Victorian Poetry Exam Review

Flashcards covering Victorian Poetry lecture material by Dr. Kalyani Vallath.

Who was the last Hanoverian monarch of the United Kingdom?

Queen Victoria

What were the exact dates of Queen Victoria's reign?

1837 to 1901

How is Victorian society characterized in terms of its social outlook in the lecture notes?

Priggish (formal and pretentious), moralistic, and narrow-minded

Which literary movement's spirit continued in early Victorian literature?

Romanticism

What literary movement saw its rise during later Victorian literature?

Modernism

What were the dates of the Great Irish Famine?

1846-52

What years spanned the Chartist Movement?

1838-48

In what three years were the Great Reform Acts passed?

1832, 1867, and 1884

In what year was The Great Exhibition of London held?

1851

What were the dates of the two Boer Wars?

1880–1881 and 1899–1902

What were the exact dates of the Crimean War?

1853-56

In what year did the Indian Rebellion take place?

1857

Which sociologist advocated Social Darwinism between 1820 and 1903?

Herbert Spencer

Which philosopher promoted Utilitarianism between 1806 and 1873?

JS Mill

Who established the theoretical philosophy of Positivism?

August Comte

How is Positivism defined according to the lecture notes?

The view that all valid knowledge must be based on the methods of empirical investigation established by the natural sciences

What was 'the woman question' in the Victorian era?

The early feminist agitation for equal status and rights

For what athletic activities did the Victorian dress reform or rational dress movement urge women to adopt simplified garments?

Bicycling or swimming

Which two major literary figures exemplify the trend of insistence on morality, propriety, and respect for convention?

Tennyson and Dickens

Which four authors are cited as exemplifying the revolt against convention and conservatism?

Carlyle, Arnold, Thackeray, Browning

What was the Pre-Raphaelites' stance on morality in art?

There is no morality except the author's regard for his art

What were the birth and death years of Alfred Tennyson?

1809-92

What themes recurred in Tennyson's poetry due to his gloomy and neurotic family background?

Madness, murder, avarice, miserliness, social climbing, marriages arranged for profit instead of love, and estrangements between families and friends

In what year did Tennyson enter Trinity College, Cambridge?

1827

What was the title of Tennyson's first volume of poetry published in 1827?

Poems by Two Brothers

What was the name of the Cambridge club that provided Tennyson with much needed friends and confidence?

Apostles

For which poem did Tennyson win the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge?

Timbuctoo

With whom did Tennyson form a close friendship while at Cambridge?

Arthur Henry Hallam

In what year did Tennyson's Poems, Chiefly Lyrical appear?

1830

At what age did Tennyson write the poem 'Timbuctoo'?

19

Which earlier poem written at age 15 did Tennyson rework to create 'Timbuctoo'?

Armageddon

What vision does Tennyson's poem 'Armageddon' offer?

A vision of the distant human future, in outer space

What view does the poem 'Timbuctoo' present regarding the human race?

An optimistic view showing that the human race, guided by reason and science, would come together and build a better world for everyone

What poetic form is Tennyson's poem 'The Kraken'?

Irregular sonnet

Where does the legendary creature in Tennyson's 'The Kraken' dwell?

At the bottom of the sea

Which Shakespearean character forms the basis for Tennyson's poem 'Mariana'?

Mariana in Measure for Measure

Who wrote a savage review of Tennyson's Poems (1832-1833) in The Quarterly Review?

John Wilson Croker

What is the period of neurotic refusal to publish following Croker's criticism called in Tennyson's life?

The 'Ten Years' Silence'

Which sister of Tennyson did Arthur Hallam fall in love with?

Emily

Where did Tennyson and Hallam travel in 1830 with a plan to make money?

Pyrenees in France-Spain border

What form of poem is Tennyson's 'Oenone'?

Dramatic monologue

What events does the Greek mythological character Oenone witness in Tennyson's poem?

The events in the life of her lover, Paris, as he is involved in the Trojan War

What state are Ulysses' mariners put into upon eating the lotos fruit in 'The Lotos-Eaters'?

A lethargic state, isolated from the outside world

Why did John Wilson Croker accuse Tennyson of belonging to the Cockney School?

For lack of masculinity and for imitating Keats

When, where, and at what age did Arthur Hallam die?

In Vienna in 1833, at the age of 22

What was the cause of Arthur Hallam's death?

Congenital brain disease

To whom was Tennyson engaged in a long and interrupted engagement?

Emily Sellwood

In whose friend's scheme did Tennyson make a disastrous investment?

Dr Allen's woodcarving scheme

Which friend prodded Tennyson to publish his 1842 Poems volume?

Edward Fitzgerald

Which new poems were included in the second volume of Tennyson's Poems (1842)?

Locksley Hall, Ulysses

Why is the Lady of Shalott separated from the outside world in her tower?

She is cursed to remain in her tower and should not even look out of the window

What action fulfills the curse on the Lady of Shalott?

Leaving her loom to look directly out of her window at Sir Lancelot riding down to Camelot

Which line from Tennyson's 'Ulysses' became a famous motto for the Victorians?

“to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”

What framing poem preceded and followed 'Morte d'Arthur' when published in 1842?

The Epic

What title was given to 'Morte d'Arthur' after Tennyson completed Idylls of the King in 1869?

The Passing of Arthur

In Greek mythology, who granted Tithonus immortality but withheld youth?

Aurora, the goddess of dawn

Why does Tithonus appeal to Aurora to take back the gift of immortality?

He realizes the danger in not belonging to the rest of humanity

Where is Tennyson's dramatic monologue 'Locksley Hall' set?

At the fictional childhood home of a weary soldier

What is the primary theme of Tennyson's long narrative poem 'The Princess, A Medley' (1847)?

Education of women and the establishment of female colleges

Why is the year 1850 referred to as an 'Annus Mirabilis' for Tennyson?

He published In Memoriam, succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate, and married Emily Sellwood

How many elegies make up 'In Memoriam A.H.H.', and over how many years were they written?

132 elegies written over a period of 17 years

What was the original working title of Tennyson's 'In Memoriam A.H.H.'?

The Way of the Soul

Which poem was considered the favourite poem of Queen Victoria?

In Memoriam A.H.H.

What is the rhyme scheme and meter of the 'In Memoriam stanza'?

Iambic tetrameter quatrains rhyming abba

Where did Tennyson and Emily move in 1853 where his privacy was constantly invaded?

Farringford on the Isle of Wight

How many soldiers rode into the 'valley of death' in 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'?

600 soldiers

What happens to the narrator after he kills Maud's brother in Tennyson's 'Maud'?

He flees to France, Maud dies, he goes mad, regains sanity, and leaves to fight in the Crimean War

Which two poems by Tennyson responded directly to the 1857 Indian Rebellion?

“The Defence of Lucknow” and “Havelock—November 25th, 1857”

How many times did Tennyson refuse a baronetcy before taking his seat in the Lords in 1883?

Four times

Which four idylls were published in the original 1859 edition of Idylls of the King?

“Enid”, “Vivien”, “Elaine”, and “Guinevere”

To whom was Tennyson's Idylls of the King dedicated?

Prince Albert

What was Tennyson's only prose play, which reflected his growing despondency at the age?

The Promise of May

What phrase did T. S. Eliot use to describe Alfred Tennyson?

“poet of metric and melancholia”

What were the birth and death years of Robert Browning?

1812-89

Which Romantic poet served as Robert Browning's literary hero and influenced his early life?

Shelley

What was Robert Browning's first published work in 1833?

Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession

Who famously remarked finding in Browning's 'Pauline' 'a more intense & morbid self-consciousness than I ever knew in any sane human being'?

John Stuart Mill

What 16th-century figure is the central subject of Browning's poem 'Paracelsus' (1835)?

A Swiss alchemist

Who suggested the subject of Paracelsus to Robert Browning?

Amédée de Ripert-Monclar

For which actor did Browning write the play 'Strafford' in 1837?

William Macready

Where was the title character Sordello introduced before Browning wrote his imaginary poem about him?

Dante's Divine Comedy

What general title was given to Browning's published series of works between 1841 and 1846?

Bells and Pomegranates

What is Pippa's occupation in Browning's verse drama 'Pippa Passes'?

A silkwinder

What are the famous concluding lines of Browning's 'Pippa Passes'?

“God’s in his heaven—All’s right with the world!”

At what London address was Elizabeth Barrett living as an invalid under her father's household?

50 Wimpole Street

In which Italian city did Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning reside until her death in 1861?

Florence

Which lines open Robert Browning's poem 'Rabbi Ben Ezra'?

“Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be…”

How does the speaker in Browning's 'Porphyria's Lover' preserve the moment of love?

He strangles his beautiful lover

What source inspired Browning's 'The Ring and the Book', and how many people tell the story?

An 'old yellow book' of documents relating to a 17th century murder trial; told by nine different people

Where did Robert Browning die, and where was his body returned to for burial?

Died in Venice; buried in Westminster Abbey

What were the birth and death dates of Elizabeth Barrett Browning?

1806-61

How many love sonnets are in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 'Sonnets from the Portuguese'?

44 love sonnets

What pet-name used by Robert Browning inspired the title of 'Sonnets from the Portuguese'?

“my little Portuguese”

How many books comprise Elizabeth Barrett Browning's verse novel 'Aurora Leigh'?

Nine books

What were the birth and death years of Matthew Arnold?

1822-88

For whom did Matthew Arnold write his poem 'Rugby Chapel'?

His father, Thomas Arnold (headmaster of Rugby School)

Whose death is commemorated in Matthew Arnold's pastoral elegy 'Thyrsis' (1861)?

Arthur Hugh Clough

What 17th-century book by Joseph Glanvill provided the basis for Arnold's 'The Scholar Gipsy'?

The Vanity of Dogmatizing

In what year was the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood formed, and who were its three main painter-poet founders?

1848; D. G. Rossetti, W. H. Hunt, and John Millais

Which Pre-Raphaelite painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti depicts Beatrice in a spiritual trance?

Beata Beatrix