Maud (33-36)

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Motre d'Arthur

Ulysses

The Lady of Shalott

Background Information

* Based loosely on the Arthurian legend of 'Elaine of Astolat' who dies of unrequited love for Lancelot

* Inspired by 13th century Italian novella La Donna di Scallota

Themes

PERSONAL ISOLATION FACED BY VICTORIAN ARTISTS /CF. Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning

"Four grey walls, and four grey towers,

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle imbowers

The Lady of Shalott."

Significance of:

- "Lady of Shalott": artists,

- "the curse": the dilemma (abstinence or involvement),

- "the magic web": the artpiece,

- "Sir Lancelot": freedom of expression, potential to live,

- the Lady of Shalott's death: how to reconcile escapism with reality

- Mysterious, obscure element of the artist; misunderstood?

"But who hath seen her wave her hand?

Or at the casement seen her stand?

Or is she known in all the land,

The Lady of Shalott?"

- An illusion; 'web of deception?'; contrasts with "mirror clear"

"A magic web with colours gay" vs "And moving through a mirror clear"

- Concept of being physically alive but detached from life; dead

" 'Tis the fairy The Lady of Shalott."

* SEXUALITY AND VICTORIAN WOMEN'S PLACE IN SOCIETY

- Domesticated, household role in the society; monotony

"And so she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she"

- Oppression, no 'voice', use weaving to speak out /CF. Ovid's Metamorphoses whereby in Greek Mythology, she was raped by her brother-in-law ,Tereus, and her tongue was cut out. She then wove a tapestry that told her story and sent it to Procne, her sister, and was later avenged.

“And what of Philomela? Guarded against flight,

Stone blocks around her cottage, no power of speech

To help her tell her wrongs, her grief has taught her

Sharpness of wit, and cunning comes in trouble.

She had a loom to work with, and with purple

On a white background, wove her story in,

Her story in and out, and when it was finished,

Gave it to one old woman, with signs and gestures

To take it to the queen, so it was taken,

Unrolled and understood.”

- Ignorance and the lack of knowledge /CF. The Bible; when Adam and Eve eat of the forbidden fruit

"She knows not what the curse may be"

- A false reality /CF. King Lear and the concept of 'blindness'

"And moving through a mirror clear

That hangs before her all the year,

Shadows of the world appear."

- Isolation and loneliness from lack of involvement/living under men?

"I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott.

- Sexual frustration and erotic desire /CF. A Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare where Autolycus sings: "The lark, that tirra-lyra chants,With heigh! with heigh! the thrush and the jay, Are summer songs for me and my aunts (whores), While we lie tumbling in the hay."

"Tirra lirra," by the river Sang Sir Lancelot

- Emphasis on truth and reality; Victorian aesthetic theory whereby the eye was the most authoritative sense and clearest indicator of truth

"Like some bold seer in a trance,

Seeing all his own mischance --

With a glassy countenance

Did she look to Camelot."

- Is Death the only liberation?

Andrea del Sarto (called 'The Faultless Painter')

~ Is art mutually exclusive from one's relationship?

~ Or is it necessary to choose one?

My Last Duchess

~ lack of trust, shrouded in secrecy

"the curtain"

~ she is supposedly seen as unfaithful
~ roving eyes
~ fickle-minded

"too easily impressed...her looks went everywhere."

~ then she suddenly died.

"I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together."

* Women- seen as 'things' by men?

* Men's dominance over women

My Heart and I

~ jaded with the concept of love.
~ deception
~betrayal
~ thinks and lives with her "heart" rather her mind.
~ no space for being "tired".
~ nothing ever lasts.

Is it better to have loved and lost? Or to be never loved before? What is your stand?

Mother and Poet

Analysis

* Brutality of war CF. Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Lzo_EXXOQ

"Dead! both my boys!"

* Criticizing war and imperialism CF. The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson

"When Venice and Rome keep their new jubilee, When your flag takes all heaven for its white, green, and red,When you have your country from mountain to sea, When King Victor has Italy’s crown on his head, (And I have my Dead)"

* Lack of empathy

"I fell down at his feet, While they cheered in the street."

* Loss, death

* Death vs life

* Pain and suffering

* Absence of father/husband figure; male figure to the end

"Dead! One of them shot by the sea in the east, And one of them shot in the west by the sea. Both! both my boys!"

* Men's desire to dominate and conquer ironically leads to their deaths; woman alive

* Concept of karma

* Ironic: woman portrayed as a figure of strength and endurance

"Some women bear children in strength, And bite back the cry of their pain in self-scorn"

The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point

Analysis

* Published in The Liberty Bell, an abolitionist gift book

* A voice for the poor and oppressed

* Parallel between black slaves and Victorian women

* Racial and gender discrimination; Darwinian 'biological racism'

* Critique on violation of women's rights and Britain's Colonialization


~ Anonymous persona who happens to be a black slave
"I am black, I am black!"

~ No name = no power = no identity = strong emphasis on the absence of status of the blacks

~ Her love affair with a black man
"We were two to love, and two to pray"

~ Emphasis on faith in God
"Yes, two, O God, who cried to Thee"

~ Are not denied the natural course of falling in love
"Could a slave look so at another slave?"

~ Raped by her white master
"a child and mother Do wrong to look at one another, When one is black and one is fair"

~ Lack of power, shame, pain, loss, degradation
"I wore a child upon my breast, An amulet that hung too slack" (dead weight)

~ Murdering her baby = act of liberation
"A dark child in the dark, ensued Some comfort, and my heart grew young"

~ In spite of the physical and emotional abuse, she forgives them of their sins
"White men, I leave you all curse-free, In my broken heart's disdain!"

~ Irony: black persona is more powerful than white men as she forgives them.

Background of the poets

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

• An English poet of the Romantic Movement
  
  



• Born in 1806 at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England
  
  




• By her twelfth year, she had written her first "epic" poem
  

• In 1826, Elizabeth anonymously published her collection An Essay on Mind and Other Poems

• Elizabeth's Sonnets from the Portuguese, dedicated to her husband and written in secret before her marriage, was published in 1850
  




• Political and social themes embodied Elizabeth's later work
  
  

For more on Elizabeth Barrett Browning, visit http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/152

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

• Born on May 7, 1812, in Camberwell, England

• At the age of twelve he wrote a volume of Byronic verse entitled Incondita, which his parents attempted, unsuccessfully, to have published
  

• In 1833, Browning anonymously published his first major published work, Pauline, and in 1840 he published Sordello, which was widely regarded as a failure
  

• After reading Elizabeth Barrett's Poems (1844) and corresponding with her for a few months, Browning met her in 1845

• They were married in 1846, against the wishes of Barrett's father

• Robert Browning died on the same day that his final volume of verse, Asolando, was published, in 1889

For more on Robert Browning, visit
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/182

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

• Born on August 6, 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England

• At the age of twelve he wrote a 6,000-line epic poem

• Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends, touring Europe together in 1830 and again in 1832

• Hallam's sudden death in 1833 greatly affected the young poet and he wrote a long elegy, In Memoriam for him

• Selected Poet Laureate in succession to Wordsworth

• In 1884, he accepted a peerage, becoming Alfred Lord Tennyson

• Tennyson died in 1892 and was buried in Westminster Abbey

For more on Alfred Lord Tennyson, visit
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/300

Victorian Poetry Selections(analysis by Esther)

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92)


*The Lady of Shalott

*Ulysses

*Motre d'Arthur

*The Charge of the Light Brigade

*Maud (33-36)

Victorian Poetry Selections (analysis by Fiona)

*The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point

*Mother and Poet

*My Heart and I

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning


*My Last Duchess

*Andrea del Sarto

by Robert Browning

Initially,

we had decided to use the typical method to present-
by the usage of powerpoint slides.

Then, at the computer lab room, I suddenly thought of creating a blog which is more useful as you can have easy access to it.

Besides providing various links to other resources, you can read the notes from the blog. By leaving your feedback at the comments section, everyone can share their varied opinions on the victorian poetry too. :)


Fiona

Welcome to the world of Victorian Poetry

Hi Lit people,

this is our blog-cum-presentation about Victorian Poetry. I hope that you will gain more insight from our detailed analysis on these poems.

Regards,
Fiona & Esther.