Time and Timelessness in Victorian Poetry

Demonstrates what Victorian poetry tells us about the relationship between poetry and time

Brings together various aspects of Victorian poetry under one coherent perspective (changing concepts of time)
Discusses a wide range of texts by well-known as well as less familiar Victorian poets
Interrogates the historical basis of widely held theoretical assumptions (e.g. the opposition between metre and rhythm, the juxtaposition of temporal narrative and timeless lyric)
Presents an analytical framework for the analysis of poetic time structures
Combines historical analysis with a sustained focus on the role of aesthetic form

Time and Timelessness in Victorian Poetry explores the question of poetry's relation to time and argues that this relation is historically contingent as the concept of time changes, so too do the shaping forms and definitions of poetry. Victorian literature provides a rich testing field for its hypothesis, since the nineteenth century saw momentous changes in the ways people thought about and experienced time. This book demonstrates that these changes were an important factor for some of the long-term developments in Victorian poetry, like its loss of cultural prestige, the popularity of mixed genres like the poetic sequence, the dramatic monologue and the verse novel, and the demise of metrical poetry as the norm. Moreover, the historical perspective offered questions some widely held assumptions, not only about poetry, but also about time itself. Thus, the theoretical relevance of this study extends well beyond its Victorian context.