"God has become a Deus absconditus, hidden somewhere behind the silence of infinite spaces, and our literary symbols can make only the most distant allusions to him, or to the natural world which used to be his abiding place and home." (Miller, 68) This quote taken from J. Hillis Miller's article "The Theme of the disappearance of God in Victorian poetry" is reflected in Matthew Arnold's poem, "To Marguerite - Continued". This poem is not only a comment on love, and human isolation, but on religious doubt, a central issue in the Victorian era. In the course of developing the theme of religious doubt, and conveying tone in this poem, Arnold also employs a number of poetic techniques and literary devices.
It is important to note that questions of God and religion are inevitably raised in response to a particular social environment. Religious doubt is not a homogenous concept, and appreciation of the particular nature of Arnold’s doubt requires some contextual understanding. The Victorian Era unfolded against an increasingly industrialized, scientific backdrop – commerce, manufacturing ability and the individualisation of society produced a burgeoning middle class in England. ‘Progress’ was manifested in creations of man and the age of machinery. No longer were men and women bound to seek truth or comfort in religious teaching; indeed, the rejection of God, is in some ways, a reflection of mankind’s belief in its own ability to obtain truth.
The first stanza of ‘To Marguerite’ sets a metaphor for Arnold’s particular sense of religious disconnect. Humanity is represented as a series of islands, surrounded by ‘life’ (the water that flows between). Beginning in first-person, the first stanza almost immediately conveys the bitte...
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...ting independently of man stand in stark contrast to the fractured and distinctly human setting of 19th century England. As Miller states, "The history of modern literature is in part the history of the splitting apart of this communion which has been matched by a similar dispersal of the cultural unity of man. God, nature, and language." Arnold’s doubt is not that of man who disbelieves - a doubt that religion, gods or God do exist or have existed – but that of man suffering from a more longing emotion, a despair flowing from the awareness that a God that should exist and has existed is now absent.
Works cited
Miller, J. Hillis. The Theme of the Disappearance of God in Victorian Poetry. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1963. Print.
Ricks, Christopher. The New Oxford book of Victorian verse. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. p 303. Print.
For it is a commonplace of our understanding of the period that the Victorian writer wanted above all to “stay in touch.” Comparing his situation with that of his immediate predecessors, he recognized that indulgence in a self-centered idealism was no longer viable in a society which ever more insistently urged total involvement in its occupations. The world was waiting to be improved upon, and solved, and everyone, poets, included had to busy themsel...
Robinson, Edward Arlington. "Richard Cory." The Pocket Book of Modern Verse. New York: Washington Square Press, 1954. 153.
G. Ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. New York: Norton, 2000. Barth, Robert J. Romanticism and transcendence: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the Religious Imagination. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emily Dickinson were two of America’s most intriguing poets. They were both drawn to the transcendentalist movement which taught “unison of creation, the righteousness of humanity, and the preeminence of insight over logic and reason” (Woodberry 113). This movement also taught them to reject “religious authority” (Sherwood 66). By this declination of authority, they were able to express their individuality. It is through their acceptance of this individuality that will illustrate their ambiguities in their faith in God.
She grew up with an unconventional religious background, first under the influence of her father, the philosopher and ‘humanist’ William Godwin, and in her late teens, she also developed a relationship with ‘atheist’ Percy Shelley (Bloom 10). However, it should be noted that Percy Shelley’s professed beliefs deviate from what is now understood as atheism. For example, in his pamphlet on the subject, entitled ‘The Necessity of Atheism’, he advocates rational inquiry can only come to the conclusion that ‘there is no God’, but he adds the caveat that ‘this negation must be understood solely to affect a creative Deity’ and that ‘the hypothesis of a pervading Spirit co-eternal with the universe remains unshaken’ (Necessity 14). The pervading Spirit, that seems to present itself in the aforementioned passage of Mary Shelley’s Falkner, is also evident in his creative works such as ‘Mount Blanc’ where it is the ‘everlasting universe of things’ suffusing through both the cosmos and mind (Works 196). Likewise, in the ‘Hymn to Intellectual Beauty’, there is an ‘unseen power’ of the ‘Spirit of Beauty’ which gives the light of ‘grace and truth to life’s unquiet dream’ (Works 195). Percy Shelley, therefore, roots divinity deeply in nature; ‘gods’ are merely a falsity born from an ‘ignorance of nature’ and so ‘knowledge of nature is
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
"The Condition of England" in Victorian Literature: 1830-1900. Ed. Dorothy Mermin, and Herbert Tucker. Accessed on 3 Nov. 2003.
This stanza begins with a realization from the poet: with no religion and no God, what else is there to trust but love? Humans have no God to support themselves, so other humans must do in his stead. With this realization in tow, Arnold elaborates on what life on Earth is like if humans cannot find love and God is not real in lines 31-35. The speaker now wallows in the depression that comes from losing all forms of life support, especially religion, after the tide of faith ebbs from the shoreline. The writer thrusts this harsh reality at the reader: love is only from a dream world that presents a façade of beauty, and only “Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, / Nor certitude nor peace nor help for pain” (Arnold). Because there is no God to the speaker, life without love is truly “as confusing–and as lethal–as a night battle, fraught with friendly fire” (Ingersoll) This sudden drop from the stability and the salvation a religion provides results in mass confusion, just like a combat scene in the dead of night, with hundreds of soldiers fighting, inevitably killing their own men. The light they lack – like the religion the world has lost – results in sadness, pain, and tremendous loss; for there is no Heaven to look forward
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print. The.
..., the content and form has self-deconstructed, resulting in a meaningless reduction/manifestation of repetition. The primary focus of the poem on the death and memory of a man has been sacrificed, leaving only the skeletal membrane of any sort of focus in the poem. The “Dirge” which initially was meant to reflect on the life of the individual has been completely abstracted. The “Dirge” the reader is left with at the end of the poem is one meant for anyone and no one. Just as the internal contradictions in Kenneth Fearing’s poem have eliminated the substantial significance of each isolated concern, the reader is left without not only a resolution, but any particular tangible meaning at all. The form and content of this poem have quite effectively established a powerful modernist statement, ironically contingent on the absence and not the presence of meaning in life.
It is clear that Bishop’s “The Unbeliever” is heavily influenced by her poetic idol Moore because it contains elements are inconsistent with Bishop’s work as a whole. History shows that Elizabeth Bishop was not a strict modernist poet, yet in this sample of her early work you can see her imploring strategies more consistent with Moore’s own unique style. The habit of following a strict structure and the habit of carefully sculpting her poems are two of Moore’s distinctive mannerisms. While the shape of “The Unbeliever” does serve a specific purpose, it is interesting to note that this is an uncommon tactic for Bishop. Not only does Moore heavily influence Bishop’s work “The Unbeliever”, but it is clear that the poem is also specifically impacted by Moore’s poem “The Mind is an Enchanting Thing”. Beyond following a strict rigid structure and rhyme scheme, Elizabeth Bishop goes one step further and borrows an image from Moore’s poem. While it could be mere coincidence that both poems use the image of a bird, the way that Bishop writes the gull to “blindly [seat] himself astride” (Bishop, 24), represents a direct allusion to the way Moore’s kiwi walks along the ground as if it was “blind” (Moore, 124).
Chapman, Raymond. The Victorian Debate: English Literature and Society, 1832-1901. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1968.
Religion can be defined as a system of beliefs and worships which includes a code of ethics and a philosophy of life. Well over 90% of the world 's population adheres to some form of religion. The problem is that there are so many different religions. What is the right religion? What is true religion? The two most common ingredients in religions are rules and rituals. Some religions are essentially nothing more than a list of rules, dos and don 'ts, which a person must observe in order to be considered a faithful adherent of that religion, and thereby, right with the God of that religion. Two examples of rules-based religions are Islam and Judaism. Islam has its five pillars that must be observed.
George Herbert’s struggle to be humble enough to fully accept God’s undying love can be located within each of his poems. The way in which Herbert conveys this conflict is by utilizing structure as well as metaphysical techniques. This combination of literary devices creates a physical reality that allows Herbert, or the poetic speaker, to “make his feelings immediately present” (245). These devices, at first, appear to be artificial and contradictory to the poet’s goal of making God’s word visible. Instead, literary techniques, for Herbert, help to emphasize how God controls everything from daily life to literature. Therefore, Herbert believes he is not the sole author of his writing; rather, he is an instrument of God chosen to write down poetry praising Him. Herbert battles with this idea as he must refuse the pride that comes with being the author of such beautiful devotional and metaphysical poetry. If Herbert were to give into this “temptation of success” (243), he would be giving himself up to sin and thus rejecting God’s love. This process of rejecting and accepting, or of “conflict and resolution” (243), is done throughout “The Temple,” which leads Herbert to an ultimate acceptance of God and to an “achieved character of humility, tenderness, moral sensitiveness” (249).
George Herbert’s metaphysical poem The Collar shows the speaker narrating his struggle with what it means to serve his Lord. Herbert masterfully expresses the speaker’s doubt in his faith and his feeling of being trapped by his priesthood through use of religious metaphysical conceits. The nuanced tone, which changes at various points in the poem, is a key device that drives the speaker’s argument and results in the conclusion of the poem being tremendously powerful. The use of retrospect and the past tense is another poetic strategy used by Herbert that contributes to the great success of this poem as a whole.