Mission Statement

This caucus offers a scholarly network for those whose research and teaching interests include  the central role of poetry and poetics in the literary and cultural history of the long nineteenth-century. We claim “Victorian” under the auspices of our affiliation to NAVSA, but welcome those working in Romanticism and in emerging Modernist contexts, as well. 

 

We also claim the vital importance of investigating the complex cultural work of poetry in its diverse genres,  hybrid forms, and innovations during a period when it pervaded every sphere of life. Poetry informed both everyday Victorian practices (expressions of sociability, sexual identity, faith, and grief, for example), and transformative literary, artistic, political, religious, social, and scientific developments of the nineteenth century (the Pre-Raphaelite, Tractarian, and Chartist movements, for instance, or debates over evolution, empire, and mass culture). 

 

The VPC seeks to foster intellectual exchange among the multiple methodologies and perspectives that scholars now bring to reading and interpreting nineteenth-century poetry, such as the new formalism; distant reading and digital technologies; theories of gender and sexuality, race, transnationalism, and globalization; exploration of contexts in science, religion, politics, and periodical culture; and investigation of the relations between Victorian poetry, other literary genres, and the sister arts (music, the visual arts, theatre, contemporary Neo-Victorianism in film and new media).

 

Like other NAVSA caucuses, the Victorian poetry caucus aims to provide a space for communication and collaboration, sharing resources, supporting new scholars, and organizing conference panels or publishing initiatives that engender fresh approaches or engage particular challenges within the field. The caucus also organizes social gatherings providing informal networking opportunities in a convivial environment. 

Check out our social networking sites on Twitter (@VicPoetryCaucus) and Facebook Group (Victorian Poetry Caucus), as well as our website (https://victorianpoetrycau.wixsite.com/website). Those interested in joining VPC’s listserv for news on this caucus, information on events, publications in the field, and regular guest blogs should email our Caucus Representative Veronica Alfano or our Caucus Graduate Student Coordinator at VictorianPoetryCaucus@gmail.com.