The Study of Nineteenth Century British Working Class Poetry

Abstract

THE ATTACK ON NEW CRITICISM and traditional historical research in recent years has led many American academics in English and history to re-evaluate their teaching and research, and to reconsider the canon of their respective fields. For many this has led to a widening of the definition of acceptable evidence for study; oral traditions, folk customs, music, film and the mass media are now receiving attention from both historians and literary critics. The study of racial minorities and submerged cultures, such as the working class, women, religious groups and millenial movements, has also opened new perspectives. Nevertheless, much more could be done. Journals still mainly publish textual studies or accounts of parliamentary and administrative quarrels. Annually countless critical analyses of the novels of Faulkner, Conrad or Henry James issue forth from our university presses, and we are already inundated with surveys of consensus-making history. In the meantime, we have left unexplored the lesser known cultures which contribute to Anglo-American societies. These areas of study deserve serious attention both for themselves and for the insights they give into better known writers and movements. Black Studies programs across the country have proven invaluable for ethnic minorities and white students who daily grow more aware of the large areas of American culture left unexamined and unread. The same potential for teaching and study exists in working class studies, women studies, and Euro-American studies, not to mention the domains now considered more appropriate for the folklorist and anthropologist. The following essay is a case study in the analysis of nineteenth century British working class poetry, which it is hoped will provide a guide for research into similar literature in America, the Commonwealth and other English speaking countries.' While such working class institutions as trade unions, the cooperative movement, religious groups and musical organizations have all been studied to a greater or lesser extent, working class literature has been almost completely ignored, except by folklorists usually looking for rural throwbacks rather than industrial characteristics.2