VICTOBER 2025 discussion

A place to discuss your plans and recommendations for Ros's challenge, which is to read a work of Victorian poetry, long or short.

I'm going to read some Tennyson and was thinking of maybe tackling Aurora Leigh as well. I read some of it at uni but have been planning for a while to read the whole thing.

I read Aurora Leigh two years ago during Victober and I really enjoyed it, it's a good one :) I'm also going to read some Tennyson, I was thinking about Idylls of the King

I'll be reading Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Aurora Leigh." I haven't read it before, so now is the time to do it!

Aurora Leigh seems to be the choice of the year so far 😄 I might read this one too. I've been interested in Elizabeth Barret Browning since I read Virginia Woolf's Flush, but didn't get to her yet...

I would like some of Christina Rossetti’s poetry.

Katie wrote: "A place to discuss your plans and recommendations for Ros's challenge, which is to read a work of Victorian poetry, long or short."

I found one that would definitely qualify as short.

The Shortest And Sweetest of Songs
by George MacDonald

Come
Home.

I am going to join this one also with Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but her "Sonnets from the Portuguese". And, as I am not participating in the group read, a selection of Thomas Hardy's poems.

I am going to re- read Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s The Lady of Shallot. Tennyson is one of my favourites and I shall read it with a copy of John William Waterhouse’s painting to muse over (I love the pre-raphaelites).

I’m not keen on poetry so this will be a good challenge for me. I want to read Christina Rossetti, so I’ll look for a collection of her poems.
I love the King Arthur stories so The Lady of Shallot sounds interesting as well.

Earlier in the year I bought Fiona Sampson’s Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning - ‘Two Way Mirror’ after going to a fascinating talk by the author. So, to read some of the poetry alongside reading the book, seems like the perfect match for this challenge.

PaulaJA wrote: "Earlier in the year I bought Fiona Sampson’s Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning - ‘Two Way Mirror’ after going to a fascinating talk by the author. So, to read some of the poetry alongside reading ..."

Wow, she wrote about Elizabeth Barrett Browning too? I read her In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein which was an excellent read (though not a favourite on Mary Shelley). Thank you for calling this to my attention!

PaulaJA wrote: "Earlier in the year I bought Fiona Sampson’s Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning - ‘Two Way Mirror’ after going to a fascinating talk by the author. So, to read some of the poetry alongside reading ..."

I'm currently reading and enjoying The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett 1845-1846 (1899) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... I hope to finish in Victober. I'm also planning to watch the 1934 movie, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, about their love story.

I love poetry! For Ros's challenge, I plan to read

- Sonnets from the Portuguese collection by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Home Thoughts From Abroad, and Rabbi Ben Ezra by Robert Browning
- Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti

PaulaJA wrote: "Earlier in the year I bought Fiona Sampson’s Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning - ‘Two Way Mirror’ after going to a fascinating talk by the author. So, to read some of the poetry alongside reading ..."

I've started reading this now as a warm-up to Victober.

Exciteed about A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Housman~

Debra wrote: "Katie wrote: "A place to discuss your plans and recommendations for Ros's challenge, which is to read a work of Victorian poetry, long or short."

I found one that would definitely qualify as short..."

Love it! ;,-D George MacDonald has been on my tbr for a while, but for his fantasy novels.

Sandybeth wrote: "I am going to re- read Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s The Lady of Shallot. Tennyson is one of my favourites and I shall read it with a copy of John William Waterhouse’s painting to muse over (I love the p..."

What a great idea :-D Love the Pre-Raphaelite art and John William Waterhouse. I’ve only read individual poems by Tennyson so far, but I have been meaning to explore more of his poetry for a while. So, I choose him for this challenge.

I'm going with Goblin Market and I'm very eager to give it a try!

I think I'm going to go with some of Edward Lear's longer poems, I read them a lot when I was growing up and haven't revisited them in a while.

I might finally get around to 'Goblin Market' too, I enjoyed Hope Mirrlees fantasy novel Lud-in-the-Mist and some of the details of her imagined world were apparently inspired by Rossetti's poem.

I'm going to read Idylls of the King and maybe some other Tennyson.

edit: maybe I'll read something by Algernon Charles Swinburne; I loved "The Garden of Proserpine"

I will be reading Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I'm gonna read out of an old edition of the Oxford Book of English Verse. Especially excited for some Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Hopkins is special Nathan isn't he?

I'm reading the Oxford World's Classics selected collection of Thomas Hardy's poetry.

And having dusted off and cracked open my much loved copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'A Child's Garden of Verses', only to discover I loved it a little too much as a child, and pages are missing, I plan to see if I can find it on the Project Gutenberg website. Ros mentioning it in one of her videos reminded me how much I adored those poems when I was little. It's been a very long time since I last read them, but pieces of them remain with me, and I'm looking forward to revisiting them.

I am starting off with 'The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits' by Lewis Carroll. I will also be reading 'Aurora Leigh' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning for Katie's challenge. Then I plan to read some of the Bronte Sisters 'Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell' and who-knows-what-else may strike my fancy! I like to read some poetry every day anyway, so it is nice to focus on this era, but different voices ~ so many choices...

Sandybeth wrote: "I am going to re- read Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s The Lady of Shallot. Tennyson is one of my favourites and I shall read it with a copy of John William Waterhouse’s painting to muse over (I love the p..."

I am also planning on channeling my inner Anne Shirley and rereading The Lady of Shalott! It's a good one!

I am thrilled hearing about everyone's choices for the challenge. I love Victorian poetry and it is wonderful to hear from so many other poetry readers.

Debra wrote: "Katie wrote: "A place to discuss your plans and recommendations for Ros's challenge, which is to read a work of Victorian poetry, long or short."

I found one that would definitely qualify as short..."

I LOVE THAT. Brought tears to my eyes. Never seen it before. Now I'll never forget it.

Stephanie wrote: "Sandybeth wrote: "I am going to re- read Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s The Lady of Shallot. Tennyson is one of my favourites and I shall read it with a copy of John William Waterhouse’s painting to muse ..."

I just listened to The Lady of Shallot for the first time (I've read it several times), but I'm not counting it for the challenge because I've challenged myself to pieces/authors I haven't read before. It's in the preview of the audiobook for Tennyson's Idylls of the King, which I chose for the challenge. IotK is gorgeous, but it's a lot. I have to take it in pieces to appreciate it.

I'm moving steadily through a selection of Christina Rossetti's poetry. Some favourites so far:
Hope in Grief;
Sappho;
Remember;
Three Stages;
May;
The Lowest Room

I read Goblin Market yesterday. I think I last read it when I was young and did not realise how full of sexual imagery it is. A fascinating, unsettling and poetically accomplished poem.

I am reading some poetry by Thomas Hardy. I am liking it so far.

So under the file of "coincidence? I think not!", I got my weekly email from Mutual Art and it mentioned Elizabeth Siddal. Elizabeth was amazing. She also married Dante Gabriel. Who was CHRISTINA ROSSETTI'S BROTHER. She, and especially her death, were very interesting, very Victorian and worth sharing here:

https://www.mutualart.com/Article/Eli...

Penelope wrote: "I would like some of Christina Rossetti’s poetry."

That's who I'm reading, too!

Emily wrote: "I'm going with Goblin Market and I'm very eager to give it a try!"

Have you read it yet? I'm just diving into my Rossetti collection and looking forward to that!

Still making my way through a collection of Rossetti's selected poems, and wanted to comment on Goblin Market which I read last night - out loud, with my partner.

It has such a range of themes that you could delve into. After reading it, I was most strongly focused on the religious allegory - Laura in the figure of Eve, Lizzie as Christ. My partner, meanwhile, thought that the sapphic imagery came out most vividly. It's definitely one that we'll be revisiting!

I read Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I didn't get much out of it except for three poems, which I really liked. I've also re-read some of my favourite poems by Anne Brontë.

I also read Sonnets from the Portuguese. I agree that I only liked three poems, although each poem has a line or two that I found evocative.

For Ros's challenge, I read:

- Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti 5-stars marvelous!
- The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Home Thoughts From Abroad, and Rabbi Ben Ezra by Robert Browning 4-stars
- Sonnets from the Portuguese collection by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I've always loved sonnet 43 (5-stars) but never read the complete collection before now. Having just finished reading their love letters, I was able to track the progression of their love story through the sonnets making them more understandable and enjoyable. 3.5-stars

Today I read, “On Visiting the Grave of my Stillborn Little Girl,” by Elizabeth Gaskell. Wow—packs a punch. A beautifully written poem on such a heartbreaking experience.

I also spent a good part of the evening reading and reflecting on another early Gaskell poem, “Sketches Among the Poor.” She has a really unique voice—it anticipates the bucolic poems of Hardy, and she has such a lyrical way of expressing nostalgia and reminiscence without becoming overly sentimental and cloying. I will certainly be seeking out more poetry by Gaskell, it’s wonderful!

Darryl wrote: "Today I read, “On Visiting the Grave of my Stillborn Little Girl,” by Elizabeth Gaskell. Wow—packs a punch. A beautifully written poem on such a heartbreaking experience."

Thank yo for bringing this one to my attention, it's really lovely.

I’ve only really learned to appreciate poetry in the last ten years, and that is mostly Japanese, Browning, Keats, and Wordsworth. I’ve never read long form poems, except Pigrim’s Progress. Is that actually poetry? So I just finished listening to Idylls of the King and I loved it! Maybe listening to poetry is what will work for me. I also heard The Lady of Shallot in the introduction. So beautiful! Thanks for this challenge. I’m going to enjoy poetry more often from now on.

Diane that's lovely to hear. I am really happy this challenge has encouraged some people to try something new to them. And others to share special discoveries like Darryl with Gaskell's poems. I have been dipping into poetry all month and this weekend I read Wilde's Ballad of Reading Gaol. It's a poem I have read excerpts from but never the full 109 stanzas. I still don't think Wilde is a great poet but this was heartfelt and affecting. He uses the rhythmic ballad form to great effect.

I finished The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear full of marvellous images and verses, and wonderfully inventive wordplay.

I have a special soft spot for Lear, Alwynne.

I’ve been reading Arthur Hugh Clough’s verse novel Amours de Voyage - actually the story is so slight that in prose it would struggle to reach novella length. An interesting read which prefigures early Henry James in some ways.

Sounds intriguing Ian.

I read the The Lady of Shalott, which I have been meaning to read for a long time. Mostly because I loved the painting by Waterhouse, but also because I’ve come across it in so many works of literature, art, film, music…I only vaguely knew what it was about, but had never read it. I really enjoyed it and had a look at more paintings of The Lady of Shalott by the Pre-Raphaelites. It’s fascinating how much they admired Tennyson. There are two versions of this poem, which I only found out after reading. One was published 1833, the other 1842. I read the first version and upon reading some of the 1842 alterations, I'm not sure it is an improvement. I think I prefer the original.