I have used such terms as Augustan age and Romantic age as meaning what they are commonly held to mean in English criticism. That their fitness as terms may be sometimes challenged by critics of authority does not matter for the present purpose. They are convenient labels and may as well be used as any others. In choosing quotations for illustrative purposes, I have inclined when possible to such passages as are commonly known to readers of poetry, and since this book may be read by some who are not so erudite as my critics will be, I have thought it not superfluous to set out even so familiar a piece as _Crossing the Bar_, shall we say, in full. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE ix PART I THE MANNER OF VICTORIAN POETRY I. THE POET AND HIS AGE 17 II. DICTION IN ENGLISH POETRY 22 III. THE PROBLEMS OF THE VICTORIANS 54 IV. TENNYSON’S DICTION 71 V. BROWNING’S DICTION 92 VI. TENNYSON’S INFLUENCE--THE DICTION OF ARNOLD, ROSSETTI, MORRIS AND SWINBURNE 102 VII. BROWNING’S INFLUENCE--R. H. HORNE--ALFRED DOMETT--T. E. BROWN--COVENTRY PATMORE 142 VIII. CONCLUSION OF PART I 155 PART II THE MATERIAL OF VICTORIAN POETRY I. INTELLECTUAL FASHIONS 159 II. SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE POETRY--NARRATIVE POETRY--MACAULAY--MORRIS--POETIC DRAMA 164 III. “THE IDYLLS OF THE KING”--TENNYSON’S CRITICS--HIS METHOD--A DEBATABLE ELEMENT IN TENNYSON’S WORK--MORAL JUDGMENT IN POETRY--TENNYSON’S PUBLIC AUTHORITY 176 IV. THE RANGE OF SUBJECT MATTER IN VICTORIAN POETRY--THE OCCASIONAL ELEMENT--MRS. BROWNING--CHRISTINA ROSSETTI--FITZGERALD--SPIRITUAL ECSTASY 209 V. LOVE POETRY AND THE VICTORIAN USE OF NATURE 221 VI. CONCLUSION 230 INDEX 233 PART I: THE MANNER OF VICTORIAN POETRY VICTORIAN POETRY PART I: THE MANNER OF VICTORIAN POETRY Chapter I _The Poet and His Age_