1. Robert Bridges (1840-1930): The Last Great Victorian
- Background and Style
- Though a twentieth-century poet, Bridges is considered the last of the Great Victorians.
- Carried on the Victorian tradition and was not involved in the modern crisis except for his metrical innovations.
- His work is concerned with the leisured and highly cultivated aristocratic class of society.
- Themes and Imagery
- Beautiful descriptions of English landscapes, clear streams, gardens, and songs of birds.
- Depicts a world haunted by memories of the classics, music, poetry, and decorous love-making.
- Continued the tradition of Milton, Wordsworth, and Tennyson, against which the young men of his times revolted.
- Philosophical Approach
- No bold attempts to face the critical problems of his generation.
- Even his greatest poem, The Testament of Beauty, lacks consistent treatment of deep philosophy.
- Yeats remarked on the emptiness in Bridges' poetry.
- Metrical Innovations
- Importance lies in his metrical innovations.
- Lover of old English music, influenced by Elizabethan lyricists like Thomas Campion.
- Remarkable prosodist and the first English poet with a grasp of phonetic theory.
- Experimented tirelessly with verse form and followed the rules of new prosody influenced by his friend, Hopkins.
- Developed sprung rhythm, a kind of versification based on emotional pattern rather than speech rhythm, contributing significantly to English verse.
- Notable Works
- A Passer-By, London Snow, The Downs: Marked by an Elizabethan simplicity.
- The Growth of Love: Reflects the calm, meditative strain of Victorian love poetry.
- The Testament of Beauty: Expresses his love for the abstract idea of beauty and attempts to reconcile passion with peace.
- His poetry transcends modern problems through idealism and evolutionary spirit.
- Criticism
- No sympathy for the down-trodden and less fortunate members of humanity.
- Reflects the mind of the upper class, often detached from common humanity.
- Rightly called the last Great Victorian; The Testament of Beauty as the final flower of the Victorian Spirit.
2. Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889): The Eccentric Innovator
- Posthumous Fame
- Died in 1889; poems published posthumously by his friend Robert Bridges in 1918.
- Known for his eccentric style, not published during his lifetime.
- Sprung Rhythm
- Revived the sprung rhythm, an accentual and alliterative measure.
- Creates intertwined currents, sometimes reversing the movement within lines.
- Follows the system of beats and stresses, akin to natural speech.
- Appealed to modern poets for conveying everyday experiences naturally.
- Inscape and Divine Presence
- Endowed with a highly sensuous temperament but deeply religious.
- Perceived God in every object, focusing on its distinctive virtue or inscape.
- Developed a unique style to express this inscape, unsatisfied with conventional rhythms.
- Notable Works and Themes
- Wrote about God, Nature, and Man, all pervaded by the immanence of God.
- The Wreck of Deutschland: Reveals the mystery of God's ways.
- His poetry is symbolic, often meaning more than what is explicitly stated.
- Influence on Modern Poetry
- Significant influence due to his theories of sprung rhythm and inscape.
- These theories met the needs of twentieth-century poetry.
3. A. E. Housman (1859-1936): The Dreamer of Shropshire
- Classical Scholar and Poet
- Great classical scholar who wrote much about Shropshire.
- Created a dream world based on his memories of Shropshire, akin to an arcadia.
- Themes and Imagery
- Shropshire Lad: Pseudo-pastoral fancy about the life of a vigorous, carefree lad.
- Disgusted with the dismal modern world, reflected in his poetry.
- Expresses the division in modern consciousness due to moral sense and scientific discoveries.
- Modern War and Humanity
- Wrote poems about the destruction caused by modern wars and their futility.
- On the whole, a minor poet compared to T. S. Eliot or W. B. Yeats.