The Poetics of Popular Poetry in the Argosy

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the poetics of popular poetry in the Argosy under the editorship of Isa Craig. It argues that a careful reading of the periodical’s sentimental poetry challenges the critical dismissal of such light, entertaining verse as simplistic, marginal, and trite. In particular, it considers how the periodical poems of Christina Rossetti, Isa Craig, Jean Ingelow and Sarah Williams test as well as champion the conventions of the sentimental lyric form to produce a new poetics, one defined both through and against conventional representations of the Victorian poetess and her gushing, heart-inspired poetry. Ultimately, this chapter suggests that evaluating the poems of the Argosy on their own merits as poetic forms produced as part of the era’s complex, interconnected literary culture provides a way to discuss sentimental poetry and female poets without falling back on the defensive and sometimes dismissive language found in much of the critical work published on women’s popular poetry.