Influence and Resistance in Nineteenth-Century English Poetry

Book excerpt: To what extent is the distinction between 'Romantic' and 'Victorian' valuable or just? Is the Romantic/Victorian demarcation merely a convenience for the sake of the curriculum? How is the quarrel among different strains of Romanticism continued and developed in the Victorian period? How do Victorian texts interact with, echo, or resist Romantic texts? In what ways did the Romantic poets establish the terms within which, or against which, Victorian poets were debating? This volume of original essays addresses these questions; it also demonstrates how well the Romantics thought, and with what ferocious diligence the Victorians explored, resisted, and reworked the Romantic vision.