This thesis argues for a new understanding of Aestheticism in nineteenth-century literature and culture through a line of transmission between Romanticism, Pre-Raphaelitism, and Aestheticism. It examines the complex intertextual relations among works by Aesthetic writers and their Romantic precursors, particularly Keats. This thesis aims to deepen awareness of one specific mode of aesthetic vision in Victorian poetry and painting, which is informed by a gendered concept of the female passionate body. This concept has ancient historical roots, which cannot be fully explored within the bounds of this thesis; the focus is on what Victorian poets and painters inherited from the Romantic tradition, taking Keats's 'Lamia' as an exemplary figure. The argument follows the engagement of artists and writers including William Morris, D. G. Rossetti, A. C. Swinburne, J. M. Whistler, Walter Pater, and Michael Field, with figures, real or imagined, of female passion - Mona Lisa, Guenevere, Sappho, and others. Chapter 1 discusses Aestheticism's relationship to Keats, considering the way Aestheticism reconfigures or re-reads Romanticism. It focuses on the parallels and analogies between Keats and Pater, tracing the significance of Keats's 'Lamia' alongside other essays by Pater. Chapter 2 considers Aestheticism via its Pre-Raphaelite precursors; the aim is to interpret the threshold between lyric and lyre, and to introduce the symbolic images of narcissism and passionate suffering in Aesthetic poetry. Chapter 3 discusses two themes of the thesis, narcissism and passionate suffering, considering the ways Rossetti and Swinburne bring together the realms of the visual and the verbal in their poetry. Chapter 4 draws attention to Michael Field (Edith Cooper and Katherine Bradley), affirming their contribution to Aesthetic poetry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:658569 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Huang, Chiung-Ying |
| Publisher | University of Bristol |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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