Historical Context
Victorian Poetry
While the Romantic era was dominated by poets, the Victorian age is more renowned for its novels. Nevertheless, poetry remained a significant and beloved form of literature among the educated public, producing some of England's most famous poets. In the 1830s, Browning's reputation as a poet was on the rise, and his friend Alfred Tennyson was being recognized as the preeminent poet of the time. Tennyson, a successor to Keats and Shelley, initially focused his exceptional lyric talent on deeply personal verse. He later addressed contemporary public issues and introduced two innovative poetic techniques. One was the dramatic monologue, also developed by Robert Browning, and the other was the English idyll, which combines contemporary observations with casual debate. As his career progressed, Tennyson created long poems from shorter ones, such as In Memoriam, an elegy composed of 133 individual lyrics. In 1850, Tennyson was appointed poet laureate of England. In contrast, Robert Browning's poetry was more stark and conversational. Browning's dramatic monologues invite the reader into the mindset of unconventional characters, requiring active engagement in themes of personal discovery and morality. Another prominent Victorian poet, Matthew Arnold, combined lyrical talent with the era's dark philosophical outlook. Arnold also experimented with what he termed "the dialogue of the mind with itself." However, later in his career, he gained greater recognition for his literary criticism.
Nineteenth-Century Feminism
The "woman question" was a significant issue of debate in Victorian England. Politically, gender inequality meant that women were unable to vote or hold public office. Advocacy for women's suffrage began in the 1840s but did not become law until 1918. Economically, married women were required to relinquish control of their property to their husbands until the enactment of the Married Women's Property Acts between 1870 and 1908. The first college for women was founded in 1848, and by the end of the Victorian era, women could earn degrees at twelve colleges, though not at Oxford or Cambridge. The Industrial Revolution brought thousands of lower-class women to cities for factory jobs, highlighting the need for a shift in attitudes toward women's work. Unfortunately, when reforms to improve working conditions for impoverished women were finally introduced, the argument centered not on equality but on the belief that women were too delicate to endure the sixteen-hour workday and other hardships. Meanwhile, Victorian society responded by placing even greater emphasis on the importance of a woman's role within the home.
An immensely popular poem by Coventry Patmore, The Angel in the House, published in 1856, emphasized the significance of a woman's purity and selflessness. For many women, this idealized role within the home became more of a confinement. Prominent figures like Browning, Charlotte Brontë, and Florence Nightingale criticized the fact that middle-class and upper-class women were taught such trivial skills that they were left with almost nothing significant to occupy their time.
Aurora Leigh highlighted the restrictions placed on women's minds by traditional homemaking education. During this period, the only respectable occupation for women was that of a governess. However, the extreme boredom and the inspiration from successful novelists like the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, and George Sand led women in the late Victorian era to rebel and demand a broader range of opportunities.
Style and Technique
Kunstlerroman
This specific type of bildungsroman, a novel that focuses on psychological and moral growth, revolves around the development of a writer or artist. In such narratives, the protagonist reaches maturity by mastering their craft. Completing this apprenticeship phase not only concludes their formative years but also solidifies the destiny they have strived for. Examples of this genre include Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, James Joyce's Portrait...
(This entire section contains 655 words.)
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of the Artist as a Young Man, and Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. William Wordsworth's extensive autobiographical poem The Prelude, published in 1850, likely influenced Browning's decision to write a kunstlerroman. Both works share similar storylines and themes, such as critiquing radical social reform and asserting that poetry can positively impact individuals' lives. However, Wordsworth's protagonist fears feeling too much, whereas Aurora acknowledges a need for human love.
The Female Bildungsroman
When the central character of a bildungsroman is female, the genre gains an additional layer. The protagonist not only faces the typical challenges of growing up but also the unique difficulties of maturing as a woman in a male-dominated society. Aurora, as a woman striving for professional success, confronts these issues directly. Early female bildungsromans often adhered to the traditional expectation that a woman would find fulfillment in marriage upon reaching maturity. While this holds somewhat true for Aurora, Browning's conclusion aligns more with later novels where women accept marriage not merely for societal advancement or exposure but as the result of mutual growth within a loving relationship. In contrast to male protagonists who typically face their pivotal crises in their professional lives, female protagonists' turning points often stem from romantic entanglements. Their journey of self-discovery tends to be more internal or psychological compared to their male counterparts, who have more opportunities for public interaction. Although Aurora is involved in the public sphere, her main conflict is indeed more psychological and internal rather than purely professional.
Blank Verse
Blank verse is poetry composed in unrhymed meter, especially iambic pentameter, which consists of lines with five stressed syllables and ten syllables in total. This form of poetry mimics the natural rhythms of English speech. When reading blank verse, it should be approached in sentences, with line breaks dictated by the meter, creating a strong narrative flow from one line to the next. Blank verse emerged in Italy during the sixteenth century and gained immense popularity in Renaissance literature because it resembled classical poetry. It became the norm in poetic drama for writers such as Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. John Milton utilized blank verse for Paradise Lost in 1667. In the following century, poets like Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats employed blank verse in several significant works. Therefore, it was a natural choice for Browning to write Aurora Leigh in blank verse, as it was the preferred medium for many esteemed long works and suited the innovation of the verse novel. In the twentieth century, prominent poets such as William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, and Wallace Stevens continued to use blank verse.
Allusions
One of the most frequently employed literary devices in Aurora Leigh is the allusion. An allusion is a reference to a person or event outside the story, serving as a shortcut to connect with the reader's knowledge base and avoid lengthy explanations. However, for contemporary readers, the plethora of allusions to classical literature and the Bible in Aurora Leigh can be more of a hindrance than a help. Browning was an expert in mythology and a devout reader of the Bible, so it was natural for her to incorporate this knowledge into her writings. Nevertheless, her extensive familiarity with ancient Greek and Roman literature often makes her allusions obscure, complicating the reading experience. Editions of Aurora Leigh with footnotes frequently dedicate half a page to explaining the numerous allusions in the text. Despite this, the allusions in Aurora Leigh add a richness to the work, providing an educational experience in their own right.
Compare and Contrast
- 1856: During the Crimean War, the government permits women to serve
as nurses in combat for the first time. Florence Nightingale, along with
thirty-eight other women, tends to sick and wounded soldiers, advocating for
sanitary practices and meticulous record-keeping in hospitals and on the
battlefield. Nightingale's efforts make nursing a respectable profession and
create new job opportunities for women.
Today: Modern nursing practices and systems owe much to Florence Nightingale. Her emphasis on data and statistical analysis has led to the use of patient medical histories, the calculation of mortality rates, and a structured approach to medical and surgical education. While nursing is now a profession open to all genders, the role of women in medicine has greatly expanded due to their initial entry into nursing.
- 1856: The synthetic dye industry is born when eighteen-year-old
chemistry student William Henry Perkin accidentally discovers the purplish dye
mauveine while experimenting with aniline and quinine. The following year, he
and his father establish the first synthetic dye factory.
Today: Natural dyes have been largely replaced, with over seven thousand synthetic color-providing substances now available for commercial use. Synthetic dyes are used not only in textiles but also in paints, inks, plastics, rubber, and cosmetics.
- 1856: The Steinway Piano Company, founded in 1853 in New York City,
constructs its first grand piano and will secure the first patent for a concert
grand in 1875.
Today: Producing more than five thousand pianos annually, Steinway is a highly prestigious brand and the preferred choice of many of the world's concert pianists.
- 1856: During the Crimean War, Henry Bessemer invents a more powerful
artillery shell, but the cast-iron cannons are too weak to handle it.
Consequently, Bessemer develops an improved iron-smelting process capable of
producing high-quality ingots suitable for making cannons.
Today: The Bessemer steelmaking process, an evolution of the method developed in 1856, remains a dominant technology for the mass production of steel at a low cost.
Adaptations
- Aurora Leigh: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism (1994) is accessible on audiocassette, edited by Margaret Reynolds and produced by HarperCollins Publishers.
Bibliography
Sources
Arnold, Matthew, The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867, Oxford University Press, 1913, p. 1.
Aytoun, William Edmondstoune, "Mrs. Barrett Browning—Aurora Leigh," in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 81, No. 495, January 1857, pp. 23–41.
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, Aurora Leigh, edited by Margaret Reynolds, W. W. Norton, 1996, pp. 7, 10, 14, 18–19, 46, 51, 86, 143, 150, 162, 174, 218, 232, 265, 289.
Chorley, Henry Fothergill, Review of Aurora Leigh, in Athenaeum, No. 1517, November 22, 1856, pp. 1425–27.
Hickok, Kathleen K., "New, Yet Orthodox: Female Characters in Aurora Leigh," in International Journal of Women's Studies, Vol. 3, No. 5, September/October 1980, pp. 479–89.
Maxwell, Catherine, "Aurora Leigh," in Review of English Studies, Vol. 45, No. 180, November 1994, pp. 586–87.
McSweeney, Kerry, ed., "Introduction," in Aurora Leigh, Oxford University Press, 1993, p. xvi.
Mermin, Dorothy, "Genre and Gender in Aurora Leigh," in Victorian Newsletter, No. 69, Spring 1986, pp. 7–11.
Oliphant, Mrs., "Of the Greater Victorian Poets," in The Victorian Age of English Literature, Vol. 1, Lovell, Coryell, 1982, pp. 203–46.
Roscoe, W. C., "Aurora Leigh," in National Review, Vol. 4, No. 8, April 1857, pp. 239–67.
Further Reading
Bristow, Joseph, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Victorian Poetry, Cambridge University Press, 2000.
This book offers a comprehensive chronology of the period, providing an excellent overview of the poets, their cultural contexts, and the critical interpretations their works have garnered over time.
Bloom, Harold, ed., Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Chelsea House Publishers, 2002.
Bloom's compilation includes contemporary critical essays on Elizabeth Barrett Browning's works, accompanied by a valuable introduction and bibliography.
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination, Yale University Press, 2000.
This seminal feminist critique explores the lives of Victorian women writers, offering a unique perspective on their literature, motivations, and messages.
Leighton, Angela, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Indiana University Press, 1986.
Utilizing feminist theory, this book examines recurring themes in Browning's life and writings, particularly her relationships with her family and the challenges she faced as a female poet seeking independence.
Radley, Virginia, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Twayne Publishers, 1972.
This well-known biography provides a concise life history of Browning, followed by detailed chronological analyses of her works, complete with extensive notes and a bibliography.
Stone, Marjorie, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, St. Martin's Press, 1995.
An expert on Victorian and gender studies, Stone employs gender and genre theories to reassess Browning's works, highlighting their enduring relevance and impact.
Stott, Rebecca, and Simon Avery, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Longman, 2003.
Beyond a biographical overview, this book critiques Browning's works and discusses her literary influence, dispelling myths about her reclusiveness and emphasizing her intellectual contributions and innovations.