The Cambridge History of Victorian Literature

Derived from the Greek aesthesis, for English-speakers at the beginning of Victoria's reign 'aesthetics' was a largely technical, not yet anglicized term for 'the science which treats of the conditions of sensuous perception. This chapter examines aesthetic matters as discussed in Victorian criticism. It reviews the high and vernacular cultures of art that gave impetus to aesthetic speculation. The chapter considers Victorian ideas about the beautiful and its permissible or prohibited others. It also sketches the contours of a Victorian literature of art. The adoption of the terms 'aesthetics' and 'aesthetic' around mid century coincides with the dawning of an extraordinary period when, as a contemporary critic observed, 'there began to be a great talking about Art'. Beauty pleasing to behold in eye or ear or imagination, remains a central term of approbation for works of art and for poetry. The cultures of art stimulate several kinds of writing that focus on art's forms and powers.