| This dissertation uncovers an intimate link between Victorian poetry and liberalism, the period's dominant mode of political and philosophical thought. Focusing on mid-Victorian poetry, written during a time when increasing numbers and varieties of people gained the right to vote, I argue that the genre explores not only the quality of thought and feeling that comes with having an autonomous liberal self but also ways in which that self might participate in a democratic community. This connection had its beginnings in the poetic and political theory of John Stuart Mill and Matthew Arnold---for both writers, the former anticipated the latter. But it also became a critical factor in the work of poets including Christina Rossetti, Robert Browning, Augusta Webster, and Amy Levy. |
