Negotiating History
From Romanticism to Victorianism

The beginning of the transition from Romanticism to Victorianism in English literature is examined through works created by three writers — Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and Robert Browning — as the literary and political backdrop shifted in post-Napoleonic Europe. Despite the sharp line often drawn by scholars between the Romantic and Victorian periods, the author emphasizes the Shelleys' influence on the young Browning, drawing parallels between Percy's high Romanticism and Browning's revisionary poetics. The three writers' attitudes to gender are also discussed, along with their use of historicism and historiography, to shed further light on Romantic and Victorian sensibilities.

Note on the Texts
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION
Texts: ‘The Triumph of Life’, Valperga, and Sordello
Contexts: Historical Background
Notes

CHAPTER 1
P.B. SHELLEY’S ‘THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE’
Introduction
The Triumph of Life
Dream-Vision
Masquerade/Pageant/Mask
Politics
Light
Masculinity
Conclusion
Notes

CHAPTER 2
MARY SHELLEY’S VALPERGA
Valperga and ‘The Triumph of Life’
Frankenstein, Valperga, and The Last Man
History and Romance
Medievalism and Republicanism
Romanticism and Feminism
Narrative and Power
Conclusion
Notes

CHAPTER 3
BROWNING’S SORDELLO
Introduction
The Problem of Audience
Poets, Poetics, and Poetic Influences
Feminism
Politics
Rome and Venice
Notes

Afterword
Bibliography
Index