Victorian Poetry and the Poetics of the Literary Periodical, by Caley Ehnes

Abstract

Reviewed by: Victorian Poetry and the Poetics of the Literary Periodical by Caley Ehnes April Patrick (bio) Victorian Poetry and the Poetics of the Literary Periodical, by Caley Ehnes; pp. vi + 238. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018, $105.00, $24.95 paper, $27.95 ebook. In Victorian Poetry and the Poetics of the Literary Periodical, Caley Ehnes focuses on the intersection of two areas of study: Victorian periodicals and Victorian poetry. The monograph responds to calls from scholars in both fields to consider the importance of the poems published in the pages of Victorian periodicals. The most direct of these calls comes from Linda K. Hughes's seminal essay "What the Wellesley Index Left Out: Why Poetry Matters to Periodical Studies" (2007), which disputes the dismissal of poetry in periodicals as filler between pieces of prose. Where Hughes primarily addresses scholars working on Victorian periodicals, Ehnes speaks to poetry specialists, claiming: "the poetry of the periodical press is the poetry of the Victorian period" and thus "periodical poems should matter to all those interested in Victorian poetry whether they care for periodicals or not" (191). The book divides the four chapters by periodical title, grouping three weeklies related to Charles Dickens into the first chapter, pairing two of the most influential shilling monthly magazines into the second, and then separating two important but less-studied magazines into the third and fourth chapters. This structure creates consistency in the periodical contexts within each chapter, allowing Ehnes to present history and scholarship on each periodical and focus analysis on the features of the poetry and trends observed. Chapter 1 defines the inaugural poem as one that appears in the first issue—though not necessarily as the first item—and works to set the tone for a new periodical. In comparing inaugural poems in Household Words (1850–9) and All the Year Round (1859–95), Ehnes finds similarities in the poems' positions within each title's opening issue and theme of "advocat[ing] for greater sympathy between the classes," a mission suggested by Dickens in his own "Preliminary Word" at the outset of Household Words (26). The chapter also demonstrates how Once a Week (1859–80) used its inaugural poem to establish the periodical's treatment of poetry, use of illustration, and "construction of a middle-class identity defined by domesticity" (53). Throughout the chapter, Ehnes balances the introduction of larger claims that set the foundation for the remaining case studies, comparing features of the periodical context and themes of the poems, and performing adept close analyses of the individual poems. In chapter 2, Ehnes considers the first five years of Macmillan's Magazine (1859–1907) and The Cornhill Magazine (1860–1975), shilling monthlies that defined the style of such periodicals in the lives of middle-class families and the literary world. The chapter contrasts the emphasis on poetry in Macmillan's against The Cornhill's focus on literary labor and the role of the professional author. The section on Macmillan's discusses the ways periodical poetry fit into the careers of Alfred Tennyson, Christina Rossetti, and Dinah Mulock Craik, distinguishing between the style of poets who wrote primarily for the periodical press and those for whom such poems were more economically driven. From The Cornhill, Ehnes analyzes poems by Matthew Arnold, Adelaide Anne Proctor, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Owen Meredith, and W. M. W. Call that grapple with "the cost, legacy and responsibility of literary labor" (93). The chapter includes detailed analyses of the formal features of specific poems by each of these contributors along with valuable insights about the larger periodical press, the role of shilling monthlies in establishing middle-class literary tastes, and the poetics of the mid-nineteenth century. [End Page 489] Chapter 3 explores the role of poetry in religious literary periodicals through Good Words (1860–1910)—described as "a conventional literary periodical with a devotional twist"—which follows models established in previous discussions of Once a Week and The Cornhill (112). Here, the inaugural poem builds upon the suggestion in Once a Week that the periodical is central to bringing the family together for communal reading on Sundays. Ehnes argues that periodical poetry in Good Words brings readers...