The Voice of Victorian “Longing like Despair” Essay -- Literary Analy

Matthew Arnolds Poetry The Voice of straitlaced hunger like Despair John Stuart Mill defined the prim period as an historic period of transition, where Mankind will not be led by their old maxims, nor by their old guides. Other coeval minds saw in this transition the main source of profound sharp and moral confusion, that may validly be described as a crisis of personal identity. (R. A. Forsyth) The poet and Victorian literary and affectionate critic Matthew Arnold distinctly expresses his ages deepest anxieties, rising from a world being utterly redefined by industrialisation. Much of his poetry is infused with intense personal and emotional discussions of love and loneliness, which forswear the rising feeling of isolation and alienation. His writings respond to the decline of the conventional Christian social order and to the Victorian human condition. Arnolds interpretive program is one of despair, although it is also one of longing one that seeks comfort in intimate c ompanionship. To Marguerite Continued (1852) and Isolation To Marguerite (1857) are in the main love poems where Arnold expresses his struggle with personal isolation and his hope in the latent remedying power of love. The conceal Life (1852) is a reflection on the Victorian human condition, notably mans identity crisis founded on social and self-alienation. Finally, Dover Beach, often characterised as a historical poem, mourns the disintegration of the traditional Christian order, as the Church was a pillar of Englands society for all of modern history. Despite these distinctions, Arnolds verse responds to the Victorian human condition, as he weaves together his despair of the present change world with a longing to overcome its darkness a... ...ety. Ed. J. B. Schneewind. London, 1965, pp. 30-31. Print. Matthew Arnold Dover Beach. vocalisation Poetry Online. Ed. Ian Lancashire. University of Toronto Librairies, 2009. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. . Matthew Arnold Isolation To Margueri te. vocalisation Poetry Online. Ed. Ian Lancashire. University of Toronto Librairies, 2009. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. . Matthew Arnold The Buried Life. Representative Poetry On-line Version 3.0. Ed. Ian Lancashire. University of Toronto Librairies, 2009. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. . Matthew Arnold To Marguerite Continued. Representative Poetry On-line Version 3.0. Ed. Ian Lancashire. University of Toronto Librairies, 2009. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. .