Interpreters of the Real: Poems about Photographs in the Periodical Press, 1840–1860
Potter, Jonathan (2024) Interpreters of the Real: Poems about Photographs in the Periodical Press, 1840–1860. Journal of Victorian Culture. ISSN 1355-5502
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Abstract
Short, anonymous poems were a common feature in the popular magazines and literary journals of photography’s first two decades, the 1840s and 1850s. Yet despite its wide readership, periodical poetry has been largely neglected in histories of photography. Through close readings of periodical poems, this essay addresses this gap and adds a fresh perspective to the complex history of photography’s reception. It argues that whereas Victorian journalism often concentrated on photographic realism and focal clarity, periodical poets were more interested in photography’s ability (or inability) to convey the emotional and psychological qualities of visual experience. By drawing on the technical process and language of photography but concentrating instead on affective qualities, the poems discussed here repositioned familiar debates about photography’s status and made their own claims for the values of both arts as interpreters of the real.
| Item Type: | Article | ||||||
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| Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1093/jvcult/vcae004 | ||||||
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Poetry, photography, periodicals, short poems | ||||||
| Subjects: | CAH19 - language and area studies > CAH19-01 - English studies > CAH19-01-03 - literature in English CAH20 - historical, philosophical and religious studies > CAH20-01 - history and archaeology > CAH20-01-01 - history CAH20 - historical, philosophical and religious studies > CAH20-01 - history and archaeology > CAH20-01-02 - history of art, architecture and design CAH24 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01-05 - media studies |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts, Design and Media > School of English | ||||||
| Depositing User: | Jonathan Potter | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 08 Mar 2024 14:21 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 08 Mar 2024 14:21 | ||||||
| URI: | https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15312 |
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