When we think about the generation before us, we might feel that their cultural touchstones aren’t relevant today. But Tom Mole argues that the literature of the past only survives because the next generation find new ways to make it relevant. In the Victorian era, new illustrations for the previous generation’s poetry helped update the image of writers like Byron and Wordsworth in ways they couldn’t even have imagined.
Illustrations discussed
Click on the images to view in full size.
Don Juan in Victorian dress
Photo of Brougham Castle with visitors
Bonus clip
Click here to listen to a bonus clip on the publishing practices and new technologies that fuelled the illustration boom of the Victorian era.
Works mentioned
– George Gordon Byron, Don Juan
– William Wordsworth, “Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle”
Further reading
Tom Mole at The Wordsworth Trust blog – What the Victorians made of Romanticism
A video of Tom Mole discussing how Victorian anthologies reshaped the reputation of the poet Shelley
Alix Beeston at The Conversation – What do we love when we love books by dead authors?
Two beautiful collections of Victorian illustrations – The Illustration Archive and The Dalziel Archive
The New York Times – The Year in Illustration 2017`