Pre-Raphaelitism

Draft:

The Pre-Raphaelite movement in poetry grew out of a connection with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (hyperlink), a group of mid-nineteenth century artists who had a great deal of influence on the work of certain poets during the Victorian era. Several of the poets influenced by Pre-Raphaelite artists include Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, George Meredith, William Morris and Algernon Charles Swinburne (Landow). The painting that inspired Pre-Raphaelite poetry took on two distinct forms: one being the diverse naturalism that the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was known for, beginning in 1849 and the other being the dark and suggestive medievalism that took form later in the 1850s (Landow). The first form of Pre-Raphaelite painting does appear in a few Victorian poems but the second form of painting had a larger and more noticeable effect on poetry written by the Pre-Raphaelite poets (Landow). Although there is proof of some influence by the first form, the second form of Pre-Raphaelitism (Aesthetic), has the most in common with the poets of this group, who emphasized “lush vowel sounds, sensuous description, subjective psychological states, elaborate personification and complex poetic forms such as the sestina” (Hyperlink) (Landow). One poet whose work mirrored the first form of pre-Raphaelite painting was Robert Browning. His poetry was incredibly popular with the later pre-Raphaelite poets and had a particular influence on Rossetti (Landow). Like the paintings of the Brotherhood, Browning's poems “simultaneously extend the boundaries of subject and create a kind of abrasive realism, and like the work of the young painters, his also employ elaborate symbolism drawn from biblical types to carry the audience beyond the aesthetic surface, to which he, like the painters, aggressively draws attention” (Landow). Like Pre-Raphaelite painters, the poets influenced tended to “etherealize sensation by displacing it from logical contexts and all normally expected physical relations with objects in the external world” (Harrison in Landow). They were able to effectively send the reader into the emotional worlds of their diverse characters with both the sensory and sensual becoming idealised in their poetry (Landow). Along with the Pre-Raphaelite movement in poetry, the passion for writing was also exhibited in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood journal called The Germ (1850), a publication that only lasted for four issues but was an important step towards the Modernist movement and the ‘little magazine’ (Hyperlink) (Roe). The Germ contained pictures, reviews, essays and original poetry and emphasized the Pre-Raphaelite poets interest in the beauty and sound of language and displayed that by experimenting in different forms of verse such as the ballad, lyric and dramatic monologue (Roe). The excitement demonstrated by the poets published in the journal to explore the interactions between words and images was a precursor to future high-profile Pre-Raphaelite projects including work done by Rossetti, Millais and Hunt’s illustrations for an edition of Tennyson’s poems (Roe). The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood disbanded in the early 1850s but the Pre-Raphaelite movement in poetry managed to survive and began to resurface later in the 1850s when “Oxford undergraduates William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones teamed up with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and painters Arthur Hughes, Valentine Prinsep and others to decorate the Oxford Union debating chamber with Arthurian murals” (Roe). During this period in London, a group of artists taught art classes at the Working Men’s College, an institution created to help in giving working class men a chance to access a liberal education (Roe). This foray into education helped push the Pre-Raphaelite movement to reestablish itself and in 1861 Ford Madox Brown and architect Philip Webb along with several others, joined with several Pre-Raphaelites to found a decorative arts firm which eventually would become Morris and Co (Hyperlink) (Roe). **To protest the growing movement towards mass-production, which gained in popularity with the industrial era, the firm’s designers began using handcrafting and old techniques, emphasizing the unique and beautiful qualities of natural materials, which in turn proved important in the start of the Arts and Crafts Movement** (Hyperlink) (Roe). Of the successful publications during the later period of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, there are several that stand out. Works worth noting include: William Morris’ poems, The Defence of Guenevere (1858) and George Meredith’s Modern Love (1862) (Roe). Christina Rossetti, **who was never included in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as a member but was an integral part of the group**, produced the first definite Pre-Raphaelite literary success, Goblin Market (1862) (Roe). Her book was also a very important publication in terms of Victorian book illustration. The artist in charge of illustrating the book was Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the style he used became very popular and would eventually become a widely imitated style of illustration in the Victorian era (Roe). The Pre-Raphaelite movement also experienced its fair share of controversy. Algernon Charles Swinburne’s Poems and Ballads 1866, was met with critics reacting against the subjects he dealt with including necrophilia, sado-masochism and blasphemy (Roe). The criticism became so strong that eventually the publisher withdrew the volume (Roe). Swinburne’s upsetting ideas eventually evolved into a theory that elevated the artistic quality of a work over moral, political or social content which was supported first by the Pre-Raphaelites and later by the Aesthetes closer to the end of the century (Roe). Another poet who garnered negative attention was Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his work //Poems, 1870//. The poems raised criticism from Robert Buchanan, who attacked Pre-Raphaelite poetry for its themes of eroticism, medievalism and general rebellion against cultural norms (Roe). While these defining qualities of the Pre-Raphaelite movement may have been abhorrent to some, they attracted another critic, Walter Pater, who became the defender of the Pre-Raphaelites after taking over from critic John Ruskin (Roe). The essays Pater wrote in favour of the art and poetry of Morris and Rossetti eventually became determining works of Aestheticism and were reprinted in different editions and versions from the late 1860s to the late 1880s (Roe). More qualities of aestheticism became evident as the 1870s and 1880s progressed in the form of paintings featuring striking, sensual figures in vague and undefined situations (Roe). “Examples include Rossetti’s and //Astarte Syriaca// (1877) and //The Day-Dream// (1880) and Burne-Jones’s//Laus Veneris// (1875) and //The Golden Stairs// (1880), works which anticipated Symbolist art” (Roe).

Works Cited

Landow, George P. “Pre-Raphaelites: An Introduction” //The Victorian Web.// www.victorianweb.org/painting/prb/4.html, 1989 or 2014 (?). Web. 25 Jan. 2015.

Landow, George P. “Pre-Raphaelitism In Poetry” //The Victorian Web//. www.victorianweb.org/painting/prb/1.html, 20 Oct. 2004. Web. 25 Jan. 2015.

Roe, Dinah. “The Pre-Raphaelites” //Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians.// www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-pre-raphaelites, date??. Web. 25 Jan. 2015.