For our Sept 22-24 classes, we are going to look at some more examples of Victorian aestheticism. However, I only have one reading for you, Algernon Charles Swinburne’s The Triumph of Time (1866). This is a long poem, so I would like you to read it in preparation for Thursday’s class. As you read it, pay attention to the speaker’s estimation of the natural world. Is it cold, indifferent? Full of disaster? Or does it contain moments of incredibly insightful, and painful, illumination? Or both?

Here are a few links to online secondary sources that might give you some context as you read through Swinburne’s poem:

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/swinburne/newman9.html

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/swinburne/swinburne9.html

See you on Tuesday!

Daniel