This study examines the treatment of the city as a subject in nineteenth century English poetry. There is an outline of some of the problems posed by urban subject-matter in the post-Romantic era together with a survey of attitudes to the city, literary preconceptions and the kind of terminology already available at the beginning of the period. The body of the thesis shows how approaches developed, and considers how far poets were able to create forms and a language capable of dealing with this subject. It was not one which inspired great poetry; most poets found the material intransigent. A major reason for this was the complex set of reactions produced by the presence of the urban crowd. The poet's response to the city is seen to depend largely on his response to the crowd and this study has therefore taken into account the reaction of poets to social developments in the course of the century. The thesis deals with poetry in which the city or aspects of life in the city is the main subject. Poets for whom the city was only an occasional subject, e.g. Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning, have not been included although this study should throw some light incidentally on their treatment of urban themes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:467865 |
| Date | January 1974 |
| Creators | O'Toole, Bridge |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/72010/ |
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