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English Woman's Journal and the Victoria Magazine.” Victorian Periodicals Review 15.3 (1982): 93-106

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English Woman's Journal and the Victoria Magazine.” Victorian Periodicals Review 15.3 (1982): 93-106 Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Periodical Poetry: Poetry in Relation to the Socio- Political and Literary Agendas of the English Woman's Journal and Victoria Magazine Supervisor: Paper submitted in partial Dr. Marianne Van Remoortel fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of “Master in de Taal- en Letterkunde: Engels-Duits” by Richelle Roose May 2015 Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my promotor Dr. Marianne Van Remoortel. It was she who introduced me to periodical poetry in her lecture on Victorian poetry last year, for which I am very grateful. She shares my opinion that you should write your master’s thesis on something that really interests you, or that you are even passionate about. She is genuinely interested in my work and shares my enthusiasm for the Victorian period and female writers. She has helped me enormously and was always ready to answer my questions or give me tips on how to improve my thesis. I would also like to thank my parents and Pieterjan for the support they have given me. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 9 2. The Feminist Movement in the Victorian Period ................................................................... 11 2.1. The Langham Place Circle ....................................................................................... 11 2.2. The English Woman’s Journal ................................................................................. 12 2.3. Victoria Magazine ................................................................................................... 14 3. Contributors of Poetry .......................................................................................................... 15 3.1. Contributors of Poetry in the English Woman’s Journal ........................................... 15 3.2. Contributors of Poetry in Victoria Magazine ............................................................ 19 4. Distribution of Poetry ........................................................................................................... 21 4.1. Distribution of Poetry in the English Woman’s Journal ............................................ 21 4.2. Distribution of Poetry in Victoria Magazine ............................................................. 22 5. Topics of Poetry ................................................................................................................... 24 5.1. Poetry about Contemporary Issues ........................................................................... 24 5.1.1. Poetry about the Woman Question ................................................................. 24 5.1.2. Poetry about Modernity ................................................................................. 31 5.1.3. Poetry about Other Current Affairs ................................................................ 34 5.2.Religious, Moral and Spiritual Poetry ...................................................................... 37 5.3. Poetry about Other Writers or Works ....................................................................... 41 5.4. Poetry about Nature, Love and Death ....................................................................... 44 5.5. Poetry with Mythological and Historical References ................................................ 46 6. Reviews of Poetry ................................................................................................................ 48 6.1. Reviews of Poetry in the English Woman’s Journal ................................................. 48 6.2. Reviews of Poetry in Victoria Magazine .................................................................. 52 7. Poetry Articles ...................................................................................................................... 51 8. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 61 9. Works Cited ......................................................................................................................... 66 10. Appendix A: Graphs ............................................................................................................. 72 11. Appendix B: Overview of Poetry, Poetry Reviews and Articles in the English Woman’s Journal ................................................................................................................................. 78 12. Appendix C: Overview of Poetry, Poetry Reviews and Articles in Victoria Magazine .......... 86 Word Count: 24.797 1. Introduction This master’s thesis investigates the poetry in the two Victorian feminist periodicals, the English Woman’s Journal and the Victoria Magazine in relation to their socio-political and literary agendas. To date, researchers have studied Victorian periodicals and focused primarily on essays, articles, contributors, readers and circulation. There have been studies on Victorian feminist periodicals as well. However, until recently poetry has been almost entirely neglected. Kathryn Ledbetter writes that “[c]ritics reject and ignore the type of poetry often found in women’s periodicals, viewing it as inauthentic, not-serious poetry, claiming that the only purpose for such verse was as frivolous filler, space holders at the end of an article or issue” (6). It was Linda Hughes who first emphasised the importance of periodical poetry and the value of studying poems in their original context in her article “What the Wellesley Index Left Out: Why Poetry Matters to Periodical Studies” (2007). She has examined “why original poetry mattered to Victorian editors and readers and what poetry can tell us about Victorian periodicals as a whole” (“Wellesley Index” 91), and claims that periodical poetry served several purposes. First of all “its inclusion could enhance the cultural value and prestige of the periodical itself” (94). Secondly “poetry could mediate the miscellaneousness and ephemerality of the periodical itself”, because poetry was associated with “the universal, the spiritual, and the permanent” (99). Finally it “could help mediate and rationalize crime reports or sensational fiction, creating in the midst of cheap print a form of sacred space in which death, love, God, family, nature, and, in more up-market titles, art, philosophy, and metaphysics could be contemplated” (100). Hughes has analysed poetry in several mainstream periodicals, for example, Fraser’s Magazine, Macmillan’s Magazine and the Cornhill. Similarly, Natalie Houston has published an article called “Newspaper Poems: Material Texts in the Public Sphere”, which discusses the poetry published in the “large- circulation general [newspaper]” the London Times (Houston 233). However, there has not yet been an extensive study of the periodical poetry in the EWJ (English Woman’s Journal) and Victoria Magazine. I wanted to find out what kind of poetry is included in these two periodicals, and see if it is connected to their socio-political and literary agendas. Their socio-political agenda deals with improving the lives of women, especially with regard to education and employment, whereas their literary agenda is concerned with promoting female authorship and giving women a chance to express themselves. I have chosen to study the EWJ and Victoria Magazine because they are linked together by the Langham Place Group and the Victoria 9 Press, as I shall discuss in the first chapter. Furthermore their content is quite similar, since they are both concerned with female education and employment. Still there are important differences between these two periodicals, for they put an emphasis on different issues and cover a different time span. I would like to mention that I am very grateful to the researchers of the NCSE (Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition) who have digitised the complete run of the EWJ. Unfortunately, only a few volumes of the Victoria Magazine have been made available online on Google Books. Still, I wanted to include them because a comparison between the two periodicals seemed interesting and useful to me. Only by comparing the two magazines and noting the differences, can one fully understand their socio-political and literary agendas. The first chapter of this thesis consists of a brief overview of the feminist movement in the Victorian period, more specifically the Langham Place Circle, the EWJ and the Victoria Magazine. Secondly I discuss the contributors and distribution of poetry in the two periodicals. Furthermore, the chapter ‘Topics of Poetry’ explores the diversity of the subjects of the poems, and is subdivided into poetry about contemporary issues, religious, moral and spiritual poetry, poetry about other writers or works, poetry about nature, love and death and poetry with mythological and historical references. Finally, this thesis includes an analysis of the poetry reviews and poetry articles in the EWJ and the Victoria Magazine. The appendix offers 20 graphs and a list of all the poems, poetry reviews and articles in the two periodicals. In order to easily find a poem, a review or an article on the list, I always refer to them with their title, the magazine they were included in and their date of publication. 10 2. The Feminist Movement in the Victorian Period The nineteenth century was a time of conflict for women. On the one hand, traditional images of womanhood were being solidified.
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