The Victorian period was an era of revolution, and this is demonstrated through the poetic works of the time. Two examples of this type of expressive work are by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and William Butler Yeats. Tennyson and Yeats both led very different lives, yet they also had much in common. This too, is reflected in their works. Both were typical “mad” poets, Tennyson so overly sensitive that he often lapsed into depression and self-hatred; Yeats so driven by his need to find his place in society and to contribute to keeping it ordered (the aristocracy in power and the poor in the slums), that he would often rage, through his writings, about politics, morality, and society. Both felt very strongly about their respective countries, England and Ireland. However, this alone was contrast enough to provoke differences in the points of view in their writings. Tennyson, shy and sensitive, was a  friend of Queen Victoria and was made Poet Laureate after Wordsworth, whereas Yeats was a fierce Irish nationalist, and very bold about expressing his views. Yeats was also a senator in his later years and received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. By comparing and contrasting the poems "Vastness" by Lord Tennyson and "To Ireland in the Coming Times" by W.B. Yeats, one can discover just how much these works reveal about the era from whence they came. In these verses, the historical aspect of  the era, the use of common literary techniques, and themes of poetical concern during  that time period are apparent.

Important insights into the history of the Victorian era and  the lives of these poets can be found in their works. The main event of the Victorian era (named for Victoria, Queen of England at the time), which  lasted  from 1832 until 1900, was the Industrial  Revolution. Industry was sweeping across England, machinery taking over. It was a time of great economical and social change. Products became cheap and  there was a term of economic boom. Tennyson  put  it  this way, "Trade flying over a thousand seas," (Tennyson, line 13) and, “Spring and Summer and Autumn and Winter, and all these old revolutions of earth;/ All new-old revolutions of  Empire,--change of  the tide--what is all of it worth?" (Tennyson, couplet 15). Because of  new positions opening  up for factory workers, many poorer people were getting better jobs with better wages. This resulted in the creation of an enormous middle class. Despite the frequent political changes of the era, hinted at in Tennyson's poem, "Raving  politics, never at rest," (Tennyson, line 3), democracy had begun to take hold and universal suffrage was granted. This gave an enormous amount of power to the huge group of middle class citizens, much to the displeasure of the aristocracy who were now left rich but not powerful. Alfred Tennyson grew up to witness  these changes. As he was not from a particularly rich family, the fact that he was treated equally by others influenced his good opinion of this aspect. However, as he grew older and his status became higher, he began to look upon it in a more philosophical manner. In “Vastness”, he makes a direct reference to this situation, “All that is noblest, all that is basest, all that is filthy with all that is fair?” (Tennyson, line 32). On the other hand, in Ireland, the Industrial Revolution did not progress as quickly. It did eventually take hold and the same social changes resulted. The economy was not so well affected. As a result of Ireland’s Great Potato Famine, also during the Victorian era, people were migrating to America by the thousands. The bad state of the economy only encouraged this migration. The Irish Nationalist Movement gained strength from these events as the people blamed the British government. W.B. Yeats admits in, “To Ireland in the Coming Times”, that he is a patriot to Ireland and wishes to glorify his country.

              Know, that I would accounted be
              true brother of a company
              that sang, to sweeten Ireland’s wrong,
              Ballad and story, rann and song (Yeats, lines 1-4)

Of course, the things he witnessed during that time affected his hopes and dreads for Ireland in the future. He wrote, “And may the heart of Ireland brood,/ Upon a measured quietude,” (Yeats, lines 15 & 16), obviously hoping for peace in the future, a solution to the political problems at the core of the nation’s unrest. However, at the end of his poem he wrote,

              I cast my heart into my rhymes,
              That you, in the dim coming times,
              may know how my heart went with them
              after the red-rose-bordered hem. (Yeats, lines 45-48)

Not only does this excerpt forecast a “dim” future for Ireland, but it also demonstrates the fierce nationalism of the author. He states that he means every word he writes in patriotism to Ireland. (The red-rose refers to that of the House of Lancaster, with whom the Irish sided during the War of the Roses). It seems natural that he would suggest a murky future, considering the murkiness of  Ireland's already bad situation at that time.

"Vastness" and "To Ireland in the Coming Times" also demonstrate similar uses of  literary techniques and devices. Both use capitalization. The two poets capitalize words that have special meaning to them or to the purpose of the poem. This also gives these words a sort of  personality, turning  them into deities. This allows the reader to find deeper wisdom and truth through reading them. Often the capitalized words are symbolic of uncontrollable forces in the universe or of states of being. Tennyson used this technique to a greater extent than Yeats, giving more importance to the states of existence than Yeats did. In “Vastness”, Tennyson capitalized words such as “Wise”, “Innocence”, “Charity”, and “Hope”, as well as the forces beyond control, “Fame blowing out from her golden trumpet a jubilant challenge to Time and fate; / Slander, her shadow, sowing the nettle on all the laurel’d graves of the Great.” (Tennyson, couplet 11) Yeats only capitalized the word “Time”, giving this force a character, “And Time bade all his candles flare / To light a measure here and there.” (Yeats, couplet 7) These quotes also show the use of figurative language, personification and consonance in particular (“measure here and there”). These poems have similar formats as well. “Vastness” consists of eighteen rhyming couplets, each a separate verse. “To Ireland in the Coming times” is three verses of eight rhyming couplets, which happen to follow a meter of eight syllables per line, except for four lines throughout the poem of nine syllables each. These formats give the poems rhythm and beat, making them easier to read and to remember.

These poems also demonstrate some common themes such as the effects of the social changes taking place in the world at that time, and the insignificance of man on the whole of things. The people of  the era responded strongly to the social changes taking place, both as masses and individuals. Tennyson expressed in his poem the effects of  these changes on the population as a whole. He wrote, "Thousands of  voices drowning his own in a popular torrent of  lies upon lies," (Tennyson, line 6), painting out how materialistic society was becoming as they abandoned good values and morals in favour of  fake silk and cheap paper. Yeats focused  more upon  the individual, himself in particular.  As a means of  restoring some meaning to life, Yeats turned to the occult and pagan practices, reviving the ancient Druidic traditions of  Ireland. This is evident in his poetry when he recalls Ireland's history, "Ah, faeries, dancing under the moon, / A Druid land, a Druid tune!" (Yeats, couplet 16). The other common theme in "Vastness” and "To Ireland in the Coming Times" is the insignificance of mankind and his works. This resulted from the rather sudden transition from the old way of life to mechanization, from living on farms in rural areas to the overnight growth of city dwellers with day jobs. People began wondering if it was all worthwhile and if it would make any difference in the "grand scheme of things." Yeats  wrote,
 
              From our birthday, until we die,
              Is but the winking of an eye;
              And we, our singing and our love,
              What measurer Time has lit above,
              And all benighted things that go
              About my table to and fro,
              Are passing on to where may be,
              In truth’s consuming ecstasy,
              No place for love and dream at all;
              For God goes by with white football. (Lines 35-44)
 

These lines imply that a man is born and dies quickly, and that all things pass beyond time and meaning eventually. Therefore, a single life has little meaning on the whole. Once again Tennyson takes the voice of the masses and asks, referring to mankind, “What is it all but a trouble of ants in the gleam of a million million suns?”  (Tennyson, line 4) and, "What is it all, if we all of us end but in being our own corpse-coffins at last, / Swallowed in Vastness, lost in Silence, drown'd in the deeps of a meaningless Past? / What but a murmur of gnats in the gloom, or a moment's anger of bees in their hive?" (Tennyson, lines 33-35) as ants, gnats and bees, the author succeeds in making his point. If they are so insignificant to humans, why should man not be insignificant to the whole of the universe, throughout time? He also shows how the same question applies to all of mankind’s works: buildings, machinery, technology, and the created world in general, by comparing it all to “a trouble of ants”. It puts the struggles of mankind into perspective, as most people could not care less about the struggles of ants building their underground cities. He states, like Yeats, that in the end, humans all die and the past no longer makes any difference.

The similarities in “Vastness “ and in “To Ireland in the Coming Times”, which range from the technical aspects to the content of the poems, are too numerous and consistent to be purely coincidental. They point to the conclusion that the era in which a piece of literature is written, as well as the life of its author, greatly affects the content and style of the work itself. These poems are excellent examples of this as they point out important historical events, themes of the era, and common literary techniques and devices popular at that time. Knowing a small amount about the era, one can decipher much more, simply by reading some of its literature in depth.

D. Hubert

Last updated on July 8, 1998
Mary Sauve