THE IMPACT OF DARWINISM ON MAJOR VICTORIAN POETS

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of Darwinism on major Victorian poets. Darwinism refers to the evolutionary insights of Charles Darwin, a great nineteenth century scientist. His scientific revelations not only energized the prevailing discourses but also added to an already charged atmosphere of doubts and debates. While science found in him a renewed expression, religion and human sciences were no less impacted. In his influential evolutionary texts, Darwin not only questioned the origin of man but also put him in struggle for survival. In decentering man as a superior and originary being, Darwin stunned and disturbed the Victorian society. This direct confrontation of science and religion caught the imagination of its intellectuals. Literary figures specifically the poets could not escape the heat of this tension. Writing exactly at times when Darwin published his works, it was but natural that major poets like Alfred Lord, Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, and Thomas Hardy might have been affected and in turn responded. This brief analysis attempts to trace the Darwinian effect on these poets to show the extent they were impacted in writing their poetical works.