Herbert Tucker
John C. Coleman Professor
415 Bryan Hall
Office Hours: Weds 10:30AM-12:30PM and Thurs 9:00AM-10:00AM.
Class Schedule: Tu/Th 11:00-12:15, 3:30-4:45
Specialties:
19th C British, Poetry
Degrees
Ph.D. Yale, 1977
B.A. Amherst, 1971
B.A. Amherst, 1971
Books
Epic, Oxford, 2008
Tennyson and the Doom of Romanticism, Harvard University Press, 1988
Browning's Beginnings: The Art of Disclosure, Minnesota, 1981
Edited Works
Writ Large, special issue of NLH, 2018
Song, special issue of NLH, 2015
A New Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture , Wiley-Blackwell, 2014
Victorian Literature 1830-1900, Harcourt College Publishers, 2001
(Edited,with Dorothy Mermin)
Under Criticism: Essays in Honor of William H. Pritchard, Ohio University Press, 1998
Critical Essays on Alfred Lord Tennyson , G. K. Hall & Company , 1993
Digital Projects
Articles
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“Gates of Horn in Ivory Towers: On Beauty’s Truth.” In The Question of the Aesthetic, ed. George Levine, Oxford, 2022.
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“Kingsley’s Muscular Poetics.” In Charles Kingsley: Faith, Flesh and Fantasy, ed. Jonathan Conlin and J. M. I. Klaver. Routledge, 2021.
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“Victorian Quakerism: Evangelical Revival, Liberal Renaissance.” Victorian Review 46 (2021).
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“Balladry in Motion.” Wordsworth Circle (2021)
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“Dramatic Monologue.” In The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Victorian Women’s Writing, ed. Lesa Scholl. Palgrave, 2019-.
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“Better Yet: Tennyson’s Poetic Revisionism in the Harvard Manuscripts.” In Poetry in the Making: Creativity and Composition in Victorian Poetic Drafts, ed. Daniel Tyler. Oxford, 2020. 52-77.
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“Epic.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature. Oxford University Press, 2015–.
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“Afterword: The Well Spoken Hand.” In Victorian Hands: The Manual Turn in Nineteenth-Century Body Studies, ed. Peter J. Capuano and Sue Zemka. Ohio State University Press, 2020.
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"Formalism." Victorian Literature and Culture (2018).
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“Verse Visa: Dickens Adapts Poetry in The Old Curiosity Shop.” Nineteenth-Century Literature (2018).
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“Changes of Address: Epic Invocation in Anglophone Romanticism.” In The Call of Classical Literature in the Romantic Age, ed. K. P. Van Anglen and James Engell. Edinburgh, 2017.
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“Terminal Swinburne.” Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies (2017).
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“After Magic: Modern Charm in History, Theory, and Practice.” New Literary History (2017).
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“Influence: Tennyson to Wilde.” In John Keats in Context, ed. Michael O’Neill. Cambridge, 2017.
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“Fretted Lines: Di-versification in Augusta Webster’s Dramatic Monologues.” Victorian Poetry (2017).
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“Shock Troupers: Browning, Bidart, and the Drama of Prosody.” Wordsworth Circle (2016).
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“Christina Rossetti’s ‘Echo.’” In Annette Federico, Engagements with Close Reading. Routledge, 2016.
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“Victorian(ist) Epistemographies.” Victorian Studies (2014).
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“Unsettled Scores: Meter and Play in Two Music Poems by Browning.” Critical Inquiry (2014).
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“The Victorian Problem with Joy.” Nineteenth-Century Contexts (2013).
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“A Field of Magpies: Disciplinary Emergence as Modus Vivendi in English Studies.” Modern Language Quarterly (2014).
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“Story.” In The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Poetry, ed. Matthew Bevis. Oxford, 2013.
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“The Unappreciated Eliot: Poetry.” In A Companion to George Eliot, ed. Harry E. Shaw and Amanda Anderson. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
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“Shakespearean Being: The Victorian Bard.” In Oxford Handbook to Shakespeare’s Poetry, ed. Jonathan F. S. Post. Oxford, 2013.
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“What Goes Around: Swinburne’s Century of Roundels.” In Algernon Charles Swinburne: Unofficial Laureate, ed. Catherine Maxwell and Stefano Evangelista. Manchester, 2013.
Reviews
- Tom Mole, What the Victorians Made of Romanticism: Material Artifacts, Cultural Practices, and Reception History. In Modern Philology (2018).
- Kevin McLaughlin, Poetic Force: Poetry after Kant. In Victorian Studies (2016).
- Annmarie Drury, Translation as Transformation in Victorian Poetry. In Translation and Literature (2016).
- Daniel Karlin, The Figure of the Singer. In Victorian Studies (2016).
- Linda K. Hughes, Victorian Poetry; Valentine Cunningham, Victorian Poetry Now. In Victorian Studies (2013).
- Gregory Tate, The Poet’s Mind: The Psychology of Victorian Poetry 1830-1870. In Journal of Victorian Culture (2013).
- Jason D. Hall, ed., Meter Matters: Verse Cultures of the Long Nineteenth Century. In Victorians Institute Journal (2012).
- Christopher M. Keirstead, Victorian Poetry, Europe, and the Challenge of Cosmopolitanism. In Modern Language Quarterly (2012).
- Peter France and Kenneth Haynes, eds., The Oxford History of Literary Translation in English, vol 4. In Modern Philology (2010).
Lectures
- “Finding Eva Hoffman in Lost in Translation.” International Association of University Professors of English, Poznan, Poland (July 2019)
- “Good Enough to Eat: Orality and Consumption in Victorian Poetry.” Victorians Institute, Asheville (November 2018).
- “Unfinishing School: Victorian Poetics of Imperfection.” Northeast Victorian Studies Association, Philadelphia (April 2018)
- “Browning Takes Italy In.” North American Victorian Studies Association, Florence (May 2017).
- “Charms and the Nerd: Dark Arts, High Tech.” School of Literatures, University of Edinburgh (February 2017).
- “Terminal Swinburne.” University of Cambridge. (July 2016).
- “Verse Visa: Dickens Adapts Poetry in The Old Curiosity Shop.” Dickens Society, Reykjavik (July 2016).
- “Augusta Webster’s Fretted Lines.” Yale University (May 2016).
- “World of Our World: Microcosm and Form.” North American Victorian Studies Association, Honolulu (July 2015).
- “Outclassed: Henry Mayhew’s Quixotic Taxonomies.” North American Victorian Studies Association, London, Ontario (November 2014).
- “At the Doors of Perception: Liminality in Victorian Poetry.” Victorians Institute. Charlotte (October 2014).
- “Incantatory Yeats: The Charms of Prosody.” Yeats International Summer School, Sligo, Ireland (July 2014).
- “Evidently: How Victorian Poems Meant Things.” North American Victorian Studies Association, Pasadena (October 2013).
- “Balladry in Motion.” North American Society for the Study of Romanticism, Boston University. (August 2013).
- “Panic and Mirth: 1874, Coincidentally.” Northeast Victorian Studies Association, Boston University (April 2013).
- “Browning, in Charm’s Way.” Armstrong Browning Library, Baylor University (November 2012).
- “Word Magic: Victorian Charm in Theory and Practice.” Australasian Victorian Studies Association, Brisbane (April 2012).
- “Of Shakespearean Being: The Victorian Bard.” Department of English, Massey University, New Zealand (April 2012)
- "Marginalia: The Littoral Figure in Victorian Poetry.” Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (March 2012).
- “Unsettled Scores: Structure and Play in Browning’s Music Poems.” University of Liverpool (November 2011).
- “The Ekphrastic Witness in Michael Field’s Sight and Song.” University of Oxford (October 2011).
- “Compost Happens: A Synthetic Analysis.” British Association for Victorian Studies, University of Birmingham (September 2011).
- “Perspective, Scale, and Everything: Victorian All in All.” North American Victorian Studies Association, Montréal (November 2010).
Editorial
- Associate Editor, New Literary History, Virginia, 1996-
- Series Editor, Victorian Literature and Culture, Virginia, 1989-
Honors
- College Fellow (Virginia) 2018-2020
- International Senior Research Fellow (Durham University), 2017
- Distinguished Visiting Fellow (Queen Mary University of London), 2017
- American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2011-
- Fulbright Scholar, 2011-2012
- Fellow, Teaching and Technology Initiative (Virginia), 2008-2009
- Margaret Bundy Scott Visiting Professor (Williams College), 2006
- Donald J. Gray Prize (North American Victorian Studies Association), 2004
- National Humanities Center Fellow, 2000-2001
- Shannon Center for Advanced Studies (University of Virginia) 1986-1988, 1997
- MLA-ACLS Fellow, 1982-1983
- Whiting Fellow, 1976-1977
- Danforth Fellow, 1973-1977