• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

An Ecocritical Reading of the River Thames in Selected Fin de Siècle Literature Selina Jayne Philpin MA. PGCE (PCET) A thesis submitted to Cardiff Metropolitan University in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Education Cardiff Metropolitan University March 2018 DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ...................................................................... (candidate) Date .......................................................................... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed ..................................................................... (candidate) Date ......................................................................... STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ..................................................................... (candidate) Date ......................................................................... i Abstract Our interaction with the natural environment plays a pivotal role in our survival as a species on earth. By foregrounding the River Thames, this thesis demonstrates how nature plays a part in our everyday recreation, in what way it can aid in the construction of our identities and finally how our treatment of it can have an adverse or beneficial effect on our own existence. These exchanges with nature are revealed by ecocritically examining the central themes of leisure, national identity, and sanitation from ten underexplored literary texts that represent the Thames during the fin de siècle. From the primary research, two dominant narratives were seen to be associated with the River: progress and decline, with the former having been overstated by critics. Therefore, the Thames is critically examined amid a sphere of Victorian progress. This thesis contributes to the field of Victorian ecocriticism, a discipline that Mazzeno and Morrison argue has the potential to unlock “the canon to include new works that contribute to an overall understanding of the period” (2016, p.10). Thus, by adopting the novel approach of ecocriticism, this thesis enables a ‘new’ understanding of fin de siècle literature that centralises the natural environment. Through an analysis of Leslie’s Our River, the Pennells’ The Stream of Pleasure, and Ashby-Sterry’s A Tale of the Thames, the first chapter reveals how, through the theme of leisure, the Thames was part of a thriving Victorian consumerist culture where an aestheticisation, a reification and a hierarchical usage of the waterway was prominent, suggesting a social ecology along the River. Chapter Two builds on these ideas of capital and leisure by viewing the Thames in the wider context of nationhood through the exploration of De Vere’s ‘To the Thames’, Blind’s ‘To the Obelisk’, Gosse’s ‘The Shepherd of the Thames’ and Davidson’s ‘The Thames Embankment’. Through an ecocritical analysis of national identity within these poems, I claim that all four of the works can be read as ecopoems. I then interrogate the stability of an English and British identity that is often associated with the Thames. From this, I question how sanitation played a role in the River’s literary image by examining Barr’s ‘The Doom of London’, Allen’s ‘The Thames Valley Catastrophe’, and White’s ‘The River of Death’ within Chapter Three, where I consider a metaphorical sanitation (via natural forces), and a literal sanitation that can be traced to nineteenth-century public health reform. I also adopt the ecocritical theory of the post-pastoral to explore the powerful impact that nature imposes upon humanity. This thesis contributes to our understanding of how the Thames was represented in a positive way within literature during the fin de siècle, by suggesting that it was bound with three dominant themes: leisure, national identity, and sanitation. I also suggest that through reading the River, we can gain a cultural understanding of humanity’s relationship with the natural world by highlighting three ecocritical relationships that exist along a continuum: anthropocentric, symbiotic, and ecocentric. I further claim that, through numerous connections, there existed a “network” of writers who, together, through their writings, popularised the Thames during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Ultimately, I argue that literature has the potential to enable a more widespread knowledge and understanding of how nature functions and coexists alongside humanity. ii In Loving Memory of William Bryant Philpin iii Acknowledgments Firstly, I would like to offer a warm and heartfelt thank you to my Director of Studies, Dr Carmen Casaliggi, for her patience, reassurance, and rigorous scrutiny of this work. It was through Dr Casaliggi’s teaching of the Romantic poets on my MA degree that I first became interested in the study of water in literature. Her encouragement during my Master’s degree led to me pursuing an entire PhD thesis on the River Thames. I would also like to thank Professor Jeff Wallace for his comments and questions over the last five years that have provoked much thought and consideration. I would also like to thank Dr Kate North for her role as examiner during the MPhil to PhD upgrade, and for acting as my mock viva examiner. Her comments and suggestions were helpful in shaping parts of this thesis. This thesis could not have been completed without the love and support of family and friends. It is dedicated to my father, William Philpin, who sadly passed away in the opening months of this project although he has been with me in spirit throughout the entire journey. He encouraged my love of reading from an early age. A big thank you also to my mother, Gill Philpin, who has always believed in me. Her chats and countless coffees and cheese and tomato rolls provided a much-needed escape from the confines of my study. An extended thank you also to my siblings Sarah, Simon, and Sian, for continually enquiring after this project in the knowledge that, one day, they will have to look at another photo of me on ‘the wall’. I would also like to thank Dr Lucy Windridge for numerous conversations about ‘getting to the end’, and for reading over and offering advice on parts of this thesis. Above all, I would like to thank my wife Corrie for proofreading many parts of this thesis. At times, this project has been an agonising journey, but Corrie’s continued love and support has meant that I was able to continue during the difficult periods. For this, I will always be grateful. iv Contents List of Illustrations 1 Introduction 2 Rationale and Chapter Methodology 4 An Ecocritical Approach 24 The Nineteenth-Century Thames 36 The Literary Thames 42 Areas of Exclusion 49 1. Chapter One - “Up the River”: Leisure and Anthropocentrism 54 1.1 George Dunlop Leslie’s Our River: Personal Reminiscences of an Artist’s Life on the River Thames (1881) 65 1.2 Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell’s The Stream of Pleasure: The Narrative of a Journey on the Thames from Oxford to London (1891) 87 1.3 Joseph Ashby-Sterry’s A Tale of the Thames (1896) 115 2. Chapter Two - “The Praise of Thames”: National Identity and Symbiosis 142 2.1 Aubrey De Vere’s ‘To the Thames’ (wr.1843, pub.1884) 151 2.2 Mathilde Blind’s ‘To the Obelisk: During the Great Frost, 1881’ 164 2.3 Edmund Gosse’s ‘The Shepherd of the Thames’ (1885) 175 2.4 John Davidson’s ‘The Thames Embankment’ (1909) 195 3. Chapter Three - “The Modern Thames”: Sanitation and Ecocentrism 213 3.1 Robert Barr’s ‘The Doom of London’ (1892) 223 3.2 Grant Allen’s ‘The Thames Valley Catastrophe’ (1897) 244 3.3 Fred M. White’s ‘The River of Death’ (1904) 268 Conclusion 286 Bibliography 306 Appendices 325 Appendix One – Primary Texts Appendix Two – Record of Primary Research Appendix Three – Network of Thames Writers v List of Illustrations Fig.1 Leslie, G. D. (1881) ‘The Author’s Punt’, taken from Our River: Personal Reminiscences of an Artist’s Life on the River Thames, Second Edition. London: Bradbury, Agnew & Co (1888). Fig.2 Turner, J. M. W. (1805) The River Thames near Isleworth: Punt and Barges in the Foreground [graphite and watercolour on paper]. London: © Tate Gallery. Fig.3 Murray, D. (1889 – 1890) Abingdon-on-Thames [oil on canvas]. Glasgow: © Glasgow Museums. Fig.4 Pennell, J. (1891) ‘Abingdon’, taken from The Stream of Pleasure: The Narrative of a Journey on the Thames from Oxford to London. New York: Macmillan & Co. Fig.5 Legge, J. G. (1891) ‘The Practical Chapter’, in The Stream of Pleasure: The Narrative of a Journey on the Thames from Oxford to London. New York: Macmillan & Co. Fig.6 Whistler, J. A. M. (c.1864 – 71) Battersea Reach from Lindsey Houses [oil on canvas]. Glasgow: © Hunterian Art Gallery. Fig.7 Halswelle, K. (1882) The Valley of the Thames [oil on canvas]. Liverpool: © Sudley House. Fig.8 Millais, J. E. (1851-2) Ophelia [oil on canvas]. London: © Tate Gallery. Fig.9 Monet, C. (1903) Waterloo Bridge: the Sun in a Fog [oil on canvas]. Ottawa: © National Gallery of Canada. 1 Introduction The river rolls in from the sea and up to London with the tide; at the other end it rises in a field near Cirencester to dampen the green grass in a dark curving line that soon becomes a stream. The salt water from the sea and the clear sweet water from the low Cotswold hills meet at Teddington. Some things do not change. (Schneer, 2005, p.286) The River Thames, as Jonathan Schneer suggests in this extract, is a continuous movement of water and regardless of its movement through time and space, the waterway’s ecological journey remains the same.

Load more

  344

Copy Link