Late Victorians: “Failed” Marriages and “Other” Sexualities
Modern Love: Sonnet #1 by George Meredith
I took this poem to be about a possible unhappiness with a marriage. The wife’s sobs, shaking, hopelessness. All these things and more allude to the wife’s unhappiness with her romantic/marital life. The shaking of the common bed tells of a struggle with the marriage itself. Why mention the common bed that husband and wife share if there was not an uneasiness with sleeping in it? This implies that either the wife was forced into the marriage or is at least very unhappy about the marriage. This poem even alludes to the fact that the wife wants out of the marriage but is unable to do so. Given the time period, the Victorian Era, this is no surprise.
As the poem continues, it’s clear that the husband is also unhappy with the union. This is seen in the last five lines of the poem.
“Were moveless, looking through their dead black years,
By vain regret scrawled over the blank wall.
Like sculptured effigies they might be seen
Upon their marriage-tomb, the sword between;
Each wishing for the sword that severs all” (Meredith 12-16).
These lines signify the death of not only their marriage, but also their happiness. Both hope for, “the sword that severs all,” which is either divorce or death, whichever comes first. Even though the husband tried earlier in the poem to comfort his wife, he understands her pain and shares it with her. The husband knows that he can’t take away the wife’s unhappiness or pain, because their union is the cause of it. The husband knows that a ended union only comes in death. A union during that time can’t end in divorce because divorce brings shame to the family and the people themselves.
The sonnet has a lot of powerful language with words such as strangled, venomous, dead and darkness. This piece is meant to evoke emotion and helplessness. The main point of the sonnet is that both people are unhappy and yet nothing can be done. In those times one had to hope that they made the right marital choice. Sometimes, one had to hope that the right marital choice was made for them. If you were married to the wrong person, oh well, because you would be stuck in that marriage until death did you part. Divorce wasn’t an option, it was a disgrace.
Work Cited:
Barnett, Ashley. “Promethean Desires: Historiography of Victorian Sexuality.” Atmostfear Entertainment, 4 Mar. 2019, http://www.atmostfear-entertainment.com/lifestyle/sexuality/promethean-desires-historiography-victorian-sexuality/.
Hazel, Chestnut and. “Poetry Reading: Modern Love by George Meredith, Sonnet 1.” YouTube, YouTube, 18 Feb. 2019, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lp4G758ny0.
Meredith, George. “Modern Love: I by George Meredith.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44703/modern-love-i.
Raven 
I like that you included a video because I think hearing someone else read a poem can make it a bit easier to understand and analyze by hearing the tone and rhythm. I also like that you bring up the idea of arranged marriages during this time because I did not think about that possibility causing marital unhappiness. I also appreciate you pointing out the language Meredith used because diction and figurative language is SO important to evoke emotions, create mood, and portray the correct ideas and feelings to readers. You did a great job showing the social view and impact of divorce during this time as well. Great blog post!
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I think not many marriages in the Victorian era did not start with love, especially for women. To get married was to be of the same or a better social status, be good wives, and be a mother to her husband’s children. Marriage was usually a case of giving up the little independence a woman had in order to become her husband’s servant.
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