Victorian age and conflict

Victorian age is also known as intellectual Renaissance. The Victorian era was the period of reign of Queen Victoria. It is an age of ideological conflict. It is an era in which the conflict between science and religion, rationality and mysticism, and the technical progress and religious orthodoxy is found cum and clear. In Victorian era there were two camps, one which believes in the supremacy of God and autonomy of religion and another camp which believes in science. Tennyson was the one who try to bring two ideological poles together.
The most obvious example of this was the theory of evolution made popular by Charles Darwin. There was a group in the Victorian age which believed that man was created by the miraculous act of God. As contrasted to it, Darwin in his book 'On the Origin of the Species' (1859) propounded that man was created not by a miraculous act of God as depicted in the Biblical Genesis but by a process of 'gradual evolution'.
Tennyson says that " Science without religion is senseless and religion without science is brainless." The poems of Tennyson and Browning especially reflect the conflicts of the Victorian age. Tennyson's poetry demonstrate national spirit more than personal spirit and also, like mirror, reflects the social, political, moral and religious trends of the time. "Ulysses", for instance, represents the spirit of enquiry, intellectual ferment, quest for knowledge, and urgency of going ahead carrying on, and the life full of earnestness. "In Memoriam", Tennyson sought to reconcile traditional faith with the new ideas of evolutionary science but in other's faith and reason are opposed.
Browning's " Fra Lippo Lippi" is a delightful poem. The conclusion of Fra Lippo Lippi is that the world is good because God made it. This shows Browning's clear optimism, which goes against Victorian pessimism: 'This world's no blot for us'; 'A Gammarian's Funeral' reflects Browning's robust optimism, which was strongly opposing element of Victorians.
Thus tension, anguish and the conflicting demands of the Victorian age are reflected clearly and aptly in the Victorian poetry, especially in the poetry of Tennyson, Browning and Hardy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aims and objectives of English language teaching

             Introduction " The study of language is the foundation of all other learning. Language defines us as human. To be human is to use language and to talk is to be a person". Language is a medium of communication. English is a powerful vehicle of communication serves as a link language in a multicultural and multilingual society like India and also as a global linguistic mediator. Prof. Jacob Tharu says " English is no longer some remote but a powerful mystery, lying hidden in the world of textbooks in examination ".    Aims of English language teaching     in India In India now English exist as a second language and the aim of teaching English in India is to help students to acquire practical command on English. "Thomson and Wyatt said that Indian students should not only understand English when it is spoken or written but also should be able to speak and write it". Thomson and Wyatt has told the four specific aims of teaching Eng
Read more

Coleridge Fancy and Imagination

          Introduction The Biographia Literaria an autobiography in discourse by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which he published in 1817. It was one of Coleridge's main critical studies. In this work, he discussed the elements of writing. The work is long and seemingly loosely structured, and although there are autobiographical elements, it is not a straightforward autobiography. Although the work is not written from Coleridge's poetic mind it is still written with the qualities and rhythm of the poetic. Through this discussion, he makes many value judgements, leaving his audience with a clear understand of his stance on certain issues. Some of the issues he tackles include politics, religion, social values and human identity. He expresses his own thoughts from a personal viewpoint.            Imagination Imagination in its real sense denotes the working of poetic minds upon external objects or objects visible to the eyes. Imaginative process sometimes adds additional
Read more

W. B. Yeats as a modern poet

                    Introduction William Yeats is often considered to be the 'last romantic' as opposed to being the founding father of modern poetry. Yet one can not simply place Yeats into just one mould, one rigid and defined style of poetry because as a writer during both periods of Romanticism and Modernism, Yeats straddles the line between the two periods and incorporates 'romantic ideologies' into his modern work. His poems seen as the examples of modern liyerature. In his poems, we found astounding variety, political note, realism, religion, mysticism and so on. And all these matters have made him a true modern poet. By nature he was a dreamer, a thinker,who fell under the spell of the folklore and the superstitions of the Irish peasantry. He is a prominent poet in modern times for his sense of moral wholeness of humanity and history.             Elements of Mysticism Yeats may be credited primary with the owner of contributing the elements of myst
Read more