Abstract

This collection of poetry brings to life many of the important patterns of development in the verse of the late-Victorian period, and offers a fuller reflection of ‘decadence’ than those anthologies confined to the 1890s. ‘Major’ writers such as Tennyson, Browning, Hardy and Hopkins are presented alongside less well-known poets, fifty of whom are female, and other traditional figures such as Stevenson, William Morris and Christina Rossetti are given a fresh look. The book also contains a comparative chronology of prose 1872-1900 and of movements in the visual arts. Accompanied by an acclaimed critical commentary, the volume enables readers to discover poetry in the wider context of the literary, aesthetic and intellectual forces of the late-Victorian world as a whole.

Caroline Blyth teaches English at Royal Holloway, University of London, and is Visiting Fellow at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, where she was formerly Fellow and Director of Studies in English.

'Sprightly, witty and stimulating.' —Rod Edmond, Professor of English, University of Kent at Canterbury

'A much-needed textbook for Victorian literature courses.' —Angela Leighton, Professor of English, University of Cambridge

‘It is a strength of “Decadent Verse” that it sets out to reconfigure the familiar precincts of Decadence by offering up a panoply of new (and old) poets as potential members of the movement.’ —Jamie Horrocks, ‘English Literature in Transition, 1880–1920’

This volume is both an essential resource for undergraduates and graduates studying Victorian and Decadent literature and an instructive work for enthusiastic readers of verse. The wide span of the 1872–1900 epoch enables readers to appreciate in great depth the literary developments that led to the fin de siècle, unlike most studies of this period, which focus solely on the 1890s, with no relation to cultural and historical developments in the previous two important decades.

'I look forward to this for our Victorian literature courses.' —Daniel Karlin, Professor of English, University of Sheffield