Final Creative Project

For my final project I have decided to focus on graphic representations of Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott”. This poem had a powerful “aesthetic” impact on the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, and inspired many works of art (Jeffers 231). Their paintings of The Lady are not mere “illustrations”, as “good pictures never can be [illustrations]; they are always another poem” (Jeffers 232).  I aim to incorporate aspects of these Pre-Raphaelite depictions into my own work. For example: Rossetti’s representation of the poem crowds the background with swans and a crowd of on-lookers, typical of Pre-Raphaelite compositions (Jeffers 233). Early versions of Tennyson’s poem, included references to the “wild [warblings]” of dying swans, to which The Lady’s dying song is alluded (Tennyson’s Dying Swans).  The swan is an interesting figure, as in mythology, it was empowered to sing at the moment of death in order to allow a transcendence of mortality (Tennyson’s Dying Swans). I aim to create a series of depictions of The Lady, following the narrative of the poem and illuminating some of these inter-textual references.

This poem, among many things, explores concepts of art and its purpose of in society. The poem presents an artist transcending from a place of “static remove” (Jeffers, Nice Threads 55) into the world below and suggests that the consequences are severe. Tennyson creates a work with formal perfections: tetrameter lines with triple rhymes, the hypnotic rhyming of Shallot, Camelot, Lancelot, and a liquidity of sounds (Jeffers, Nice Threads 55). He draws from medieval legends, using the enticing power of these tales as a means of imaginative escape from an England less characterized by imagination or beauty, than its rush for progress. He propagates idealized chivalric codes portrayed in these legends: monogamy, loyalty and courage, but leaves unresolved the true definition of "a code of moral action" in the modern world. As medieval legends and chivalric values were propagated by popular literature, chivalry became a code of behaviour linked to the gentlemanly actions of the Victorian period. Tennyson’s work was also greatly moved by the destruction of the old Palace of Westminster in the 1834 fire, which was rebuilt in a uniquely British and Medieval style  (Tennyson’s Idylls of the King and the Chivalric Code). In the Robing Room of the palace the artist Dyce painted subjects from Malory’s Le Morte, which was the first major depiction of the Arthurian legend since the Middle Ages (Tennyson’s Idylls of the King and the Chivalric Code). Furthermore, Dyce discussed his commission with Stephens, who was the first of the Pre-Raphaelites to paint Arthurian subjects (Tennyson’s Idylls of the King and the Chivalric Code).
http://web.uvic.ca/~vicpoet/virtual-classroom/student-showcase/

Possible Sources:
Goblin Market Graphic Novel

-          Sources from the NINES assignement

-          “Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott and Pre-Raphaelite Renderings: Statement and Counter-Statement” by Thomas Jeffers, in Religion and the Arts 2002

-          “Nice Treads: Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott as artist” by Thomas Jeffers, in The Yale Review 2001

"The White Man's Burden"- satire or a chilling reflection of Victorian ethnocentric views?

Kipling played a large role in romanticizing British imperialism (Bradshaw). In fact, the legend of the British Empire has little to do with the realities of imperialism, but authors such as Kipling blurred concepts of patriotic duty and Christian salvation into the role of the imperialist. Kipling’s poem was originally written for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, but the context of the poem was later altered in order to reflect the subject of American colonization of the Philippines (Wikipedia).  The poem is rhetorically constructed as a command, which calls upon white men to colonize and rule native peoples for their own benefit (Wikipedia). Kipling employs anaphora, repeating the phrase “take up the white man’s burden,” in order to echo Christian hymns (“take up the cross”) and the Declaration of Independence. The interweaving of Christian themes and patriotic duty were aimed to delude and force the “best sons of England” (as quoted in Bradshaw) into imperialist service.

Kipling also emphasizes simple dichotomy between the dominator and the dominated, white and non-white in his poem (Bradshaw). The poem begins by describing the colonized peoples as “new-caught, sullen peoples, half devil and half child” (Line 7-8 Kipling). These descriptions create tension by directly contrasting to the title of the poem “The White Man’s Burden”:  white versus devil, and man versus child.  However, scholars have argued that dichotomy was not the distinctive drive behind imperialist fantasies, and that these fantasies rather entertained notions of hybridity (Bradshaw). The imperialist wished to be treated as both god and brother, to be worshiped as a ‘savoir’ and embraced as kin (Bradshaw).

Within historical context, Kipling’s poem makes clear the prevalent attitudes of the Victorian period that allowed colonialism to proceed. Many honestly believed that it was the duty of the civilized west to free the native peoples of their ignorant bondage. Moreover, the push of Christian missionaries emphasized the inherent duty of the west to lead these people “from bondage [in the] Egyptian night” (Line 18-19 Kipling). However, some have suggested that Kipling may have written “the White Man’s Burden” as a satire in order to undermine the foundations of imperialist fantasy (Wikipedia). Indeed, Kipling’s history of satirical writing, irony and scepticism, do seem to support the notion that Kipling perhaps constructed this poem as a parody of imperialist attitudes (Wikipedia). However, Kipling was also infamous for his radical imperialistic notions and his distorted colonialist views, which suggest that this poem was composed in earnest. Perhaps this poem is, in fact, a chilling and accurate representation of the ethnocentric views held by imperialists during the Victorian period.

Works Cited:

Bradshaw, Leah. “Gods and Brothers.” Review of Politics 65.3 (2003): 468—471. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 Nov. 2010.

Reflections of the Victorian's crisis of faith in Mathew Arnold's "Dover Beach"

“Dover Beach” uses sensory descriptions of the ocean and pathetic fallacy to allude to the Victorian’s recession of religious faith. The opening of the poem describes a calm sea and full tide, serving to re-create the sense of anticipation and anxiety which was felt by the Victorians. Their age was one of insecurity and immense change, and many foresaw that expanding scientific exploration would lead to an immense crisis of faith. The calm sea that rapidly becomes a series of grating waves alludes to this crisis and echoes a sense of confusion. Geological and cosmic discoveries raised doubts concerning the literal and factual accuracy of the Bible. For many Victorians the progress of science sounded an “eternal note of sadness” (“Dover Beach” 14), as it caused a loss of faith in an eternal God. Dover Beach echoes this sense of anxiety and hopelessness, using vivid descriptions to evoke the readers’ senses.

Dover beach may be divided into three parts, each of which focuses on the senses of sound and sight (Fain 41). Sight represents the illusion, the “sea of faith” (Arnold Line 21) or the “land of dreams” (line 31), whereas sound symbolizes reality (Fain 41). The tension created between these opposing senses and representations serves to re-create the tension present during the Victorian's crisis of faith. However, scholars have argued that the entire tone of the poem is not overwhelmed by this sense of crisis, but rather that the poem seems emanate a feeling of serenity (Fain 41). Indeed, the recurrence of the ocean tides and the flickering light of the lighthouse seem to emphasize the inevitable progression of life—as if this is something that may be counted on (Fain 41). However, I argue that this image of a light in the darkness, a religious one that is often associated with the hope and security provided by faith, is not constant in the poem. This light seems to waver as the poem progresses and eventually “gleams and is gone” (Arnold Line 722), leaving only the “glimmering and vast” cliffs of England that are illuminated by their own natural truth. Moreover, one may observe that it is when this light is gone that the author chooses to focus on the sense of sound, wholly creating a sense of blindness. This transition builds on the idea that the sense of “sound is more real than sight” ( Fain 41).The poem begins to shift away from descriptions of the natural scenery and move towards more “fabricated” images. Arnold suggests that sight is a sense that is easily corrupted by human desires, we imagine the world as we would wish it, and that we often ignore the “melancholy, long, withdrawing roar” of truth. Arnold emphasizes that not only is sound more “real” than sight, but that it also has a more lingering effect. Whereas sight is reliant on space and light, sound is reliant on time (Fain 41). Sound is eternal and unaffected: it was hear by Sophocles as it is heard by us. In choosing to associate their loss of faith with this “eternal note” (Arnold Line 14), Arnold emphasizes that it is real and everlasting.

Arnold imitates the despair felt by the Victorians using harsh imagery: a retreating sea of faith, which leaves exposed and “naked [the] shingles of the world” (Arnold Line 28). Descriptions of darkness and the ebb and flow of the ocean tides create a sense of turbulence and confusion. These bleak images and turbulent sounds frame the harsh reality that was dawning on the Victorians and the misery that this reality was revealing. Without an all knowing God neither science nor religion could hope for the illumination of truth; thus, both armies must grope for answers amidst the confusion of darkness.


John Tyree Fain "Arnold's DOVER BEACH" (40--42). 2002 EBSCO

An analysis of the imagery in “A score of years ago” by W L W and its accompanying illustration

W.L.W sets his opening scene on the rocky shore of a beach, surrounded by the roar of breaking waves. The poem personifies the ocean, creating a sense of intimate connection between the speaker and the ocean’s “brave . . . [and] friendly” (Lines 3-4) waves. These waves seem to fortify the speaker, “[whispering] courage . . . with a friendly roar” (Lines 3-4), and inspire him to tell a tale of the heart. The “rocky shore” represents a precipice on which the speaker stands before the stormy ocean of love. The “brave waves” that lie before him are described with conflicting imagery, which may echo the speaker’s conflicting views on the nature of love. Notably, the poem employs oxymoron when describing the nature of the waves (“[whispering]. . . [and] “murmuring” [Line 3 and 11]), illuminating the dual nature of its strength: inspiring, yet natural and uncontrollable. In the second stanza there is a shift in the author’s use of personification, and the ocean begins to represent the speaker’s lover. The waves are described as “fair” (Line 11), and they seem to answer the speaker’s address. Both the first and second stanzas lend a voice to the sounds of the ocean, its “falt’ring” (Line 5) swells laden with emotion, and emphasize the conflicting nature of love. In the third stanza of the poem the author quiets the noise of the ocean, mimicking the “happy silence” (Line 13) in which the speaker stands with his love. In this stanza the image of the ocean becomes a peaceful one: a sailing sunset.

The passing of time and the aging of the speaker and his love are represented by the setting of the sun. As the sky darkens, his love’s “lily hand [grows] thinner” (Line 25), her brow becomes wrinkled and her hair silver. However, despite the passing of many sunsets and the sailing of many ships, the speaker and his love still remain peacefully “hand-in-hand” (Line 36) upon their cliff.

The image that accompanies W.L.W’s poem is one depicting an aged man and woman, sitting amidst the rocks, looking out across a darkening sky. It is a sentimental image, which is appropriate given the mood of the poem. The characters are seated peacefully side-by-side, looking out of the frame, and while their pose is not obviously intimate, it does imply a comfortable sense of affection. There is a sense of peace in the image, which echoes the peaceful imagery of the sunset created at the end of the poem. Interestingly, the ocean is not portrayed in the illustration, and instead the artist chooses an angle which depicts only the surrounding land. Thus, we are presented with a detailed image of the "rocky shore" on which the opening and closing stanzas of the poem were set. The artist has obviously chosen to portray a scene from the end of the poem: the characters sitting together a safe distance from the turbulent waves of the ocean. They gaze out of the frame, viewing the ocean from a distance, comfortable in their love and aging bodies. The artist provides a grounded and comforting image, which contrasts the opening images of the ocean and reinforces the closing themes of the poem.

“A Score of Years Ago” by W.L.W

Once a Week, p. 416

[EXCERPT FROM "VICTORIAN" TEEN VOUGE]

“The War on Industry: Using Words not Weapons”

-          Interviewer and Photographer: Ashleigh Frayne

-          Photograph 1 features an Alexander Wang dress, Gucci Parasol and a Bailey of Hollywood hat.

Its 3 pm on a gorgeous sunny day in Bath, and Landon is sitting in the tea parlor, wearing gorgeous dress featuring a light-blue bodice and her signature lace parasol. A weather-beaten book of poetry marked with her signature stiletto handwriting is propped open on the table, while she stares into the confines of the tea room composing her newest poem. Landon is a woman of mystery: a renowned poet surrounded by mystifying scandal.

Ashleigh: Landon, what an honor it is to be here with you today and it is especially a treat to have the chance to talk with you about your newly published poem “The Factory”. Tell us a bit about this poem and its message.

Landon: Well, I was really trying to embody the bitterness of Victorian industrialism, creating a united voice for the people-

Ashleigh: Yes, yes… Well, it has been said (by other reviewers of course, none such avid fans of your work as myself) that your work is sentimental, your topics so typically Victorian and your style (the simple rhyme scheme, and use of ballad) childish.

Landon: What! Well, I mean… The industrialization of Britain is something that is greatly worrisome to many people, especially concerning its treatment of the poor innocent children! That my topic is popular I cannot help, that it is well chosen I can only insist. After all, if poetry is an appeal to the highest levels of human emotion, what better time can there be to use it to appeal to the social conscience of those driving industrialization! Furthermore, if my poem seems ‘child-like’ as you say, it only re-affirms its intended purpose.

Ashleigh: I said? I would never dare to suggest… Is it the society behind industrialism to which you write the poem- the intended audience?

Landon: Yes, well, in a way. After all, poetry has many audiences. However, I am most certainly appealing to the masses enforcing this monstrosity, to their sense of national pride and nostalgia for the peaceful pastoral days that have passed.

Ashleigh: Yes, yes. Not at all obvious with the pastoral bit… hem. Was there anything in particular you were trying to get across with that use of imagery? - The contrast between the dehumanizing world of industry and the “moral atmosphere” of the countryside?

Landon: Mm, it was a bit subtle for those less inclined to read ‘good poetry’, but I was evoking images of a pastoral paradise and placing them next to those of an industrial hell-fire. I was really drawing from romantic aesthetics and illuminating the tragedy of these poor factory children wasting their blessed childhoods in a mechanized Victorian age.

Ashleigh: So tragic, I know. Oh dear, here take a tissue, wouldn’t want to spoil that lovely dress now. Many have said that, since your dear father’s death (oh, another tissue?) your poetry has been economically driven, rather than emotionally inspired, and is aimed more at gathering popular appeal than anything else.

Landon: Let’s be honest Ash, [sniff] I’m far from gaining popular appeal. Most of what is written about me now-a-days involves sordid love affairs and illegitimate children!

Ashleigh: Oh! I must have missed those reviews, um … Oh, look it’s Caroline Norton! What a surprise. Did I mention how similar your poem is to her own “Voice from the Factory”? Her poem was written first of course, and it is far less sentimental (not to discredit yours in any way!). After all, children, factories, death, all very hot topics . . . Oh dear! Do just take the whole tissue box. Oh Mrs. Norton!

It’s pretty rare to sit down to an interview with iconic social beauty Caroline Norton. Mrs. Norton strides into the room, shoots a withering glance at sniveling Landon (who immediately vacates her chair, trailing tissues) and, with a dazzling smile, sits down opposite me.

Ashleigh: Mrs. Norton! Such an honor! Oh, so unexpected! But where is Mr. Norton- he’s not around is he?

Caroline: Actually I’ve left him, stupid braggart. I’ve decided to scrap the whole match, increase his debt and enjoy my freedom properly.

Ashleigh: Yes, yes, very good plan, but you might want to look into some of the laws-

Caroline: Ha! Don’t be ridiculous! What is he going to do- beat me? He already has, many a time.

Ashleigh: Yes, well there is the matter of the law and your children-

Caroline: No, no. He wouldn’t dare! Ha ha, Ash you worry far too much. Now, whatever were you doing talking to little Miss Landon? I read her poem- frightfully sentimental! Did you hear about her and Mr. Easterling? I heard they were seen walking arm-in-arm down Reagent’s street at 9 o’clock yesterday evening. The scandal!

Ashleigh: Mm, no I hadn’t heard… Actually, we were talking about you and the genius of your own poem “Voice from the Factories,” would you care to say a few words?

Caroline: What? Apart from the fact that it is far superior to Landon’s own little ballad (catchy as it may be)? My poem is far more serious, an epic inlaid with references and fortified with the keen use of logic.

Ashleigh: I caught that wonderful reference to Milton’s “Paradise Lost” in the opening! Brilliant!

Caroline: I think there’s only one thing to be said about my poem, while it too focuses on the plight of the factory children and evokes emotional images of lost childhood, death and decay it does not rely solely on pathos, it also relies on logic. I propose a number of situations and questions, for which I provide the consequences and answers. I do not leave the reader to draw his own fuzzy conclusion because I believe the truth to be too important! However, similar to Landon, I also believe the effects of industrialism to be torturous and the consequences of child labor to be miserable.

Ashleigh: Indeed, so terrible. Hm… it is very difficult to argue against you, or even to pose a question to which you do not already posses an answer…

Caroline: Then you are obviously ill-versed in the style of argument and asking all of the wrong questions.

-         Biographies were drawn from http://www.wikipedia.org/

An Exploration of E.B. Browning’s use of form: with respect to Shakespeare, Petrarch and the traditional Ballad

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s relationship to Shakespeare is well known, and has been described by scholars as a “dialectic of trust [and] reciprocal enhancement” (qtd. in Marshall 467). However, Browning does not merely transcribe Shakespeare’s work, but rather explores his use of language in order to apply his concepts in the Victorian age (Marshall 468). One especially hears the echo of Shakespeare when reading “The Romaunt of the Page,” in which Browning mirrors his use of cross-dressing in Twelfth Night as a means of critiquing Petrarchan constructs of love. Shakespeare’s comedy explores popular constructs of gender and love using the guise of mistaken identities and cross-dressing. Similarly, Browning uses cross-dressing to illuminate the superficial nature of Petrarchan love poetry and deconstruct the Victorian notions of gender and the separate sphere ideology.  

The “doctrine of separate spheres” was a Victorian concept that defined the separate areas of influence, both public and private, which were assigned to men and women. Women were assigned the private sphere, where they stood to ““[guard] the fireside comforts” (Ellis 57) of their husband, brother or father while he struggled in the world of industry. This concept of spheres played a large role in defining Victorian concepts of gender and separating the societal roles of men and women. Browning’s use of cross-dressing in “The Romaunt of the Page” serves to illuminate the instability of these constructs of sexuality and gender, and to expose the unjust inequality that such constructs conferred.

            Browning’s creates the character of a young page, who is really the knight’s lady in disguise. This is essentially a woman who has “laid down the silks she wore,” (The Romaunt of the Page 24.186) and stepped out of her private sphere in order to follow her husband into battle. Using this character Browning is able emphasize the insincerity in the Petrarchan idealization of love, and the limitations of the Victorian’s definitions of gender. While the knight idealizes his love and obsesses over the idea of love, as is Petrarchan tradition, he is unable to recognize her standing in front of him. His love is not for the lady herself, but rather for the idea of her “golden brooch and glossy vest” (The Romaunt of the Page 24. 200), “Her little hand . . . [and] her tender tears” (The Romaunt of the Page 24.211-12). When confronted with the reality of love, the Petrarchan ideal is reduced to an uninspiring fragmentation of the female body (Ake 379).  To add tragedy to tragedy, Browning’s knight then declares that any lady who dared to step out of her defining sphere would be “unwomaned” (The Romaunt of the Page 24.196) in doing so.  Browning illuminates the fact that a Victorian woman is not only imprisoned within her private sphere, but also defined (in very essence) by it.

            In “The Romaunt of the Page” Browning also engages with the cultural discourse of Victorian medievalism (Saunders 585). She uses said discourse to evoke medieval chivalric images and demonstrate the injustice of gender inequality during the Victorian age (Saunders, 586). Scholars note that her creative use of the ballad allows her to emphasize the preservation of gender inequalities based on the power structures of medieval society (Saunders 586). Browning engages in the language of courtly love, but twists the traditional roles of the passive female beloved and active male lover in order to propose gender equality (Saunders 588). She starts the poem with a traditional tale of a crusading knight, told in traditional Ballad form with tetrameter and trimester pairs. However, as she begins to twist this traditional tale in stanza XI there is a shift in poetic form to paired lines of tetrameter in stanza XII. It is at this point in the poem, that Browning first begins to suggest that the knight’s loyal page might actually be his passive lady love. Browning uses this shift in form to mirror her refashioning of equality between male and female lovers. As she reveals the true identity of the character of the page, Browning begins to introduce her unique character of an “active, medieval military woman” (Saunders 587). The ending of Browning’s poem depicts the martyring of this woman, which harkens to Browning’s own opinions about the consequences of women’s activity in the public sphere (Saunders 594).  Her successful use of the traditional Ballad form allows her to deconstruct the separate sphere ideology and illuminate the medieval roots of the Victorian’s modern concepts of gender.

Works Cited

Ake, Jamie. “Glimpsing a ‘Lesbian’ Poetics in Twelfth Night.” SEL Studies in English Literature    43.2 (2003): 375—394. 15 March 2009    <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/studies_in_english_literature/v043/43.2ake.html>.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “The Romaunt of the Page.” The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetic Theory. Ed. Thomas J. and Vivienne J. Rundle. Peterborough: Broadview Press,  1999. 50—56.

Ellis, Sarah Stickney. “The Women of England, their social duties, and domestic   habits.”Victorian Prose: An Anthology. Eds. Mundhenk, Rosemary J., and LuAnn M. Fletcher. New York: Columbia UP, 1999. 53—57.

Marshall, Gail. “Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Shakespeare: Translating the Language of Intimacy.”           Victorian Poetry 44.4 (2006): 467—486. 23 September 2010            http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/journals/victorian_poetry/v044/44.4saunders.html.

Saunders, Clare B. “"Judge no more what ladies do": Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Active Medievalism,       the Female Troubadour, and Joan of Arc.” Victorian Poetry 44.4 (2006): 585—597. 23  September 2010 http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/journals/victorian_poetry/v044/44.4saunders.html.

Poetry? The true meaning lies within the onion...

For my analysis of this week’s poetry I’d to focus on the image of an onion, which was brought to mind earlier in the week. I feel that this image relates both to Mill’s attempt to define poetry, and our own exploration of the assigned poems “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed Church,” “Ulysses,” and “Invictus.”

Mill defines poetry by presenting the reader with layers of contrasts: description, narrative, eloquence, and oratory. Stripping each of these contrasts away, Mill exposes the true definition of poetry. Mill paints it as a pure and natural expression of human emotion: poetry is “feeling confessing itself” (Mill 1216). However, he is quick to note that the mechanics of the poem (its words and expressions) are not what define it. True poetry does not express feeling, but rather harmonizes with the feelings of the reader. The mechanics are just the skin of the poem, but its true purpose lies beneath.

The dramatic monologue is a type of poem composed of specific elements: a speaker, an audience, an event, a revelation of character, and a dramatic occasion. Using these elements, a poet can create a vessel through which he can communicate emotional truth with the reader. However, in some cases, these elements seem to enclose the true emotion of the poem and move the reader farther from its effect.

Browning employs the dramatic monologue in “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed Church” to create the character of a bishop on his deathbed. The bishop, despite his role as a spiritual leader, is a materialistic and seemingly faithless man. Browning uses the contradiction between the external and internal identity of the character to create a bitter sense of irony. While this irony is strongly communicated with the reader, I felt as if it masked some of the poem’s more serious sentiment. As the poem’s title implies, it actually deals with the more serious topic of “ordering” one’s life before death; however, the reader is less able to connect with this sentiment because of the dominant sense of irony. I argue that, in this case, the mechanics of the poem obscure its meaning and prevent it from “[painting] the human soul truly” (Mill 1214).

Tennyson also employs the dramatic monologue in his poem “Ulysses,” but his sentiment seems far more earnest. Ulysses speaks directly to the audience with truthful emotions and one feels able to harmonize with these emotions. I argue that Mill would find this poem to be closer to his definition of true poetry and much less clouded with “exaggerated colors” (Mill 1214) than that of Browning.  

Henely’s “Invictus” strips away another layer of mechanics and brings the reader emotionally closer. It seems the most natural and earnest poem of the three. I felt that its sentiment was unaffected by the didactic use of character, setting, or audience. This poem seems to have the fewest layers concealing its purpose; it is simple and relatable, or (as Mill would say) “the imagery [is] felt to harmonize with feeling” (Mill 1220).

“What is Poetry.” The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetic Theory. Ed. Thomas J. and Vivienne J. Rundle. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1999. 1212—1227.