SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... Beyond Compare: Nineteenth Century Poets and the Stigmatization of Genre A Dissertation Presented by Elizabeth Julia Hershman to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Stony Brook University May 2015 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Elizabeth Julia Hershman We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Adrienne Munich – Dissertation Advisor Professor of English, Stony Brook University Peter Manning - Chairperson of Defense Professor of English, Stony Brook University Ayesha Ramachandran Professor of English, Yale University William Sharpe Professor of English, Barnard College, Columbia University This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Charles Taber Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation Beyond Compare: Nineteenth Century Poets and the Stigmatization of Genre by Elizabeth Julia Hershman Doctor of Philosophy in English Stony Brook University 2015 What is “a classic”? The OED defines it as: “A writer, or a literary work, of the first rank and of acknowledged excellence”. Significantly the etymology also links it with another English noun: “class”. This suggests that the idea of literary worth conveyed by “classic”, and the idea of categorization implied by “class” are deeply intertwined. Starting in what is usually referred to as the Romantic Period, many writers seemed eager to reject such labels altogether. I believe that this is because, around the turn of the nineteenth century, genre itself acquired a kind of stigma, which continued to be felt keenly throughout Victorian period -consciously literary writers, such as Keats and Tennyson, seemed particularly sensitive to this stigma, and both poets apparently took pains to evade overt classification in their work. By examining the various strategies that two these influential poets adopted for avoiding established definitions throughout their careers, I hope, not only to show their own growing suspicion towards fixed labels, but also to make a case that this trend in their writing reflects a more widespread change in attitude towards genre; a change which not only colored the work of many nineteenth century writers, but can be seen even today, in our ideas about what is worth reading and studying. iii Table of Contents Beyond Compare: Nineteenth Century Poets and the Stigmatization of Genre Introduction: Classics without Class? i) What is a Classic? …………………………………………………………. 1 ii) Each after is Kind: The Response to Paradise Lost as an Illustration of Pre-Romantic Genre and its Functions……………………… 1 iii) Romance and Romanticism: Embracing an anti-genre?................................ 6 Chapter One: “Everything and Nothing”: Generic Classification and Poetic Identity in Keats’ Writing i) “Siren Romance”: Endymion, the “Cockney School,” and the dangers of being “classed.”………………………………………. 29 ii) Paralyzed before “The Shade of Memory”: Hyperion, Epic, and genre as at confrontation with the “Class” –ic. ………………………………………..43 iii) “Writ in Water”: The Desire for Dissolution and the Resistance to Stable Identity Keats’ Later Writing…………………………………….74 Chapter Two: Making a Name: Genre and Identity in Tennyson’s Early Lyrics i) Praise and Blame: Keats and the Reviews of Tennyson’s Early poems ……………………………………………………………….95 ii) “Half Sick of Shadows”: “The Lady of Shalott” and the problems of self-renunciation …………………………………..……114 iv iii) “Becoming a Name”: Genre, Fame, and the Dangers of Public Labeling in “Ulysses” ……………………………….....125 Chapter Three: The Riddling of the Bards: Tennyson’s Generic Evasion in the Idylls of the King i) “Remodeling Models”: “The Epic” and the shift from identity to classification as the focus of anxiety………………………….….151 ii) “New things and Old Cotwisted”: Merlin, Gareth, and the way into Camelot……………………………………………161 iii) Merlin and Vivien: a Generic Seduction……………………….....192 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………….…...232 Works Cited …………………………………………………………………….244 v Acknowledgments My profound thanks to my committee, Professor Adrienne Munich, Professor Peter Manning, Professor Ayesha Ramachandran and Professor William Sharpe for all of their continued help and support, and to Dorothy Mason for her patience in walking me through the administrative side of things. I could not have done it without you. Also I wish to thank the Turner foundation, whose financial support made it possible to complete my studies. vi Introduction: Classics without Class? What is a classic? What is “a classic?” For most people, the word brings to mind something very like the OED’s leading entry: “1. A writer, or a literary work, of the first rank and of acknowledged excellence.” But, if the definition is unsurprising, the etymology provided is more interesting. The dictionary traces this use of “classic” in English to the French classique or the Latin classicus. It then, significantly, refers the reader to another English noun: “class” combined with the suffix “-ic.” The final part of this etymology stands out because it suggests that the idea of literary worth conveyed by “classic,” and the idea of categorization implied by “class” are deeply intertwined. Naturally, the exact nature of this relationship varies greatly from period to period. Starting in what is usually referred to as the Romantic Period, many writers seemed eager to reject such labels altogether. I believe that this is because, around the turn of the nineteenth century, genre itself acquired a kind of stigma, which continued to be felt keenly throughout Victorian period. Self-consciously literary writers, such as Keats and Tennyson, seemed particularly sensitive to this stigma, and both poets apparently took pains to evade overt classification in their work. By examining the various strategies that these two influential poets adopted for avoiding established definitions throughout their careers, I hope, not only to show their own growing suspicion towards fixed labels, but also to make a case that this trend in their writing reflects a more widespread change in attitude towards genre, a change which not only colored the work of many nineteenth century 1 writers, but can also be seen in our ideas about what is worth reading and studying well into the twentieth century. Each after is Kind: The Response to Paradise Lost as an Illustration of Pre-Romantic Genre and its Functions Before the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, a work’s classification generally affected the judgment of its literary merit in two ways. Firstly, it located the work within a hierarchy of “types”. Secondly, it provided a standard which allowed the writing to be measured against other works of the same type. This is not to imply that notions of genre were rigid or unchanging before the advent of “Romanticism.” On the contrary, both the categories themselves and the amount of prestige they carried were subject to change. But no matter how drastically a genre was redefined or revaluated, its basic role in determining a work’s status was fairly stable. The early criticism surrounding Paradise Lost provides one particularly influential case in point. A glance through the 17 th and early 18 th century documents included in The Critical Response to John Milton’s Paradise Lost shows what a pervasive concern genre was in the discussion. Indeed, it is the lens through which the overwhelming majority of these responses examine the poem. The question of whether Paradise Lost could be considered “epic” or “heroic” was so pervasive that in 1712, Addison begins one of his first articles on the poem in The Spectator by brusquely dismissing the controversy in terms that simply assume his readers’ familiarity with it. …I shall wave the Discussion of that Point which has started some Years since, Whether Milton’s Paradise Lost may be called an Heroic 2 Poem? Those who will not give it that Title, may call it (if they please) a Divine Poem. It will be sufficient… if it has in it all the Beauties of the highest kind of Poetry; and as for those who allege it is not an Heroick Poem, they advance no more to the Diminution of it, than if they should say Adam is not Aeneas , nor Eve Helen .” (Addison, 66) Clearly, Addison felt that the “Discussion” in question had been widespread and prominent enough that there was no need to remind the reader of its details, and, indeed, his weary tone implies that so much has already been written on the subject that it would be redundant to say more. In addition to indicating the central place that the “point” of generic labels held in earlier discussions of the poem, the fact that Addison still feels the need to begin his essay by addressing a question that he admits has little interest for him, in itself, suggests just how important the issue was. Moreover, in spite of his decision to “wave” the question of exactly what to call the poem, Addison goes on to assess it in distinctly generic terms. His implication seems to be that even if the work is not exactly an epic in the strict classical sense, as the highest form of poetry this category still provides the best framework of rules and comparisons on which to base his judgments. The fact that the idea of trying to form a critical judgment without such a framework, or in other words of “waving the discussion” of genre altogether, never seems to occur to him, although he is clearly impatient with the semantics of classification, is perhaps one of the clearest illustrations of the importance such definitions held as critical tools before the turn of the nineteenth century. 3 In addition to illustrating the overall importance of genre for pre-Romantic critics, the controversy over how to “class” Paradise Lost provides enough examples of exactly how this relationship between classification and evaluation functioned to suggest a few basic patterns.