Victorian Literature

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Thomas CARLYLE in Past and
Present (1843) argued for the re-creation in industrial England of the lost
sense of community between social classes. In contrast, John Stuart MILL
in ON LIBERTY spoke for the fullest development of the individual through
freedom from social restraint. The foremost art critic of the time, John
RUSKIN, articulated the assumptions of many contemporary critics by showing
in The Stones of Venice (1851-53) the interdependence of great art and a
society's moral health.
The major early Victorian poets, too, took the role of secular
prophets, often expressing a longing for the free play of imaginative life.
For Alfred, Lord TENNYSON, the longing found ambivalent expression in his
early lyrics; his major work, In Memoriam (1850), translated personal
grief into an affirmation of religious faith. Matthew ARNOLD, particularly
in his poem Empedocles on Etna (1852), revealed how the spirit of his own
age weakened emotional vitality. Although concerned ...

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