Victorian Period Exam (authors)

Charles Dickens: "Great Expectations"

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Gerard Hopkins: "Spring" (1550)

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Robert Browning: "The Bishop Orders His Tomb" (1286-89)

A bishop lies on his deathbed giving orders to his nephews and possibly son for the tomb that is to be built for him. Instead of a humble grave fit for a priest, his only concern is that be elaborately made, better than Gandolf's. His speech also reveals a possible mistress in his past. He then realizes he will not live to ensure the realization of his tomb, and that it will probably prove to be a disappointment. In short, he is a self-absorbed bishop with illegitimate children. The Bishop shares the poet's drive to ensure his own life after death by creating a work of art that will continue to capture the attention of those still living. We come to see that the Bishop has spent so much of his time on earth preparing not for his salvation and afterlife, but for the construction of an earthly reminder of his existence. In this way the poem reminds us that often the most beautiful art results from the most corrupt motives, suggesting the importance of separating art from morality.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: from "Aurora Leigh" (1138-52)

An epic poem (cool because epic poems were a field of poetry dominated by men.) Aurora describes her childhood in Florence, growing up as the daughter of a Tuscan mother and an English father. Sadly both die by the time she is 13 so she goes to live with her aunt in England, Leigh Hall. She does not like England. She feels like a bird who was once free, now caged. Her aunt is perfectly content with being caged. Her aunt tried to educate her in what she considered a ladylike manner. All of women's work seems geared towards pleasing men. Aurora discoveres her father's old library and reads scholarly books on her own. This allows her to survive on the inside. Aurora feels more like ivy which continually grows strong rather than flowers which are momentarily pretty and then die. Years later, her cousin, Romney Leigh, proposes marriage to her. He is skeptical about her poetic ability, telling her that women do not have the passion, intellectual capacity, or redemptive qualities to be true artists. He also has many double standards. She refuses him, the aunt scolds her because Romney is the estate heir and Aurora will be left with nothing. Her aunt dies. Romney attempts to give Aurora money, but she refuses it, deciding to go to London to make her living as a poet. Aurora finds Marian Erle with a baby in France. She was attacked and raped and left pregnant. She explains to Aurora that Lady Waldemar convinced her that Romney did not truly love her, and sent her to France with her lady's maid. The lady's maid left her in a brothel, where she was raped and almost driven insane, but she managed to escape. years later, Romney Leigh arrives in France. Aurora, believing him to be married to Lady Waldemar, is cold with him. He tells her that he has read her book and believes it to be good and true Art, and tells her that he has reconsidered the judgmental strictures he passed on her previously. Romney is surprised, and tells her that he is not married to Lady Waldemar, although he has a message from her to Aurora. Aurora tears it open, and reads it. Aurora reads Lady Waldemar's letter, which claims that she did not intend to hurt Marian, only to remove her. Her scheme did not work; even after Marian was gone, Romney did not love her. Romney says he will marry Marian and raise her child as his own. Marian refuses him, however, stating that she prefers to remain as her child's only guardian and devote her life to him, rather than a husband. Romney admits to Aurora that he is blind. Aurora, in tears, confesses to Romney that she loves him, and has finally realized it; and also realizes that, in loving him, she will be able to complete herself and find her poetic muse once more.

Thomas Macaulay: from "Minute on Indian Education" (1640-42)

As European influence increased in India, debates arose about the value of maintaining and encouraging the local traditional cultures. Some Europeans believed that Indian culture and civilization should be respected as an ancient and rich culture, while others believed it to be grossly inferior to Western culture. Those who believed it should be replaced by Western ideas and values were often "utilitarians," or Englishmen who believed that people less fortunate could be "remade" into "better" people in the right environment. They believed that Western education in India would provide this "right" environment. Macaulay called for an educational system to create a class of anglicised Indians who would serve as cultural intermediaries between the British and the Indians, and brought to an end a lively debate on the appropriate language for education and administration. He advocated a complete destruction of Indian civilization. He truly believed European society was superior. He wanted all British subjects to speak English because he thought it was the best language, saying that "of all foreign tongues, the English tongue is that which would be the most useful to our native subjects." Macaulay asserts, "It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanskrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgement used at preparatory schools in England." He closes by saying, "We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect."

Annie Besant: "The White Slavery or London Match Workers" (1603-5)

Besant exposes the corruption of a company called Bryant and May. They pay girls low wages, who consequently live on only bread, butter, and tea, and the rest of their wages are subject to absurd fines in the work place.

Robert Browning: "Fra Lippo Lippi" (1300-9)

Brother Lippo, a monk, is caught walking around drunk one night by Medici watchmen and interrogated. Because Lippo's patron is Cosimo de Medici, he has little to fear from the guards, but he has been out partying and is clearly in a mood to talk. He shares with the men the hardships of monastic life: he is forced to carry on his relationships with women in secret, and his superiors are always defeating his good spirits. But Lippo's most important statements concern the basis of art: should art be realistic and true-to-life, or should it be idealistic and didactic? Browning seeks to capture colloquial speech, including Lippo's short outbursts. The Prior and his cohorts say, "'Your business is not to catch men with show, / With homage to the perishable clay.../ Make them forget there's such a thing as flesh. / Your business is to paint the souls of men.'" However, the conflict between Lippo and the Church elders also cuts to the very heart of questions about art: is the primary purpose of Lippo's art—and any art—to instruct, or to delight? Browning doesn't seem to offer a conclusion, though his poem may depict the true nature of some monks instead of a perfect image.

What were the three main divisions of the Church of England and what did each espouse?

By the mid-Victorian period the Church of England had evolved into three factions: a Low (or Evangelical) Church, a Broad Church, and a High Church. The "Low Church" was intended to be a pejorative. It espoused that the essence of the Gospel lay in the doctrine of salvation by faith in the death of Christ, which atoned for man's sins, insisting on the total depravity of humanity (a consequence of the Fall) and on the importance of the individual's personal relationship with God and Savior. They put particular emphasis on faith, denying that either good works or the sacraments (which they perceived as being merely symbolic) possessed any salvational efficacy. Today they are commonly called evangelicals. The "High Church" describes Anglican churches using a number of ritual practices associated in the popular mind with Roman Catholicism. Today they are commonly called Anglo-Catholics. Anglicans tolerant of multiple forms of conformity to ecclesiastical authority came to be referred to as "broad." This comparatively tiny Broad Church party never formed an organized, much less essentially homogeneous, group. Broad Churchmen emphasized that the Bible, though in some sense divinely inspired, was not literally true in every detail, and that therefore the scriptures should be read metaphorically or even mythologically.

Joseph Chamberlain: from "The True Conception of Empire" (1662-64)

Chamberlain notes that the catastrophic loss of the American colonies had given rise to a certain disenchantment with empire-building. But despite a relative lack of interest in the British imperial project during the early nineteenth century, the Empire continued to grow, acquiring a number of new territories as well as greatly expanding its colonies in Canada and Australia and steadily pushing its way across the Indian subcontinent. He writes, "We feel now that our rule over these territories can only be justified if we can show that it adds to the happiness and prosperity of the people and I maintain that our rule does, and has, brought security and peace and comparative prosperity to countries that never knew these blessings before. . . . You cannot have omelettes without breaking eggs; you cannot destroy the practices of barbarism, of slavery, of superstition, which for centuries have desolated the interior of Africa, without he use of force. . . . for one life lost a hundred will be gained, and the cause of civilisation and the prosperity of the people will in the long run be eminently advanced."

Charles Dickens: "Coketown" from "Hard Times" (1599-1600)

Dickens describes the city as built of brick no longer red because of smoke and ashes that continuously rise from machinery chimney's. The river is filthy with pollution. the streets are filled with the sound of stem engines and all the people coming and going at the same time each day. There is no variation in the buildings—"the jail might have been the infirmary, the infirmary might have been the jail, the town hall might have been either, or both."

Sarah Ellis: from "The Women of England" (1610-12)

Ellis also saw the potential force that women could be in the world, but that is about where her similar views with Wollstonecraft end. Ellis dreamt of a world where men were supported by women, and therefore underneath them. For her, this role is one divinely appointed. Men often return "home with a mind confused by the many voices, which in the mart the exchange, or the public assembly, have addressed themselves to his inborn selfishness, or his worldly pride," writes Ellis. In other words, men are inherently bad. They may try to be good, but as they work in a world full of other inherently bad men, they come home morally confused. The woman's duty is to set him straight. Women have a "clear eye" that allows her to look "directly to the naked truth, and detect the lurking evil of the specious act he was about to commit." The truth of the matter is that both men and women are capable of doing wrong and both men and women are capable of being good. Both can have a positive and negative effect on the opposite sex. One is not innately good and the other innately bad. Men and women do complete each other, but not in the way black and white halves of the yin and yang symbol do. Such binary thinking is limiting to both sexes. Ellis continues with her sweeping generalizations, describing women's kindness as being "most valued, admired, and beloved." This is the thing that women should seek to cultivate in an education.

Freidrich Engles: From "The Great Towns" (1587-89)

Engels expresses his insights about the physical separation of classes in the city. Using Manchester as an example, Engels rips into the aristocracy. He raises the point that members of the of the upper class, who traditionally live in the country and commute into town, "take the shortest roads through the middle of all the laboring districts to their places of business without ever seeing that they are in the midst of the grim and misery that lurks to the right and left." Engels accuses the aristocracy of maintaining an, 'out of sight, out of mind,' mentality. When the filth and decay of the working-class quarter is exposed, it is quickly concealed under the "cloak of charity." The state of the slums is described as, "impossible for a human being in any degree civilized to live in." He condemns the aristocracy for their "inhumane" neglect of the working class that affords them a padded life.

Florence Nightingale: from "Cassandra" (1626-30)

Florence Nightingale recognizes that women can have the same "passion, intellect," and "moral activity" as men, yet paradoxically, are unable to exercise them in society. While so many hide behind the banner of God's divine appointment of women's subdued role in society, Nightingale asks why God would endow women with these characteristics and not allow them to use them. Like Wollstonecraft, Nightingale wrote that marriage really ought to be a true partnership, not simply a woman bowing to ever need and want of her husband. She too paints the picture of a loving relationship based on friendship above all else. "The true marriage," she writes, "—that noble union, by which a man and a woman become together the one perfect being—probably does not exists at present upon the earth." Nightingale recognizes that women and men are fundamentally different, but that does not mean they should have a different set of rights and opportunities. Surely no two men are of the same intellectual, physical, or emotional capacity, yet they have they same rights and privileges before them. In order for a marriage to truly be successful, and have enough "food" to survive off of, the two partners of that marriage ought to be equally yoked, both using their strengths to the other's advantages, working towards the same goal. Both ought to be educated, working to better themselves and those around them, striving to attain their own dreams and ambitions while also enabling others to do the same.

J. A. Hobson: from Imperialism: A Study (1665-67)

Hobson seeks to explain the rise of the "new imperialism" in the 1870s and 1880s when Britain, together with the other Great European powers, engaged in a scramble for colonies. This move towards formal control over colonies was a break from the previous British pattern, where it exercised its global dominance through free trade and "informal" mechanisms of political control. Hobson argues that advanced industrial capitalism produced an excess of capital that was unable to find any profitable outlet in the domestic economy. This led to the search for new markets abroad. It was this process that drove the pressure to annexe territories, both to safeguard existing investments and to secure areas for new investments. But Hobson locates this drive to export capital as the result of the search for profits by "rentier" financial interests around the City of London, allied to certain sections of industry like arms manufactures and the shipping industry. He thus mistakenly argues that the costs of empire were not in the interests of British capitalism as a whole.

Gerard Hopkins: "God's Grandeur" (1546-48)

Hopkins is defiantly affirmative in his assertion that God's work is still to be seen in nature, if men will only concern themselves to look. Refusing to ignore the discoveries of modern science, he takes them as further evidence of God's grandeur rather than a challenge to it. The quick electric flash of "shook foil" and the slow "ooze of oil" both represents different aspects of God's grandeur just as science and faith do.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Sonnet 43 (1130)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

Christina Rossetti: "No, Thank You, John" (1508-1509)

I never said I loved you, John: Why will you tease me day by day, And wax a weariness to think upon With always "do" and "pray"? You Know I never loved you, John; No fault of mine made me your toast: Why will you haunt me with a face as wan As shows an hour-old ghost? I dare say Meg or Moll would take Pity upon you, if you'd ask: And pray don't remain single for my sake Who can't perform the task. I have no heart?-Perhaps I have not; But then you're mad to take offence That don't give you what I have not got: Use your common sense. Let bygones be bygones: Don't call me false, who owed not to be true: I'd rather answer "No" to fifty Johns Than answer "Yes" to you. Let's mar our plesant days no more, Song-birds of passage, days of youth: Catch at today, forget the days before: I'll wink at your untruth. Let us strike hands as hearty friends; No more, no less; and friendship's good: Only don't keep in veiw ulterior ends, And points not understood In open treaty. Rise above Quibbles and shuffling off and on: Here's friendship for you if you like; but love,- No, thank you, John.

John Stuart Mill: from "The Subjection of Women" (1105-1115)

Mill was a utilitarian and one of the first male feminists. He wrote that "the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes—the legal subordination of one sex to the other—is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hinderances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality." He argued that the idea of women being given equal rights and opportunities seems unnatural only because "unnatural generally means only uncustomary, and that everything which is usual appears natural," but that does not make the subjection of women natural just because it is common. Some argue that the rule of men over women is different because it is not forced and women accept it. Mill argues that "a great number of women do not accept it." Since a women is entirely dependent on her husband in order to survive in the present situation, "it would be a miracle if the object of being attractive to men had not become the polar star of feminine education and formation of character." In other words, the subjection of women only perpetuates the deprivation of women's rights because female education is designed only to make women attractive to men. Mill argues for a sort of social capitalism instead, in which women and men "are most wanted for the things for which they are most fit." Mill concludes by stating that many men are afraid of this climate not because they are afraid that women will no longer wish to marry them, but that they are afraid of being in a marriage on equal grounds where they are no longer in control of everything.

T. N. Mukharji: from "A Visit to Europe" (1655-59)

Mukharji did not share Macaulay's views. He wrote, "Of course, every nation in the world considers other nations as savages or at least much inferior to itself. . . . We did not therefore wonder that the common people should take us for barbarians." There is also a sarcastic tone in his writing as he muses, "In public matters non-official gentlemen were also very partial to us. "We want to hear the turbaned gentleman" was the wish often and often expressed. But we ceased not to be a prodigious wonder to strangers and to the common people. Would they discuss us so freely if they knew that we understood their language?" And also, "The number of wives we left behind at home was also a constant theme of speculation among them, and shrewd guess were sometimes made on this point, 250 being a favorite number." His work reflects the ignorance of many Brits concerning other nations and their unfounded views as them as inferiors.

Walter Pater: from Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1537-45)

Pater's approach to criticism and art is all about the individual. "the first step towards seeing one's object as it really is, is to know one's impression as it realyl is. . . . What is this song or picture, this engaging personality presented in life or in a book to me? What effect does it really produce on me? Does it give me pleasure? And if so, what sort of degree of pleasure?" He saw "beauty, like all other qualities presented to human experience," as "relative." Therefore, criticism which tries to define beauty according to certain standards is invalid. For Pater, the renaissance can be extended beyond the time period itself, because the spirit of the renaissance was also realized in the middle ages. Lastly, Art is not about the final product. "Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end. A counted number of pulses only is given to us of a variegated, dramatic life. . . . What we have to do is to be forever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions."

Christina Rossetti: "Promises Like Pie-Crust" (1509)

Promise me no promises, So will I not promise you: Keep we both our liberties, Never false and never true: Let us hold the die uncast, Free to come as free to go: For I cannot know your past, And of mine what can you know? You, so warm, may once have been Warmer towards another one: I, so cold, may once have seen Sunlight, once have felt the sun: Who shall show us if it was Thus indeed in time of old? Fades the image from the glass, And the fortune is not told. If you promised, you might grieve For lost liberty again: If I promised, I believe I should fret to break the chain. Let us be the friends we were, Nothing more but nothing less: Many thrive on frugal fare Who would perish of excess.

Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1675-1719)

Robert Louis Stevenson displays the darker side of man and its terrifying power of the gentler part, or as Dr. Henry Jekyll puts it, "Man is not truly one, but truly two." Stevenson's novel acts as a warning against tampering with the evil within each of us because of its capacity to overcome an individual. Dr. Jekyll's intentions start off well. Upon recognizing the duality of man, he concludes that if he could eradicate the evil portion of men's being from them, "life would be relieved of all that was unbearable." But while tampering with this evil, his motives are altered. When Dr. Jekyll's attempts to extinguish the "ill" within him only result in the manifestation of the dormant evil known as Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll is overtaken by temptation. While others merely entertain the thought of being able to give in to devilish enticements, he was "the first that could thus plod in the public eye with a load of genial respectability, and then in a moment" slide into the body of another in order to gratify vile impulses, springing "headlong into the sea of liberty." People often start out with good intentions, spend "nine-tenths" of their lives doing good, yet secretly cling to favorite vices which they feel they cannot live without. Just as Jekyll's house features a rear door through which Mr. Hyde can enter and exit from the back street in order to explore the darker territories of life and commit heinous crimes which Dr. Jekyll could never be seen to commit due to his own social standing, there is an uglier side of human nature which enters and exists through the back doors of our hearts and minds, yielding to temptations for a time before returning home. The rest of society may not be aware of an individual's sinful actions, but unless we are careful not to feed or tamper with this dangerous aspect of our nature, it can overtake us.

John Ruskin: from "Of Queens' Gardens" (1416-1416)

Ruskin, like Ellis, also recognized the power that women have in the home which can benefit society as a whole. And, like Ellis, he too falls victim to much binary thinking. While it is true that men and women are inherently different, both physically and mentally, their spheres of operation are not strictly divided, but overlap greatly. Ruskin defines the man as "active, progressive, defensive. He is eminently the doer, the creator, the discoverer, the defender. His intellect is for speculation and invention; his energy for adventure, for war, and for conquest, wherever war is just, wherever conquest necessary." Conversely, according to Ruskin, women's "intellect is not for invention or creation, but for sweet ordering, arrangement and decision." While these generalities may be just that—generally true—they are not, however, hard and fast rules which nature cannot break. Both men and women can be creators, discoverers, arrangers and decision makers. Men and women can become whatever they wish to be, not limited by their sex. Women have simply never been allowed to do those things. Yes, nature has made men physically stronger and women with more keen emotional senses, but women can also be strong and men sensitive. It is this overlap that really makes men and women complete each other. They ought to be equals when united. What one lacks in strength or emotional perception, the other makes up for.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson: from "In Memoriam A. H. H." (1186-various sections)

Tennyson spent 17 years working on this piece. It memorializes his late friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. The prologue was likely written last, beginning as a tribute to and invocation of the "Strong Son of God." Since man, never having seen God's face, has no proof of His existence, he can only reach God through faith. Man cannot understand why he was created, but he must believe that he was not made simply to die. His will is his own, to make it God's. The speaker expresses the hope that "knowledge [will] grow from more to more." These themes are continued throughout the poem as it reflects the speakers own evolution in knowledge as he accepts God's will after struggles with his faith. The speaker asks that God help foolish people to see His light. He repeatedly asks for God to forgive his grief for "thy [God's] creature, whom I found so fair." The speaker has faith that this departed fair friend lives on in God. The Poem is organized structurally around the three Christmas lyrics strategically placed within the sequence. The speaker struggles with ideas natural selection and the theory of evolution, but then emerges with his Christian faith reaffirmed, progressing from doubt and despair to faith and hope. Tennyson insisted that we hold fast to our faith in a higher power in spite of our inability to prove God's existence: "Believing where we cannot prove." The poem was a great favourite of Queen Victoria, who after the death of Prince Albert wrote that she was "soothed & pleased" by it.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson: "The Lady of Shalott" (1156-59, 1161-66)

Tennyson's lyric includes references to the Arthurian legend. "The Lady of Shalott" can be seen as a conflict between art and life. The Lady, who weaves her magic web and sings her song in a remote tower, can be seen to represent the contemplative artist isolated from the bustle and activity of daily life. The moment she sets her art aside to gaze down on the real world, a curse befalls her and she meets her tragic death. The poem thus captures the conflict between an artist's desire for social involvement and his/her doubts about whether such a commitment is viable for someone dedicated to art.

What was the "Irish question?"

The Irish Question is an ages-old and very complicated problem that encompasses issues of land ownership, religion, and politics between Ireland and Britain. It refers generally to the issue of "Who governs Ireland?" "How it is governed?"

What was the Oxford movement (also known as Tractarianism) and who was its leader?

The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. They sought a renewal of "catholic," or Roman Catholic, thought and practice within the Church of England in opposition to the Protestant tendencies of the church. Leaders of the movement were John Henry Newman, a clergyman and subsequently a convert to Roman Catholicism and a cardinal, and Edward Pusey.

Gerard Hopkins: "Pied Beauty" (1551)

The Poem is structured like a hymn or a prayer, beginning by addressing God, "Glory be to God," praising God by praising the created world. It expresses the theological position that the great variety in the natural world is a testimony to the perfect unity of God and the infinitude of His creative power. In the context of a Victorian age that valued uniformity, efficiency, and standardization, this theological praise of "dappled" objects takes on a tone of protest. It's important to remember Hopkin's theories on inscape, the distinctive design that constitutes individual identity. The act of the human begin recognizes the inscape of other beings is termed instress, and the instress of inscape leads one to Christ.

Matthew Arnold: "The Function of Criticism" (1404-18)

The central argument of the essay responds to what Arnold felt to be the prevailing attitude that the constructive, creative capacity was much more important than the critical faculty. Arnold's expanded definition of criticism, however--"the endeavour, in all branches of knowledge, theology, philosophy, history, art, science, to see the object as in itself it really is"--renders criticism a necessary prerequisite for truly valuable creation. Specifically, criticism is what generates "fresh" and "intelligent" ideas during a specific time and place in history, and Arnold claim that since literature works with current ideas, great works can only be generated in a climate of great ideas—such as Athens or the England of Elizabeth. Thus, Arnold argues that criticism prepares the way for creation. Arnold sees that real criticism is essentially the exercise of the quality of curiosity. Curiosity is the disinterested desire for knowledge in all fields. It is an instinct that urges man to seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge. The creative activity must be preceded by criticism. Criticism paves the way for creative activity. Lastly, "for the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment." essentially, criticism ensures that what is good art is seen as good art to the public and future generations, and poor art is overlooked and forgotten.

William Morris: "The Defence of Guenevere" (1512-22)

The poem begins in medias res, with Guenevere on trial for adultery with Lancelot. It is written with terza rims structure, harkening back to older medieval forms. Basically, Guenevere tries everything from feminine charm to saying she need not explain herself to stall the judges until Lancelot arrives to save her, even beginning a strange analogy about two cloths. "One of these cloths is heaven, and one is hell, now choose one cloth forever, which they be, I will not tell you, you must somehow tell... no man could tell the better of the two." This likely reflects her relationships with Arthur and Lancelot.

Matthew Arnold: "The Buried Life" (1375-77)

The poem deals with the accursed questions— Who are we? Where did we come from and where are we going? It describes man's yearning to know his own heart. The speaker knows that people fear to reveal themselves, suspecting that they will be ignored or, worse, criticized for what they expose of themselves. Yet, his counterargument is that all human beings contain essentially the same feelings and thus should be able to bare their souls more freely than they do. Arnold's primary question—how is a full and enjoyable life to be lived in a modern industrial society? He's all about human connection.

Dante Rossetti: "The Blessed Damozel" (1471-76)

The poem was partially inspired by Poe's "The Raven," with its depiction of a lover grieving on Earth over the death of his loved one. Rossetti chose to represent the situation in reverse. The poem describes the damozel observing her lover from heaven, and her unfulfilled yearning for their reunion in heaven. The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters stilled at even; She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven. Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem, No wrought flowers did adorn, But a white rose of Mary's gift, For service meetly worn; Her hair that lay along her back Was yellow like ripe corn. Herseemed she scarce had been a day One of God's choristers; The wonder was not yet quite gone From that still look of hers; Albeit, to them she left, her day Had counted as ten years. (To one, it is ten years of years. . . . Yet now, and in this place, Surely she leaned o'er me—her hair Fell all about my face. . . . Nothing: the autumn fall of leaves. The whole year sets apace.

Gerard Hopkins: "The Windhover" (1550)

The speaker describes how he saw a windhover. He describes it elegantly like a rider and on a horse. He compares the bird to a "chevalier"—a traditional Medieval image of Christ as a knight on horseback. Then as the bird takes flight, he notes that the beauty of the bird in flight is but a spark in comparison with the glory of Christ, whose grandeur and spiritual power are "a billion times told lovelier, more dangerous." The speaker then muses about how something glorious happens when a being's physical body, will, and action are all brought into accordance with God's will, culminating in the perfect self-expression. This phenomenon is not a "wonder," but rather an everyday occurrence—part of what it means to be human. This striving, far from exhausting the individual, serves to bring out his or her inner glow—much as the daily use of a metal plow, instead of wearing it down, actually polishes it—causing it to sparkle and shine.

Robert Browning: "My Last Duchess" (1282-83)

The speaker shows the visitor through his palace, he stops before a portrait of the late Duchess. He begins reminiscing about the portrait sessions, then about the Duchess herself, making remarks about her disgraceful behavior. As his monologue continues, the reader realizes with ever-more chilling certainty that the Duke in fact caused the Duchess's early demise. He brushes off the horrifying information, making it seem merely colorful. The poem provides a classic example of a dramatic monologue: the speaker is clearly distinct from the poet; an audience is suggested but never appears in the poem; and the revelation of the Duke's character is the poem's primary aim. The poem engages its readers on a psychological level. Because we hear only the Duke's musings, we must piece the story together ourselves. Browning forces his reader to become involved in the poem in order to understand it. It begs the question, has everyday life and social class made people numb? Secondly, it asks a question that must be asked of all art—does art have a moral component, or is it merely an aesthetic exercise?

Christina Rossetti: "The Goblin Market" (1496-1508)

The story narrated in "Goblin Market" is often described as simple. Two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who apparently live together without parents, are taunted by goblin merchant men to buy luscious and tantalizing fruits. Lizzie is able to resist their coaxing and runs home, but Laura succumbs. She pays for the wares with a lock of her hair and gorges herself on the exotic fare, but her desire increases rather than being satisfied. She begins to age prematurely. Fearing for her sister's life, Lizzie decides to seek out the goblins in order to purchase an "antidote" for her sister. When the goblins learn that Lizzie does not intend to eat the fruit herself, the goblin men turn violent and try to stuff fruit in Lizzie's mouth, but she squeezes her mouth shut, so they just end up getting juice all over her. Lizzie runs back to their house all covered in goblin fruit juice. Laura kisses the juice off her sister's cheeks and is miraculously, but painfully, healed. Laura now tells the story to their children, reminding them that "there is no friend like a sister." The poem has clear allusions to Adam and Eve, forbidden fruit, temptation, and redemption, with Lizzie possibly representing a Christ-like figure. There is also much in the poem's language seems overtly sexual, perhaps reflecting more the nature of temptation. Some critics focus primarily on Lizzie's suffering and subsequent offering of herself to her sister, reading this not as a sexual advance but as a sacrifice similar to Christ's redemption of humanity's sins or as exemplifying the power of sisterhood in a secular or feminist sense. "Eat me, drink me, love me." This is imagery used to identify Christ's sacrifice in communion services. The motto, "there is no friend like a sister," coincides with the feminist theme. Sisterhood and female community were important to Rossetti, who worked with prostitutes at the St. Mary Magdalene Home for Fallen Women. Perhaps she hoped that through this poem, even fallen women could seek a path to redemption, leaving their past indiscretions behind. The language of the poem is also filled with terms of commerce, economics, and exchange. The goblins sell exotic fruits to Laura, who pays for them with a lock of her hair. Lizzie attempts to pay for the fruit with money, which is refused. Such elements of the poem have been examined as statements about capitalism and the Victorian economy, as an exploration of the role of women within the economy and society, and, more specifically, as a discussion of the place of female literature within the economy. The theme of renunciation in the poem, demonstrated primarily through Lizzie's actions, is sometimes used to prove that Rossetti believed in the necessity of renouncing pleasure or art's gratification in order for poetry to have purpose or significance.

Matthew Arnold: "Dover Beach" (1387-88)

This poem plays a lot with form, the various lengths of the lines can even bee seen as waves going in and out, or the uneven nature of the cliffs, which both in turn reflect life itself. The Poem starts off with a couple looking out at the waves at night through a window and then the waves become a metaphor for all of mankind—"The Sea of Faith." The speaker laments about how everyone was once united in faith, but now it is erroding like the cliffs. The poem captures the essence of just how lonely it can be to live in the confusing modern world. Interestingly, even though the poem feels lonely, it connects people because as they read it they share that same feeling of isolation in the modern world. The conclusion is that Human connection is the only certainty in the world.

Coventry Patmore: from "The Angel in the House" (1613-1614)

Unlike Ellis, who produced a quasi-didactic text on the ideal form of women, Patmore romanticizing his late wife in the form of poetry. In this way, his work seems to be much more sincere and less critical. It is a reflection, albeit idealized, of his real-life relationship with his wife, whom he calls an "angel." In the Poem, Patmore idealizes his late wife as the perfect woman because of her qualities of complete and selfless devotion to her family. Because of this romanticized high standard, female activist Virginia Woolf attacked the poem of the loving widower vehemently.

What was Utilitarianism and who were its leaders?

Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing total benefit and reducing suffering or the negatives. Classical utilitarianism's two most influential contributors are Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

Oscar Wilde: "Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1732-33)

Wilde follows espouses many of Pater's beliefs concerning art. Morality must be separated from art. "Vice and Virtue are to the artists materials for an art." "It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors" Art says more about individual than more about life as a whole. "Art is quite useless" Art for art's sake really has no utilitarian purpose. It's for the individual. It's about the process.