(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

The Development Of The Sappho-Corinne Myth In Victorian Women's Poetry

 

"Yet glory's light hath touch'd my name- she admits, because she has indeed gained recognition for her literary achievements; exultantly she exclaims "the laurel wreath is mine!- Such recognition lies at the heart of every Victorian woman poet's fondest desires. Still, fame alone will not give her peace. Hemans' Sappho has traded away love in exchange for her fame and, alone, she ends her life by plunging herself into the sea with a plea, "give me peace, dark sea!- Sappho's death lends a metaphor to her legacy. Like a ship lost at sea, Sappho buries herself and her pain in the depths of the mighty deep. However, her works remain and like "lost gems, and wasted gold- they have resurfaced bit by bit to form the treasure trove of a matriarchal literary legacy so sought after by Victorian female authors. .
             Hemans' literary portrait of Sappho reoccurs in Caroline Norton's "The Picture of Sappho-. Like Hemans' "The Last Song of Sappho-, Norton's poem was inspired by a picture of the mythical Sappho and shows a Sappho figure to whom the angst of aloneness outweighs the joy of professional achievement: as "fame to [Sappho's] breaking heart no comfort could impart."" Norton's work, however, does not assume the voice of Sappho, but that of a struggling woman author who questions the reality of Sappho's life and literary success. The Victorian society's fraternal oppression of women has dimmed the "imagined glory- of the Sapphic myth for Norton's speaker, leading her to ask the question "was it History's truth, that tale of wasted youth, of endless grief, and love forsaken pining?- The speaker finds it hard to imagine a culture where such a powerful matriarchal archetype could have lived. Her doubt is well founded, for the answer to her question is no. The Sappho of whom Norton writes never existed; Norton's Sappho is a fiction. .
             Norton puts together the pieces of the fragmented Sappho myth into a character with which she can identify; but in doing so confuses Hemans' conglomerate Sappho-Corinne heroine with the actual Sappho of Greek antiquity.


Essays Related to The Development Of The Sappho-Corinne Myth In Victorian Women's Poetry

1. Poetry of Victorian Era Poets

How far does Tennyson's "In Memoriam" reflect the spirit of the Victorian Age? In the Victorian era, there was a huge conflict occurred especially because of Darwin's theory between science and religion. ... He is neither too melancholic like Arnold nor too optimistic like Robert Browning, another contemporary, in terms of the tone, mood and theme of his poetry. ... In fact, the frequent use of myths in many of his poems proves that, Tennyson believed not to stagnate in a melancholic state. Rather through going back to classical myths, he is trying at least to find a sort of solution...

  • Word Count: 5237
  • Approx Pages: 21
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Myth in Victorian Literature

The use and purpose of myth in Victorian Age was used so the poets and writers could tell their ideas, solutions, or opinion on or about the changes happening during the Industrial and Victorian age. ... Carlyle uses myth (past) to help bring the past into the present. ... Using myth also helped Ruskin illustrate the plot of women and what society is doing to the environment and possible provide a solution. For the plot of women, Ruskin used Juno and the Greek gods of how a woman is treated in society. ... I think by using myth these authors able to voice their own opinions about what society ...

  • Word Count: 1337
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Women in the Victorian Society

Women in the Victorian Society as reflected in The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles ž What are we faced with in the nineteenth century? ... The French Lieutenant's Woman, though žexactly mid-Victorian in setting and subject matter is not regarded by critics as a historical novel and yet the images of its heroines presented appear to be quite close to the true portrait of a Victorian Woman. ... Ernestina can also serve as a typical example of what was the Victorian women's attitude towards their own sexuality and how female sexuality was perceive...

  • Word Count: 3101
  • Approx Pages: 12

4. Vicotorian Models in the Poetry of Christina Rosseti

Marriage did not secure women the same right with men; however, was a norm that devised structures for judging women in Victorian society. ... Women were regarded to be inferior to men and hence, the Victorian society seemed steeping in conservatism with regards to women's sexual choice. So far as poetry of Christina Rossetti is concerned, the sexual repression upon women has been highlighted in her poems including "Goblin Market" and "A Triad". In Victorian society women were looked as being devoid of passions or desires. ... " As all the available Victorian str...

  • Word Count: 2109
  • Approx Pages: 8

5. Victorian literature

In the mid-Victorian period women have been represented in many different ways, using various forms of literature, for example through poetry, novels, and newspaper articles and also in visual form through paintings and etchings, they show how women were represented, how fathers, husbands and society treated them in general. ... Another example of the way women were represented in the mid-Victorian period is in poetry such as Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" who is bound by the web she weaved within the confines of "Four gray walls and four gray towers", (p755, line 15, Romantic Period Ve...

  • Word Count: 1599
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Shaw and Cukor's Appropriations of The Pygmalion Myth

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, is a play of the appropriated myth, Pygmalion. ... These facets such as power and class were influenced by the Victorian period of Cukor. The abuse of power that Higgins used against women such as Eliza, this trait held by Higgins was common amongst the middle and upper class gentleman of the Victorian period. Women were second class citizens in the early Victorian period and sometimes are these days too. ... Women were ruled by men and they didn't have a voice until Queen Victorian succeeded the thrown. ...

  • Word Count: 663
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

7. England and the Victorian Era

Families were larger during the Victorian Era. ... The Victorian Era provided a great inspiration for poetry as well. ... For women, education would still take place at home but there was no university for them. ... Industrialization led to more medical specialization and new developments in surgery. One of the largest breakthroughs was the development of better anesthetics. ...

  • Word Count: 1447
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Role Of Women In Mill On The Floss

The role of women in society is very different today compared to the role of women in Victorian society, in the 19th Century. ... Women had scored some social victories as well, particularly the Law on Maternity, which provides for family planning, the recognition of consensual union as equivalent to marriage, equality of children whether born to a wedded or unwedded couple, and a cabinet office to promote women's development. Little by little the myth according to which women had to stay at home to carry out their "natural mission" of raising children, bearing children, and serving as...

  • Word Count: 1370
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate