Remnants of Victorian Romance in London
Julia Zgurzynski
A few summers ago I started reading Victorian romance and mystery novels and have absolutely loved them. I started with Wilkie Collins’ I Say No, and was hooked. I then read The Woman in White, and moved onto Mary Elizabeth Braddon— Dead Love Has Chains, Lady Audley’s Secret, The Lovels of Arden. I fell in love with the beautiful language, charming characters, and engaging plots. Pervading it all was the charm of Victorian England, with its horse drawn carriages, candlelight, and cottages. By reading such novels, I was welcomed into the Victorian world, and all its vitality with which the modern world is not wont to credit it. Having begun an interest in Victorian literarture on my own, last semester I chose to take a course in the English department called the Victorian Age. It exposed me to another set of wonderful Victorian literature, some of my favorite pieces being the poems “Aurora Leigh” by Elizabeth Barret Browning, and “In Memoriam” by Alfred Lloyd Tennyson”. I have been delighted to find many sights around London which remind me of my favorite era of literature.
First, when we visited Westminster Abbey, in Poet’sCorner, I saw the grave of Alfred Lloyd Tennyson. I pondered the fact that the man who wrote words I love is laid to rest in that very place where I stood, and recalled Canto 97, my favorite part of “In Memoriam”.
For another field trip, we visited the Tate Britain art museum to see the World War One art, but afterwards, I found a room full of Victorian art, including beautiful Rossettis, and a glorious Walter Crane. I saw the original painting of Aurora Leigh dismissing her cousin and suitor Romney, an image of which I had previously seen in my textbook.
Some of the paintings in the room reminded me of various moments from the books I have read, even though the painter did not specifically intended them to. This painting of a French cathedral with people clustered around instantly reminded me of one part of “The Lovels of Arden” in which Clarissa and her baby flee to a town in France. She refuses to give the persistent George Fairfax any address besides that she lives near the Cathedral of St. Gudule. The painting immediately reminded me of that place, with the giant building in the summer sun dominating the scene and watching over the congregating villagers. Then, on another wall, I noticed this picture of a young girl and a doctor, which instantly reminded of Jane Eyre as a child and her good doctor.
image. Outside of Dennis Severs house
At the recommendation of a friend back home, I visited the Dennis Severs House, and it was the place I most immediately encountered the past. It is a museum which is set in an old house, and recreates the historical environment of the eighteen and nineteenth centuries with remarkable detail. The house is lit only by candlelight, there are fires burning in the hearths of all the rooms, and the rooms are decorated all with antiques. Walking through the house, you feel as if you are a ghost visiting the past, for in the rooms, there are plates of food, and clothes laid about, to make it feel like the family was there just moments ago. There is even a room which is set up so that you may picture characters from Charles Dickens novels living there. For example, there is a nightcap on the armchair next to the bed to recall Mr. Scrooge to the imagination. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the interior of the house to share, since photography is forbidden, however, that is all the more reason to go observe the house yourself. It has been wonderful to live in the same city as some of my favorite characters, as well as to find small reminders of the Victorian past around the city.
