NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERARY MANUSCRIPTS

Part 3: The Correspondence and Literary Manuscripts of Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861) from the Bodleian Library, Oxford

"Clough should be of great interest to us now.  He is the most modern of Victorian poets.  In terms of everything from his attitude to metre to his sceptical moral temper, he is far closer to our own cultural persuasion than Tennyson or Browning.  ... His verse does not sing or soar or rhapsodise: it is prosy, anxious, witty, multivalent, and it delves into matters of sexual instinct with a startling frankness and sensuality unparalleled in 19th-century English Literature."
Rupert Christiansen, writing in The Voice of Victorian Sex (2001)

Born in Liverpool, raised in South Carolina, and educated at Rugby School and then Balliol College, Oxford, Clough wrote poetry of lasting importance and relevance. Sir Edmund Gosse praised his "sympathetic modern accent" which helped to capture the spirit of Victorian malaise. After a period of long neglect, he is now undergoing a thorough reassessment.

His poems range from the inspirational "Say not the struggle nought availeth", to the satirical "The Latest Decalogue". Often his poems describe tensions between individuals and the conventions of society. In The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich (1848) - written in an accessible, conversational tone - he describes a love affair between an intellectual student on a walking holiday and the daughter of a farmer that is threatened by class distinctions.  But this is no chocolate box romance or pastoral idyll.  Elspie Mackaye is self-assured. The love is nether idealistic, nor unrequited.    It is a search for new values, recognised by the fact that the lovers resolve their situation by eloping to New Zealand.  In Amours de Voyage (1858) - set in Italy during the revolution of 1848-49 - it is the conflict between ideals and practical actions that cause the conflict. Claude, the main protagonist struggles to play an active part in the political situation or to successfully develop a promising relationship with a young female traveller.  The poem ends in disappointment as his life unravels.  These poems mirror his own tortured uncertainty, as his orthodox faith was challenged by the religious ferment of 1840’s Oxford, causing him to resign his fellowship at Oriel College, and seek tranquility first in London, then in New England.  They also address the problems that he had with relationships.

This project brings together 18 volumes of his letters, 33 volumes of poetical notebooks and 7 volumes of formerly loose manuscripts. These include exchanges with Matthew Arnold and Ralph Waldo Emerson, a cluster of material relating to Florence Nightingale, a list of Clough’s books, material regarding Rugby School and extensive literary manuscripts including drafts of Dipsychus, Songs in Absence, Adam & Eve, and Amours de Voyage. Most of his poetic output is covered as these were the manuscripts that were used to prepare his posthumous Poems (1862).