Throughout history, many cultures have suffered a crisis of faith, where men doubt their religious convictions, and the Victorian Age was no exception. Darwin’s books on evolution brought about a period in which religious doubt was at the core of many men’s hearts. Some of the most renowned literary works of the Victorian Age center mainly around self-doubt, specifically religious doubt. Some of those works include that of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Matthew Arnold, giving us a glimpse into the turmoil Darwin’s work caused for many.
While attending Cambridge, Darwin met naturalists who viewed their scientific work as natural theology. After meeting fellow scholar Professor John Stevens Henslow, Darwin served as a naturalist on an expedition to South America. In the Galapagos Islands, Darwin concluded that the Earth was much older than anyone at the time thought, an idea that went against Biblical texts. Upon returning to England, Darwin continued to work on the dynamics of evolution, publishing The Origin of Species, which immediately sparked debate and was heavily opposed by both scientists and religious leaders. The theories presented in Darwin's books were addressed in previous years, though it exploded into prominence with the publication of his first work. Works like Principles of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell and Vestiges of Creation by Robert Chambers had already raised issues that Darwin addresses in his work, but his publication was the first to present substantial evidence.
In Memoriam is a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, expressing the journey of wavering religious faith the author experienced after the sudden death of his close friend, Arthur Hallam. Written over seventeen years, the reader can see the series of spiritual transformations Tennyson underwent as he attempted to gain a better understanding of the role religion plays in life and death. Faced with overwhelming grief during a time of scientific discovery, Tennyson doubts and questions his faith, eventually concluding that evolution is part of God’s plan for mankind.
The first stage of Tennyson’s emotional journey in the immediate wake of Hallam’s death marks a period in which the author believes that he will perpetually mourn his death for the rest of his life.
“Yet in these ears, till hearing dies,
One set slow bell will seem to toll
The passing of the sweetest soul
That ever look'd with human eyes.
I hear it now, and o'er and o'er,
Eternal greetings to the dead;
And ‘Ave, Ave, Ave,’ said,
‘Adieu, adieu,’ for evermore.” [Section LVII, lines 9-16]
In the final line of the canto, the author believes he is saying goodbye to his friend forever, implying that he does not believe in an afterlife anymore.
In canto LIV, Tennyson struggles with the belief that good comes from death in the form of eternal paradise with God, concluding that in the end “we know not anything” (Tennyson, 191) and that we can only express ourselves through inarticulate means, comparing himself to a crying infant.
In the following cantos, LV and LVI, the author confronts the opposing forces of nature and religion, remarking that survival in nature is ruthless and is only concerned with the survival of the species, a thought closely related to that of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. This theory opposes the religious thought that life is so precious that it will continue forever in the afterlife. In the second stanza of Canto LV, he wonders if nature and God are at war writing;
“Are God and Nature then at strife,
That Nature lends such evil dreams?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life,” [Section LV, lines 5-8 p. 192]
In the final stanza of the final Canto, Tennyson concludes that faith comes from our convictions, allowing people to believe in that which they cannot prove. At the close of the poem, he comes to believe that while our physical bodies will cease to exist, our immortal spirits will join one another in the afterlife. Tennyson used In Memoriam as a way to express his desire to strengthen his relationship with God as he witnessed chaos ensue in English society.
Similar to Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold experienced a period in which he struggled with his faith, as it opposed the revolutionary scientific ideas of the era. His poem, “Dover Beach,” explores his struggles between Christianity and natural sciences, comparing both human misery and faith to the ebbing and flowing of the sea. Arnold’s phrasing and use of metaphors throughout the poem indicate the despair that comes with this loss of faith. The poem begins with a picturesque description of nature where the “The sea is calm” (Arnold, 433) and “The tide is full, the moon lies fair” (Arnold, 433). This scenery quickly changes as the light “Gleams and is gone” (Arnold, 433), emphasizing that the light can no longer be seen, leaving nothing but darkness in its wake.
In addition to this change in tone, Arnold uses pathetic fallacy to project the feeling of sadness and uncertainty onto the sea. In the third stanza, the sea becomes a metaphoric “Sea of Faith” (Arnold, 434) which “Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore” (Arnold, 434), symbolizing a time where one could experience religion without the doubts brought on by scientific progress. However, now, during the time of Darwinism, the certainty of religious belief retreats with a “withdrawing roar” (Arnold, 433). His word usage painting a lonely picture full of human suffering.
The final stanza of the poem conveys that this new world, according to Arnold is marked by its absence of faith and while this world may appear to be “like a land of dreams” (Arnold, 434), it is, in fact, one that has “neither joy, nor love, nor light,/ Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain” (Arnold, 434). As a result, England is on a “darkling plain” (Arnold, 434) full of confusion and struggle.
“Dover Beach” is not the only piece of literature by Matthew Arnold where he addresses the implications Darwinism had on religion. In “Stanzas from the Grand Chartreuse,” Arnold explores the life of devout monks. The poem is deeply personal, reflecting the author’s struggle to find a faith that would give his life meaning. In stanza twelve he claims:
“For rigorous teachers seized my youth,
And purged its faith, an trimmed its fire” [Section XII, lines 68-69 p. 436]
His intelligence is undermining the religious teachings that surrounded him growing up. This rejection of Christianity leads him to a life of isolation, comparing his life, up until this point, to children who live in an Abbey. The children’s lives are contained to a single worldview, as they do not know about life outside the abbey.
Through literature, we understand the fears and trepidations of a nation at any given period. The Victorians were a people who suffered through a crisis of faith, brought on by the advancements of science, especially those made by Darwin. This crisis was reflected in their literature and can be seen in works by both Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Matthew Arnold, such as In Memoriam and “Dover Beach.”