most likely be stolen away.

Gentlemen’s Attire, 1857

As a result of all of this change, the definition of what it meant to be a “gentleman,” also developed. On the one hand, there were the “born gentlemen” of the old aristocracy whose inheritance guaranteed them the education and manners to be called such a name. On the other hand, however, were the new class of men who began to designate themselves as gentlemen as a result of their newfound material prosperity. There were also many different meanings of the word “gentleman.” One could be wealthy, own property, have an educated background, or be a man of gentle ways. At least, one was expected to be of a high moral character. In his writing, “Dickens aimed to appeal to his predominantly middle-class audience, who believed that a man could aspire to be a gentleman by cultivating such values as decency, loyalty, generosity, sensitivity and hard work” (Walder, 161). This was a belief that primarily existed more as an ideal than as a truth; many of the “gentlemen” found in this Victorian society displayed none of the aforementioned characteristics, especially those associated with high morality, as it was easier to hide their true nature behind their money.

This reality is evident throughout Dickens’s novel, especially in the character of Pip before he “reforms” after finding out the true identity of his benefactor. In Great Expectations, some of the most moral characters, those of Joe and Biddy, for instance, are those considered to be the least like gentlemen by those in higher society because they lack the associated wealthy status. By the end of the novel, however, Dickens does seem to approve of Pip’s rise to the middle-class, “telling us that he worked hard and paid his debts, unlike the ‘false’ gentleman, Compeyson, who resorted to crime and betrayal” (Walder, 159).

Crime

With the great expansion of cities and the accumulation of wealth during the Industrial Revolution came a new “interconnection of men with crime, especially crimes of greed, malpractice, and business fraud” (Morris, 106). In order to maintain the idea of the prosperity and social growth however, the solution to diminishing the view of crime in these areas was to point the finger at the poverty-stricken lower class. Morris indeed argues that “Magwitch is intended to represent the scapegoat poor of prosperous mid-Victorian England, criminalized and punished for the guilt of poverty” (117).
That is not to say, however, that criminal behavior was not at its worst. Crime ran rampant through the streets of London; pickpockets, shoplifters, muggers, con men, and other breeds of criminals could be found on every dark corner, and no man, woman, or child could be considered exempt from harm. Prostitution was also a main source of criminal behavior, though even prostitutes themselves were easily targets for violence. In an effort to help stay the crime wave, The Metropolitan Police Force was established in 1829; however, the officers’ misconduct and intimidation from the criminal world did little to help the situation. One other solution was to strengthen the prison system, and between 1842 and 1877, ninety prisons were built or extended. In Dickens, read

Newgate Prison

ers are given glimpses of the filth and disgust of Newgate, one of the greatest prisons in London history, during Pip’s visits. He is repulsed by the gallows, the debtor’s door, and the shameful appearance of the justice; the primitive nature of criminal London is harshly revealed in this scene. England’s criminal underworld is also exposed through the corrupt practice of Mr. Jaggers. Crime in the sense of “shamming, counterfeiting, or forging” (Morris, 115) is presented both in respect to law, money, and intention. To some extent, even Pip falls into this category of criminality, as “his ‘great expectations’…make him a collaborator in the generic crime of using people as a means to personal ends” (van Ghent, 249).

To read more about how London attempted to deal with its growing criminal population and how that is reflected in Great Expectations, see the section below on criminal transport to Australia.

Child Labor in Victorian England

Charles Dickens life as a child is a great example of how extreme child labor was during the Victorian Era. Charles father fell into much debt and couldn’t pay his bills to England. This is when they sent his father and the rest of his family off to prison. This left Charles to work on his own and make money for his entire family. He was sent to work at Warren’s Shoe Blacking Factory at the age of ten. He was sent there to paste labels on blacking-pots.THIS REPEATS BIO ABOVE. He had to work long hours an only got payed six shillings a week. Charles later stated “it’s rotten floors and staircase and the old gray rats swarming down in the cellar, the sound of their squeaking and scuffling coming up the stairs…and the dirt and decay of the place, rise up visibly before me, and literally overrun with rats (Rupert, p. 6).” The conditions that Charles and the other children had to work in were disgusting and vile. Not only that, the children were only ten years old and working in a factory while they should have been in school.Charles Dickens experienced a typical working child’s life during Victorian England.

Charles story is one of hundreds of horror stories that occurred in the late eighteenth century in Britain. The Industrialization age meant children were sent away from school and were forced to work in factories for the lowest wages. The reason for this was because larger families couldn’t provide all the money needed for their children.As a result, the children were forced to work for themselves and help provide for the family.
Agriculture Labor
Families who dealt with the agriculture industry had their “children started working at four or five years old scaring off crows from the corn, tending sheep or pigs, or picking stones out of the ground. By the age of ten or eleven they started full-time work,plowing or shepherding (Frost, p. 56).” By the age of ten most children stopped going to school altogether and working full-time. By 1901, agriculture work for children declined by 12 percent because of laws and regulations that were made by Scotland and England.

Workshops FIX FONT BELOW

During the Victorian age most child labor was done in small workshops. The parents paid money to the head master where children worked from two to seven years of age to learn the trade (Frost, p. 59). By the time they learned it completely they started working full-time. Many children they were sent to work full-time at the age of seven had to deal with cruelty and abuse from their masters. “In 1842 a thirteen-year-old testified to a parliamentary commission that his master often beats him with a whip with four lashes to it, and tied in know:his master heats him for not doing enough work, and he could not do more (Frost, p. 59).” This was very common of children complaining about the abuse they faced from their masters. The children work for sometimes 16 hours day making nails, laces, knives, polishes, bobbins, needles, etc. Into the late Victorian period a lot of child labor was hidden in homes. These children ended up working longer for their parents while they were in their own house rather that out by a master. Children also work in the streets for long hours doing petting trading, sweeping and scavenging for change and food.

Factory Work

During 1800 to 1850, “Britain was at the climax of the first phase of the Industrial Revolution, characterized by cotton mills, iron and steel production, and railways (Frost, 65).” Many children were sent to work in these textile factories and others had to coal mine and do iron work.During this time the children were the ones who helped England’s economy really rise to the top. They were the ones who were working in this horrible conditions and factories to provide for their families. The children who worked in these factories were mostly dirty, ill, scared, abused and scolded. If they did not work fast enough they were beaten and some faced fatality. In addition, due to the fact the children were so small and ill-experienced they suffered many accidents and deaths working around these big dangerous machines. Many children by the age of eight were sent to work at metal industries. Where they had to use fire to melts coal and metal. Many children suffered severe burns and lost limbs in the machines.Factory work was very unhealthy for children, they had to breath in polluted airs and clouds of smoke.Through the years many Acts by the government were made to help the child labor. Ultimately by 1880, children had to fit their work around their school schedule. The government wanted children to have a balanced school and work life at home.CITATION??

Australian Penal Colonies and Transportation of Convicts

The distant shore of England strikes from Sightand all shores seem dark that once was pure and Bright,But now a convict dooms me for a timeTo suffer hardships in a forein climeFarewell a long farewell to my own my native LandO would to God that i was free upon the Strugling Strand.
——Simon Taylor to his father, May 1841
(Hughes 143)

Dickens and Transportation

Magwitch – “He was taken on board and instantly manacled at the wrists and ankles.”

Dickens suggests the implications of using the Australian penal colonies as a way of rehabilitation for criminals. It is quite possible that Dickens has portrayed a view of penal colonies in a very positive way. After all, Magwitch is a successful, even famous, ex-convict who is responsible for Pip’s wealth. By exploring the character Magwitch, one will have a better understanding of Dickens’ views on Australian penal colonies.

The town that Pip lives in is surrounded by marshes where the Hulks loom ominously in the distance. As the soldiers take Magwitch and Compeyson back to the Hulks after their escape, Pip looks out past the marshes, “By the light of the torches, we saw the black Hulk lying out a little way from the mud of the shore, like a wicked Noah’s ark. Cribbed and barred and moored by massive rusty chains, the prison-ship seemed in my young eyes to be ironed like the prisoners” (Dickens 36). MORE . . . .

Click To See a Map of Dickens’s London

Great Expectations and Modern America

Here’s an E-Text of an original edition of Great Expectations

</p> <p></p> <hr/> <h2 id="toc45"><strong>References</strong></h2> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Catherine Dickens Photo &lt;<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/cath-1.gif" rel="nofollow">https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/cath-1.gif</a>&gt;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Charles Dickens Photo &lt;<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://cd7.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cd7/website/images/CharlesDickens.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://cd7.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cd7/website/images/CharlesDickens.jpg</a>&gt;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Cottom, Daniel. &#8220;Paranomasia, Culture, and the Power of Meaning.&#8221; <u>Text &amp; Culture: The Politics of Interpretation</u>. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989. 103-153.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Frost, Ginger S. <em>Victorian Childhoods</em>. London: Praeger Publishers, 1962. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Gentlemen&#8217;s Attire Photo &lt;<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/shirt-1857-2-1.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/shirt-1857-2-1.jpg</a>&gt;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Industrial Revolution Photo &lt;<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/pollute.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/pollute.jpg</a>&gt;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Montagna, Joseph A. &#8220;The Industrial Revolution.&#8221; 2009. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. 22 May, 2009. &lt;<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html</a>&gt;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Morris, Pam. <u>Dickens&#8217;s Class Consciousness: A Marginal View</u>. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1991.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Rupert, Everett H. The Life of Charles Dickens. Vol. XX. Mass: Books, Inc, 1936.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Russell, Fraizer. &#8220;When I was a Child: An Introduction to </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Great Expectations.</span></em></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Penguin Classic Reading Guides. <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/great_expectations.html" rel="nofollow">http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/great_expectations.html</a></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><em>The Victorian Web</em>. 21 May, 2009. &lt;www.victorianweb.org&gt;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> van Ghent, Dorothy. &#8220;<em>On</em> Great Expectations.&#8221; <u>Approaching Literature: The Realist Novel</u>. Ed. Dennis Walder. New York: The Open University, 1995. 246-252.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Walder, Dennis. &#8220;Reading Great Expectations.&#8221; </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><u>Approaching Literature: The Realist Novel</u>. New York: The Open University, 1995. 135-165.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Wellington House Academy &lt;<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.dickens-gesellschaft.de/Wellington%20House%20Academy.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.dickens-gesellschaft.de/Wellington%20House%20Academy.html</a>&gt;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">West End of Newgate Photo &lt;<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/newgate1.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/newgate1.jpg</a></span>&gt; </div> <p> </body></p> </div> </article> </main> </div> <aside id="secondary" class="sidebar widget-area" role="complementary"> <section id="search-2" class="widget widget_search"> <form role="search" method="get" class="search-form" action="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/"> <label> <span class="screen-reader-text">Search for:</span> <input type="search" class="search-field" placeholder="Search &hellip;" value="" name="s" /> </label> <button type="submit" class="search-submit"><span class="screen-reader-text">Search</span></button> </form> </section> </aside> </div> <footer id="colophon" class="site-footer" role="contentinfo"> <nav class="main-navigation" role="navigation" aria-label="Footer Primary Menu"> <div class="menu-main-container"><ul id="menu-main-1" class="primary-menu"><li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1790"><a href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/medieval-and-renaissance-literature/">Medieval and Renaissance Literature</a></li> <li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1789"><a href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/the-restoration-and-the-18th-century/">The Restoration and the 18th Century</a></li> <li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1786"><a href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/the-romantics/">The Romantics</a></li> <li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1787"><a href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/the-victorians/">The Victorians</a></li> <li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1788"><a href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/the-twentieth-century/">The Twentieth Century</a></li> </ul></div> </nav> <div class="site-info"> <span class="site-title"><a href="https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/" rel="home">British Literature Wiki</a></span> <a href="https://wordpress.org/" class="imprint"> Proudly powered by WordPress </a> </div> </footer> </div> </div> <style type="text/css"> .wmd-buttons-button, .wmd-buttons-content { display: inline-block; } .wmd-buttons-button { text-decoration:none !important; cursor:pointer; position: relative; text-decoration: none; letter-spacing:1px; margin:5px; } .wmd-buttons-button:hover { opacity:0.8; -moz-opacity: 0.8; -khtml-opacity: 0.8; -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=80)"; filter: alpha(opacity=80); } </style><script type='text/javascript' src='https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/wp-content/themes/twentysixteen/js/skip-link-focus-fix.js?ver=20160816'></script> <script type='text/javascript'> /* <![CDATA[ */ var screenReaderText = {"expand":"expand child menu","collapse":"collapse child menu"}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/wp-content/themes/twentysixteen/js/functions.js?ver=20181230'></script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js?ver=5.3.4'></script> </body> </html>

George Eliot

(Birth Name: Mary Ann Evans)

George Eliot

Middlemarch is “a magnificent book which with all its imperfections is one of the few English novels written for grown people.”
–Virginia Woolf

Biographical Information

Mary Ann Evans was born November 22, 1819 in Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire, England. Her father, Robert Evans, was the estate agent in Warwickshire for the Earl of Lonsdale. She was the youngest of three children with an older half-brother and sister. At the age of 9, she was sent to school. It was while she was a boarder at Mrs. Wallington’s School that she came under the influence of Maria Lewis, the principal governess. Mary Ann was soon swayed towards Evangelicalism during her time at school. This struggle with her faith marks the beginning of her religious doubt and exploration. In 1836, Mary Ann’s mother passed away, and she became the her father’s housekeeper. However, she was allowed to continue her studies in Latin and German while living at home. The only source of tension between Mary Ann and her father was religion. He was not particularly religious himself, but he did not approve of her refusals to attend Anglican church or her nonconformists thoughts and opinions. Despite this disagreement, she stayed with him until his death in 1849.

At the time of her father’s death, Mary Ann was 30 years old. In her father’s will, she was allotted £100 a year which enabled her a certain amount of independence. The fact that she was far past the accepted marriageable age for women contributed to her turn away from a less domesticated role in life. In 1850, she began writing for the Westminster Review and by 1851, she had risen to rank of assistant editor. In this position, she met many notable men of the time such as Herbert Spencer, the sub-editor of the Economist, and George Henry Lewes, the editor of Westminster Review. In 1854, she published the first and only piece that ever carried her own name; a translation of Feuerback’s Essence of Christianity. Following this publication, she entered into a common-law marriage with her editor Lewes. Though he was still legally married, they lived publicly as husband and wife. It was during this marriage and under Lewes’ encouragement that the pen name George Eliot was born. In 1859, she published her first full-length novel, Adam Bede. She wrote several more novels as well as numerous poems and other works.

Novels

Adam Bede, 1859
The Mill on the Floss, 1860
Silas Marner, 1861
Romola, 1863
Felix Holt, the Radical, 1866
Middlemarch, 1871-72
Daniel Deronda, 1876

References

Allingham, Philip V. “George Eliot, 1856-1876: A Biographical Introduction.” The Victorian Web. 11 May 2008
<http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/eliot/pva92.html l>.

“Eliot, George.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 11 May 2008
<http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9104535 >.

George Eliot Image: **ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ e/eliot/george/**

Contributor
Diane Aiken

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins (July 28, 1844- June 8, 1889)

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Overview
As a whole, Gerard Manley Hopkins is one of the Victorian era’s greatest poets. He is regarded by different readers as the greatest Victorian poet of religion, of nature, and of melancholy. Gerard was an English poet whose manipulation of prosody, particularly his invention of sprung rhythm, and his use of imagery established him post death as an innovative writer of verse. Throughout most of his poems, the two main theme that dominated were nature and religion.

Early Life and Family
Born at Stratford, Essex, England, on July 28, 1844, Gerard was the first of nine children born to Manley and Catherine Hopkins. In addition to being raised in both a prosperous and artistic household, his creativity was the result of interactions with core members of his family. Both his mother and father were devout High Church Anglicans who brought their children up to be religious as well. Since his mother, Catherine, was the daughter of a London physician, she was more educated than most Victorian women. She was particularly fond of music and reading. His father, was the founder of a marine insurance firm. Manley, for a short time, was the church warden at St. John-at-Hampstead, and a published writer. His works include, A Philosopher’s Stone and Other Poems (1843), Pietas Mertrica (1849), and Spiceleguim Poeticum; A Gathering of Verses (1892). He reviewed poetry for The Times, and wrote one novel.

When Hopkins was 10 years old, he was sent to Highgate Boarding School from 1854-1863. While there, he studied John Keats and was inspired to write his own poem, The Escorial, in 1860. Not only did Gerard have a passion for writing, but painting as well, and hoped to become a painter one day.

Adult Life and Death
Hopkin’s attended Balliol College on a scholarship from 1863-1867, where he earned two first-class degrees in Classics and Greats. In addition, he developed a relationship with Robert Bridges (eventually known as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom) during his time at Oxford. Hopkin’s relationship with Bridges played a key role in his development as a poet.

In July 1866, Hopkins decided to become a Catholic. In September that same year, he travelled to Birmingham to consult John Henry Newman, the leader of the Oxford Converts. Newman later received Hopkins into the church. A week later Hopkins burned all of his poetry in a huge bonfire. His conversion and actions led to his estrangement from his friends and family. Hopkins gave up writing poetry for seven year. After Hopkins graduated in 1867, Newman offered him a position at the Oratory. While he was there he decided to join the ministry and become a jesuit.

Hopkins began his novitiate in the Society of Jesus at Manresa House, Roehampton in 1868. Two years later, he moved to St. Mary’s Hall, Stonyhurst, for his philosophical studies in 1870. Hopkins took vows of poverty and chastity. Although he was able to give most of himself to religion, Hopkins was still concerned that his love for poetry would keep him completely devoting himself. Then, after reading the writings of *Duns Scotus, Hopkins began to heavily consider the idea that his poetry might not necessarily conflict with Jesuit principles.

*Duns Scotus (1265-1308), a medieval Catholic thinker, argued that individual and particular objects in this world were the only things that man could know directly, and then only through the haeccetias (“thinness”) of each object. As a result, Hopkins continued to write in a journal where he composed his own music, sketched, described the natural world, and created church verses.

Hopkins studied theology in North Wales in 1874 to teach classics and would later adapt Welsh poetic rhythm to fit his own work. In 1875, Hopkins began to write again after being deeply affected by the story of a German ship, the Deutschland, that was wrecked during a storm at the mouth of the Thames River. Many of the passengers, including five Franciscan nuns, died. Those who were on the ship were escaping Germany due to strict anti-Catholic laws. Hopkins’ work reflected religious concerns and a showcased a different and unusual writing style that Hopkins later became known for. Although unconventional in theme, Hopkins poem, The Wreck of the Deutschland, introduced what Hopkins called “sprung rhythm*,” a result of his knowledge of Welsh language and poetry. After submitted it for publication, Hopkins was crushed after receiving news of his rejection. This further ruined his feelings towards poetry.

*Sprung rhythm is used to imitate natural speech and “is constructed from feet in which the first syllable is stressed and may be followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables.” By not limiting the number of “slack” or unaccented syllables, Hopkins allowed for more flexibility in his lines and created new acoustic possibilities.

Despite dedicating himself to the strict life of a jesuit, Hopkins failed his Theology exam. He would be ordained in 1877 but he would not further progress in the order. For the next seven years Hopkins carried out his duties teaching and preaching in London, Oxford, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester and Stonyhurst. During this time, Hopkins wrote, God’s Grandeur, which is an array of sonnets that included The Starlight Night and The Windhover. In 1877, Hopkins was a subminister and teacher at Mount St. Mary’s College in Chesterfieled. A year later, he would become the curate at the Jesuit church on Mount Street in London and that December he would become curate at St. Aloysius’s Church in Oxford.

His appointment in 1884 as Professor of Greek and Latin at University College, Dublin, left him in prolonged depression. This resulted partly from the examination papers he had to read as Fellow in Classics for the Royal University of Ireland. The exams occurred five or six times a year, might produce 500 papers, each one several pages of mostly uninspired student translations (in 1885 there were 631 failures to 1213 passes). More importantly, however, was his sense that his prayers no longer reached God; and this doubt produced the “terrible” sonnets. Still, his last words as he lay dying on June 8, 1889, were, “I am happy, so happy. I loved my life” He died of Typhoid fever, after battling many illnesses.

Although his poems were never published during his lifetime, his friend poet Robert Bridges edited a volume of Hopkins’ Poems that first appeared in 1918. Hopkins was also very interested in ways of rejuvenating poetic language and regularly placed familiar words into new and surprising contexts. He also often employed compound and unusual word combinations.

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/gerard-manley-Hopkins
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/hopkins/hopkins12.html
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-Hopkins

“The sense of coldness, impotence, and wastefulness evident in Hopkin’s religious poetry of the 1860’s is an important feature of acedia, but by far the most important is “world sorrow,” the predicament lamented in Hopkin’s “No worst, there is none” (1885). A great range of emotions are “herded and huddled” together in this “main” or “chief” owe as Hopkins calls it in the poem. Besides impotence and world sorrow per se, the acedia syndrome includes feelings of exile and estrangement, darkness, the disappearance of God, despair, the death wish, and attraction to suicide- all emotions which recur throughout Hopkin’s life and art but become particularly evident toward the end.”

(qtd at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/gerard-manley-hopkins)

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/182786#guide

Poetry Analysis

Stephanie’s Page

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson

Biographical Information

Alfred Tennyson was born on August 6th, 1809, the fourth in a family of twelve children. His father entered the ministry unwillingly, forced into the profession out of financial necessity. Having a rich Aunt and Uncle made Tennyson worry about money for most of his life; not to mention that poetry was not the most promising profession financially in Victorian England. Another worry that plagued Tennyson was his fear of contracting a mental illness. Many members of his family, including his father and brother, suffered from epilepsy, making Tennyson afraid of the disease. In 1827, Tennyson left home to follow his two brothers who attended Trinity College, Cambridge. In the same year, the two brothers published the award winning Poems by Two Brothers, making them famous among the students and faculty of Trinity College. In 1829, Tennyson’s friends invited him to the group known as “The Apostles”, in which he readily joined. The Apostles was an undergraduate group that discussed various topics including philosophical issues. It was here that Tennyson befriended Arthur Hallam who would become his closest friend. Arthur Hallam was a well respected English poet that had a tremendous impact on Tennyson’s life. They knew each other for four years and founded a close bond with each other. Hallam became engaged to Tennyson’s sister Emily Tennyson and would have become his brother-in-law if not for his death in 1833. His death affected Tennyson deeply; the tragedy would have a great influence on Tennyson’s poetry throughout his life. Even though Hallam tragically died at the early age of 22, the grief it left with Tennyson brought about some of his greatest poems, including “The Passing of Arthur”, “Tithonus”, “Ulysses”, and In Memorium.THIS ASSESSMENT NEEDS A CITATION

The release of Tennyson’s work entitled Poems in 1832 produced mixed results from various critics. The negative reactions in turn made Tennyson, who was extremely sensitive to criticism, unable to publish another poem for nine years. During this time span, Tennyson grew concerned with his mental health, still worried about his own family history’s proneness to mental illness. This led him to visit a sanatorium run by Dr. Matthew Allen. Using the money he inherited from his grandfather’s death in 1835, Tennyson invested in Dr. Allen’s business which involved the mass-producing of wood carvings using only steam power. After Dr. Allen suffered bankruptcy, Tennyson ended his engagement to Emily Sellwood, a childhood friend, for lack of money to pay for the wedding.

After a nine year drought, Tennyson had his 1942 Poems published. This became a great success and to his delight critically acclaimed. This work made Tennyson a popular poet and sparked a financial upturn. Tennyson achieved his peak fame and financial security in 1850 with the publication of In Memorium, a long and meticulously constructed elegy in which Tennyson attempts to come to terms with his religious uncertainty and waning faith in humanity. This poem, a combination of periodically composed lyrics over a seventeen year period, earned Tennyson national recognition. In 1850, he finally was able to marry Emily Sellwood due to his financial success. He became Poet Laureate also in 1850, and remained a popular and widely acknowledged figure for the remainder of his life. Tennyson was even summoned by Queen Victoria on several instances, a gesture that was considered a great honor in his day. MISUNDERSTANDING SOURCE HERE. During the later years of this life, he suffered from an extreme case of short-sidedness, not allowing him to read or write. This did not however stop him from writing, as he began to write and work on poetry in his head but not recording most of it. After living a long life, he died in 1892 at the age of 83.

Today Tennyson is recognized as an intellectually gifted man and extremely talented poet of the Victorian era. Though there are those who criticize his writing for a myriad of reasons, his poetry is ultimately regarded as some of the best work of its time. His constant struggle with religion, science, and the general progress of mankind exemplifies the atmosphere of Victorian poetry. He is remembered as one of the greatest poets in modern history and considered the most popular poet in the Victorian era.

Works

References

Everett, Glenn. “Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Brief Biography.” 13 May 2009. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/tennybio.html.
“Alfred Tennyson, 1881.” Millais. 13 May 2009. www.tate.org.uk/…/ works/millais_tennyson.jpg
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/ulyssestext.html

Oscar Wilde

(1854-1900)

Sarony,_Napoleon_(1821-1896)_-_Oscar_Wilde_(1854-1900)_1882_-_picture_-_23_-_reversed.jpg

Early Years

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16th, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the second child of parents Sir William and Jane Wilde; his older brother, William Robert Kingsbury Wills Wilde, was born in 1852 and his younger sister, Isola Francesca Emily Wilde, would be born in 1857. (William Wilde also had three illegitimate children whom he continued to support). Wilde’s mother, born Jane Frances Elgee, was a woman of immense character whose thoughts and actions heavily influenced her son. Wilde’s biographer, Richard Ellmann, notes that Lady Wilde renamed herself “Speranza Francesca Wilde” and frequently pretended to be younger than she truthfully was, which helps to explain Wilde’s fascination with name and age in his later work (6-7). Another way his parents influenced him was through their own writing. His mother was a prolific poet who published nationalist poems in Irish newspapers and his father, who was a physician, wrote many successful medical books.

In 1864, Wilde and his older brother were sent to live and study at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen; it was here that Wilde began to make a reputation for himself. Ellmann notes that “Wilde alone among the boys wore a silk hat on weekends” and one of Wilde’s classmates cited him as “more careful in his dress than any other boy” (Ellmann 23). Such instances can be taken as early assertions of his later dandyism. In 1871, Wilde was awarded a Royal School scholarship to Trinity College in Dublin. At Trinity he showed an aptitude for classics, and was awarded the Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek near the end of his study in 1874. Confident of his strength in the subject, Wilde took an examination on June 23rd of the same year which gained him a Demyship (or scholarship) in classics at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Oxford

In De Profundis(1905), a letter written during Wilde’s imprisonment, he remarks, “the two great turning-points in my lifewere when my father sent me to Oxford, and when society sent me to prison.” Wilde’s matriculation at Oxford was clearly a significant moment in his life, and his four years there would prove to be a period of self-reinvention. Inarguably, Wilde found life at Oxford much more exciting than life at Trinity College. He became a Mason of the Apollo Lodge, drawn in by their secrecy and required costume, and he even tried his hand at rowing, though he was quickly dismissed from the team (Ellmann 40). Partly with help from these activities, Wilde developed a public persona at Oxford that he would carry with him upon graduation . A good friend of Wilde’s, David Hunter Blair, claims that his “good humor, unusual capacity for pleasant talk, and Irish hospitality” gained him much popularity in the form of Sunday evening gatherings (Pite 8).

Wilde at Oxford, 1876

Some of the most influential relationships Wilde formed at Oxford were with practicing Roman Catholics. Many intellectuals were converting to Roman Catholicism during this period, and the conversion of Wilde’s good friend and classmate, Blair, seemed to severely heighten Wilde’s own interest in the idea. His family, however, was strictly Protestant and Ellmann suggests that Wilde’s reluctancy to convert was mostly on the grounds that his father would cut him off financially (54). Nonetheless, Wilde continued to flirt with the idea. In the Spring of 1877, Blair invited him on a trip to Rome, and even set up a meeting with Pope Pius IX in a desperate attempt to finally persuade Wilde to convert. Though deeply inspired by the meeting, Wilde was still unwilling to commit to conversion and even insisted on stopping by a Protestant Cemetery afterwards to admire the grave of John Keats (Ellmann 74). This attitude of uncertainty in regards to religion would endure for the remainder of Wilde’s life. In De Profundis(1905), one of his latest and most confessional works, Wilde defines himself as an agnostic, “When I think about religion at all, I feel as if I would like to found an order for those who cannot believe…. Every thing to be true must become a religion. And agnosticism should have its ritual no less than faith.” Therefore, this acknowledgement seems to confirm that Wilde’s interest in Roman Catholicism did not indicate any true belief in their doctrine or practice. Due to his obsession with the material, I would argue that his interest was actually the result of a deep fascination with the pomp and circumstance of their ceremonies. Furthermore, this flirtation with Catholicism reveals a significant amount about Wilde’s personality. It negates the perception of him as simply decadent and immoral, and allows one to see him as a truly multifaceted individual. Wilde struggled with the state of his soul, and desperately wanted to believe, but continually found that he could not. His own beliefs and particularly his faith in the material world, simply could not coexist with the Christian faith.

Academically, Wilde performed well at Oxford. Though he seemed to neglect his studies during his first two years, Ellmann attributes this conception to his preference of a reputation of “brilliance without zeal” (43). In reality, Wilde was well prepared by his education at Trinity College and also had a natural ability when it came to the study of classics. Such circumstances allowed him to spend less time reading required texts and more time reading in other fields, both of which contributed to his preferred image of being naturally intelligent rather than a dilligent worker. Wilde graduated from Oxford University in November of 1878 with a double first in his Literae Humaniores, or “Greats” program. He was also the first scholar from Oxford to win the Newdigate Prize, for his poem “Ravenna,” since 1825.

Early Works

Upon graduation, Wilde faced an uncertain future. He was not offered a fellowship and a writing career would not provide him with financial stability. His mother urged him to marry an heiress, but his only female love interest, Florence Balcombe, had recently accepted a marriage proposal from Bram Stoker, who would later write Dracula (Ellmann 99). Therefore, Wilde set off for London shortly after receiving his Bachelor’s of Arts in search of a career. He was welcomed into London society, mixing well with high-profile personalities like William Gladstone and the Prince of Wales (Ellmann 108). Before leaving Ireland, Wilde sold his inherited property and as a result, was able to take up residence in a house off of the Strand with the artist Frank Miles. It was here that he wrote his first play, Vera; or, The Nihilists(1880). In May of the following year he signed a contract with David Bogue to publish his first set of poems, which was plainly entitled, Poems(1881). Wilde was made responsible for all of the costs of publication, and in turn, Bogue was to receive only a small percentage of its overall profit. Ellmann notes that the subject matter of these poems constantly wavers between Christianity and Paganism, and cites this observation as proof of Wilde’s fascination with and inclination towards contradictoriness (139-143). Unfortunately, the compilation met harsh criticism, and Wilde was even accused of plagiarism. Frank Miles’s father was shocked by the immorality of the poems and forced his son to break relations with Wilde. Upon hearing that Miles would obey his father’s wishes, though it was solely because he was financially dependent, Wilde, in a characteristically dramatic fashion, threw his trunk of clothes over the banister and smashed an antique table while declaring that he would “never speak to [Miles] again as long as [he] lived” (Ellmann 148).

Wilde in America

Wilde, photographed by Napolean Sarony in New York, 1882

Unexpectedly, Wilde received an offer from New York producer Richard D’Oyly Carte to travel to America and give a lecture tour. Wilde accepted the offer to lecture on the aesthetic movement in December of 1881 and began his preparations. He knew he was not a strong orator; therefore he sought to win over America with his ostentatious dress and natural style of speaking (Ellmann 154-155). Wilde arrived in America on January 2nd, 1882 and to his own suprise was met onboard the ship by a number of eager reporters. Ellmann suggests that the press was perhaps even more surprised by Wilde’s large stature, fancy green coat, and husky voice than he was by their invasive questioning (158). Not yet ready to begin his tour, Wilde spent his first week in New York making appearances at various parties and productions. He gave his first lecture on January 9th, closing with the lines, “We spend our days looking for the secret of life. Well, the secret of life is art” (Ellmann 166). Overall, he was a great success in New York and subsequently earned the respect of one of his favorite poets, Walt Whitman.

Wilde’s nearly year-long tour would prove to have its failures as well as its successes. Ellmann alludes to one of these failures by explaining an argument Wilde had with another lecturer en route to Baltimore. Wilde was so offended by the incident that he refused to stop in the city and afterwards received an outpouring of unfavorable press (174-175). However, the most important and longest lasting effect of Wilde’s time in America was the further development of his public persona. He had started building an image for himself during his Oxford years and continued to do so in London, yet it was not until he traveled across America that he became a type of celebrity. Wilde had women flocking after him in each city, songs composed about him, numerous newspaper articles which referenced him and he even had an impersonator in Denver (Ellmann 191). In fact, Wilde enjoyed his celebrity status in America so much that he stayed in New York for another two and a half months after his tour ended, finally sailing home on December 27th, 1882.

Personal Life

After experiencing the excitement that was his American tour, Wilde had little interest in remaining stationary. In the years immediately succeeding his return to London he would live in Paris for a few short months and return again to America, all the while finishing his second play The Duchess of Padua(1883) and attending the New York opening of his first play, Vera (first performed in August of 1883). Unfavorable reviews of the performance and continued financial concerns led Wilde back to his mother’s suggestion that he marry into a wealthy family. He had met Constance Lloyd in May of 1881, prior to his first trip to America, and now, with his mother’s approval, began to seriously consider her as a marriage prospect. Ellmann suggests that Wilde’s interest in marriage was not only the result of a desire to secure himself financially, but also the result of his need to project a heterosexual image of himself onto society (233). By this time, rumors were already circulating about his homoeroticism and his flamboyant manner of dress did nothing to help the situation. Since homosexuality was still illegal, these rumors had a negative affect on his credibility, and consequently, on his success as a writer. Therefore, thinking a marriage might help to silence such gossip, Wilde proposed to Lloyd in November of 1883 and married her on May 29th of the next year. Lloyd received £250 a year from her grandfather and would receive nearly £900 a year after his death, thus easing Wilde’s financial problems. Overall, the match was a happy and supported one, though it is probable that Lloyd admired Wilde more so than he did her (Ellmann 247).

Douglas and Wilde

In the early years of their union it became evident that Wilde was quickly tiring of married life, as he once again began to explore his homosexual tendencies. As noted before, he had been suspected in his bachelorhood of having an interest in young males, but most agree that Wilde’s first real homosexual encounter was with Robert Ross, whom he met at Oxford in 1886. Ross would remain a close friend of Wilde’s until his death, but it was Wilde’s later relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas that would change the course of his life. They first met in June of 1891, shortly after The Picture of Dorian Gray(1891) had been published in book-form. Douglas admired Wilde greatly, but Ellmann notes that his temperament was “totally spoiled, reckless, insolent, and, when thwarted, fiercely vindictive” (324). Over the next few years, their relationship intensified and they were practically inseparable. However, Douglas was perhaps even more extravagant than Wilde and frequently relied upon Wilde’s generosity whenever ongoing disputes with his father left him without an allowance (Ellmann 385-387).

Later Works

The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in Lippincott’s magazine on June 20th, 1890. It was later revised and published in book form in April of 1891 by Ward, Lock and Company. The story focuses on a beautiful youth, Dorian Gray, and his relationship with both Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward. Lord Henry influences Dorian with ideas of a new Hedonism. In the opening chapter he tells Dorian, “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful.” He goes on to emphasize the value of youth in life and causes Dorian, in examining the portrait that Basil painted of him, to exclaim that he would trade everything in order to retain his youth and to have the portrait age instead. Dorian’s wish is granted and he proceeds down a path of lust and excess under the advisement of Lord Henry. The initial reviews of the novel were mixed. Some praised Wilde and others claimed that the novel was “tedious and dull, that its characters were ‘puppies,’ that it was merely self-advertisement, and that it was immoral” (Ellmann 320). Whatever the review, the book did gain much attention, particularly for the subtle suggestion of a homosexual relationship between Dorian and the two other central figures.

Written by Wilde himself, the Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray can stand apart from the novel as an outline of aesthetic doctrine. The movie below provides phrases from the preface and supports them with both pictures of Wilde and facts about his life and character.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg-WhlDJDFduPa25naLYxFg

You can watch the trailer for Oliver Parker’s film rendition of The Picture of Dorian Gray here.

Trials & Prison

Lord Alfred Douglas’ father, the Marquess of Queensbury, became increasingly more irritated by the public relationship between Wilde and his son. He wrote a letter to Douglas claiming, “If I catch you again with that man I will make a public scandal in a way you little dream of; Unless this acquaintance ceases I shall carry out my threat and stop all supplies…” (Ellmann 418). The Marquess continued to antagonize Wilde, prompting him to sue for libel. The trial opened on April 3rd, 1895 at the Old Bailey, and Wilde, feeling secure in his prosecution, upheld a humorous demeanor in the courtroom. Upon taking the stand, he lied about his age, claiming to be thirty-nine instead of forty-one (Linder). As it soon became evident that Wilde would not win the case, he withdrew his prosecution under the advisement of his attorney.

Unfortunately for Wilde, the defense had gathered plenty of evidence, in the form of male prostitutes which Wilde had solicited, and they were able to turn the case around to prosecute him. Wilde was given time to flee, but was struck by indecision and missed the last train out of England (Ellmann 456). His first criminal trial opened on April 26th, 1895, but the jury could not reach a verdict, leaving Wilde free on bail. The second trial opened on May 22nd, 1895, and had a very different outcome. Wilde was convicted on all counts except those relating to one of the many male prostitutes who testified. He was sentenced to two years of hard labor, and would spend the last eighteen months of his sentence at Reading Gaol.

Read the transcripts of Wilde’s Trials

In prison, Wilde spent his time reading and was even allowed to write. During his sentence, he completed his famous poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol(1898), and wrote De Profundis, which would be published posthumously in 1905.

Death & Exile

Wilde was released from prison on May 19th, 1897 and quickly fled to Dieppe, a port on the French coast. He met Robert Ross here, though he refused to rekindle his relationship with Douglas. As a result, Douglas wrote a letter childishly accusing Wilde of “hating him,” which Wilde denounced (Ellmann 529-530). Eventually, Wilde desired a reunion with Douglas, but was deterred by threats from his wife. When it became obvious that Constance would not allow Wilde to see his children, he agreed to reunite with Douglas in Rouen in August of 1898. Wilde sent Douglas a telegram stating, “Everyone is furious with me for going back to you, but they don’t understand us. I feel that it is only with you that I can do anything at all. Do remake my ruined life for me, and then our friendship and love will have a different meaning to the world” (Ellmann 547).

Upon his release from prison, Wilde seemed committed to restarting his life and avoiding further scandal. However, as he became reacquainted with the idea of freedom he seemed to realize that for him, life could only follow one course. He said of Douglas, “I love him as I always did, with a sense of tragedy and ruin…. My life cannot be patched up. There is a doom on it…. I was a problem for which there was no solution” (Ellmann 549). Therefore, his return to Douglas is indicative of him accepting what he felt to be his fate. The relationship would end a few months after their reconcilement, with Douglas returning to London and Wilde to Paris.

When Wilde underwent ear surgery on October 10th, 1900, his wife, Constance, had been dead for two years. Following the surgery he developed a severe case of meningitis from which he would not recover. Wilde died in Paris on November 30th, at the young age of forty-six. Robert Ross, his former lover and loyal friend, was by his side and alleged that Wilde was consciously received into the Catholic Church upon his deathbed. Douglas arrived in Paris on December 2nd, in time for the funeral, and is said to have almost fallen into the grave when the coffin was lowered, as he was competing among others to be the “principal mourner” (Ellmann 585). Wilde was first interred at Bagneux, though his remains were later moved to Père Lachaise Cemetery where they still remain. His funerary monument, designed by Jacob Epstein, is inscribed with a stanza from his poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol:

And alien tears will fill for him
Pity’s long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always morn.

Witticisms

“I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.”

“All women become like their mothers, that is their tragedy. No man does, that is his.”

“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”

“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh. Otherwise, they’ll kill you.”

“Only the shallow know themselves.”

“The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.”

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

“There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating: people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.”

“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.”

“Work is the curse of the drinking classes.”

“At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets.”

“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”

Major Works

Ravenna (1878)
Poems (1881)
The Duchess of Padua (1883)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)
Salomé (1893)
A Woman of No Importance (1893)
The Sphinx (1894)
An Ideal Husband (1895)
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)
De Profundis (1905)

Click on Wilde’s signature to read his works online:

References

Ellmann, Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Knopf, Distributed by Random House, 1988. Print.
CITE LINDER
Pite, Ralph. Lives of Victorian Literary Figures, Part IV: Henry James, Edith Wharton and Oscar Wilde by their contemporaries. New York: Pickering & Chatto, 2005. Print.

Images of Wilde courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Contributor: Delanie Laws

Victorian Authors

Victorian Authors

The Life of Emily Brontë

Assessment of Wuthering Heights

Works Cited

Charlotte Brontë

Background Information

Assessment of Wuthering Heights

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Table of Contents

Biographical Information

Works

References

Biographical Information

Relationship with Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Works

The Voice of Robert Browning

References

Contributors

The Life of Charles Dickens

Historical Contexts of Great Expectations

Industrialization

Class Distinctions

Crime

To read more about how London attempted to deal with its growing criminal population and how that is reflected in Great Expectations, see the section below on criminal transport to Australia.

Child Labor in Victorian England

Workshops FIX FONT BELOW

Factory Work

Australian Penal Colonies and Transportation of Convicts

Dickens and Transportation

George Eliot

Biographical Information

Novels

References

Alfred Tennyson

Biographical Information

Works

References

Oscar Wilde

Early Years

Oxford

Early Works

Wilde in America

Personal Life

Later Works

Death & Exile

Witticisms

Major Works

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