Victorian Poetry in English Literature II Tennyson as a Representative Poet of Victorian Age

Characteristics of Victorian Poetry

Tennyson as a Representative Poet

INTRODUCTION:

Victorian age is one of the brightest periods in the history of England because during this period England held the most commanding position across Europe. Queen Victoria came on the throne of England in 1837 and she continued to rule till 1901. This period is known as the Victorian era in English literature. There is a very well known saying which eulogises England:

"The sun never sets in the reign of Queen Victoria."

Victorian Era was the period of material advancement, political awareness, democratic reforms, industrial and scientific progress, educational expansion and social unrest. Poetry and noble dominated this Victoria era. Lord Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning were the representative poets and Charles Dickens, Carlyle and Ruskin where the represented novelists of this age.

END OF ROMANTIC REVIVAL AND THE BEGINNING OF VICTORIAN AGE:

Before the beginning of Victorian era, there were a series of events of death which made the literary scenario dull and dim. John Keats died in 1821, Shelley in 1822, Byron in 1824 and Coleridge and was Wordsworth were practically dead by 1830. Thus, the grand golden period of Romantic Revival came to an end during 1820s and 1830s. But soon during the Victorian era, a new kind of poetry flourished in the hands of the poet laureate Lord Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning.

CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN POETRY:

1.   MASS PRODUCTION OF POETRY:

The Victorian age produced poetry on a large scale by both great and ordinary poets. There were a number of minor poets who wrote thousands of poems, but they are not read in the 21st century because there was a decline in the standard of poetry.

But Tennyson and Browning did a great job by raising the public taste and they imparted pride and respect to the poets and poetry. Democratic feeling was prevalent in England which was reflected by both these poets. Tennyson wrote poetry on doubts and feelings of the poor people whereas Browning expressed the faith and optimism of the time.

2.   DOMINANCE OF LYRIC:

Victorian poetry was marked by lyrical qualities. Lyric was the most outstanding form of this age. Tennyson wrote short songs, Browning wrote love lyrics and Morris wrote narrative poems of romantic nature. In fact, Victorian poetry was much inspired by romantic poetry of the previous age. In the busy life of material, scientific and industrial progress, people wanted to read short lyrical poems. As a result the poets of Victorian era produced short lyrics which delighted the readers.

3.   ROMANTICISM:

Victorian poets were the successors of romantic Revival. They were much inspired by Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley. As a result romanticism is visible in Victorian poetry too. There was a group called Pre Raphaelite poets who wrote poems on pure beauty for the sake of beauty and pleasure. Love for past and middle ages and strong spirit of democracy were the features of Victorian poetry which made it romantic.

TWO LEADING POETS:

Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning were the two literary giants of Victorian poetry. They surpassed all other minor poets in the matters of art and technique and achieved a perpetual place in the hearts of the readers.

TENNYSON AS A REPRRESESNTATIVE POET:

Tennyson has been given the title of 'The Bard of the Nation' or 'The Poet Laureate'. He became the national poet of England.  W. J. Long rightly avers:

"As a poet who expresses not so much of personal as a national spirit, he is probably the most representative literary man of the Victorian era."

1.   REPRESENTATIVE OF HIS AGE:

Tennyson was to the Victorian Era what Chaucer was to the Middle Ages and what Shakespeare was to Elizabethan age. He was the true mouthpiece of his age.  Stopford Brooke remarks:

"For more than 60 years, Tennyson lived close to his age."

Tennyson represents the thoughts, feelings and aspirations of the Victorian society. His poems are the true pictures of the hopes and fears, ambitions and struggle of the English people of his times.

2.   HIS PATRIOTISM:

During the Victorian age, English people loved England and they were proud of their country. This pride of the people is beautifully expressed by Tennyson in many of his poems. Mark his words:

"There is no land like England,

Where the light of the day be,

There are no hearts like English hearts,

Sach hearts of oak as they be.

There are no men like English men,

So tall and bold as they be."

3.   HIS ATTITUDE TO NATURE:

Tennyson is also a great poet of nature. His attitude is mystical. He finds music in nature. There are moods of joy and sorrow in his presentation of nature.

4.   HIS ATTITUDE TO WOMEN:

During the Victorian age, women were struggling for their rights of equality. But the society did not grant them these rights. Tennyson was a true representation of his age. He draws the realistic picture of the British society where women were supposed to cook and do household works. In his poem, 'Princess', he writes:

"Men for the field and women for the hearth

Men for the sword and for the needle she

Men to command and women to obey

Everything else is confusing."

5.   HIS ATTITUDE TO LOVE AND SEX:

Tennyson was a true mouthpiece of his age. He was much orthodox in the matters of love and sex. He believed in restraint of senses. He believed in marriage based on love. He takes sex as a means of decline of moral values.

6.   HIS MORALISM:

In Tennyson's poetry, there is a strong feeling of moral preaching. In his famous poem 'Ulysses', he rejects the Epicurean theory of "to eat drink and be merry." He puts before us a new theory of his own, that is "Be up and doing." Tennyson believed that poetry should not only provide the aesthetic pleasure but the poet should instruct and reform the society. In 'Ulysses', he writes:

To strive, to seek to find and not to yield."

CONCLUSION:

In short, Lord Alfred Tennyson is the true represented literary poet of the Victorian literature. He was the master of poetic diction and used variety of techniques in his political works. Tennyson has become immortal because of his elegy 'In Memoriam' and his poem 'Ulysses'. All in all, Victorian poetry is marked by dominance of lyrics, romanticism and moralism.

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