Even though the people living in such dreadful conditions were aware that death was nearby, there was also a sense of hope among them. This was due to their belief in God as they all believed that as long as they worshipped and were true to their god that they would go to heaven. Even if this was true or not, it still gave the people a little hope that they would enter the kingdom of God and no matter how long they lived, they would soon be comforted by the love of God.
During this period a writer called Charles Darwin caused mayhem when a book was published by him called “The Origin Of The Species”. Darwin’s new theory of evolution challenged the Christians beliefs and they weren’t at all happy with this. His new theory meant that all biblical evidence about creation was now wrong. His story was about how plants and animals have evolved through the ages and weren’t each individually created. His second point stated that much effort is expended and much is wasted in order that evolution can progress. His third and final point states that the survival of the fittest has led to the progress of the human race, not the hand of God. This created such chaos because it was in conflict with people’s belief in God. Victorian life revolved around Christianity and this innovation was at complete loggerheads with the very structure of that existence.
The poems chosen for this study are two Christina Rossetti poems, ‘Song’ and ‘Remember’ to help prove the hypothesis as to why Victorians were pre-occupied by death. The idea that the Victorians were confident in their belief seems to be thrown into question by these poems. In the first , ‘Song’, the mood of the poem is morbid and sentimental. If it stems from a Christian belief that death gives rebirth, then the tone should be more joyful, however Rossetti is expressing sorrow rather than joy and more than that she is spreading it at the feet of her loved one.
The next poem chosen to demonstrate the hypothesis is ‘Remember’ also written by Rossetti. In it she continues in the same vein speaking to her lover in a way that abuses the love he feels for her because she is using it to create a strong feeling of sentimental anguish
“ Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad”
Words of this nature, spoken to a loved one, could only inspire sorrow, and the reason for her to speak them is more likely to be self-indulgent melancholy and fear of death rather than a celebration of her true belief in reincarnation.
From the language of the poems chosen and from the evidence from the information about the Victorian period, There is a lot of proof that poets, in the time of the Victorian era, were influenced by what was going on in there surrounds, death. The poets from this period wrote about what was going on in society and the pictures that were in their heads. The high death rate and the living conditions inspired them to write about death and this is proved in the poems written by Christina Rossetti. It was hard for them not to write about things like death as it was such a common thing in their lives in the old and young. These living conditions and the fact that there was high infant mortality rate due to these conditions and poor medical care constantly made them think about life and this made them write about what was going on in their lives which was very frequently in connection with death.
