“Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal” exemplifies a peculiar feature of the Victorian attitude toward love. Although by convention writers were supposed to exercise extreme reticence, in fact they did not do so. Tennyson cannot give a direct description of physical love, but his suggestions make his meaning unmistakable. When the speaker says, “And all thy heart lies open unto me,” the reader cannot help but wonder what really “lies open.”
The use of indirect allusion rather than direct description enhances the erotic effect. The reader cannot take in the scene passively but must use imagination in order to grasp the poem’s meaning. Because of the beauty of the words, the reader is in danger of missing the fundamental occurrence represented by the lyric’s appearance in The Princess. A woman reads an erotic poem in the presence of a man who has earlier professed his love for her. Nothing could be more alien to the notion of feminine modesty, but unless the reader portrays the scene in his own mind, the radical challenge to customary behavior will be missed.
The analysis just given might appear to fit a conventional picture of Victorian hypocrisy. In this view, the Victorians avoided certain words and aspired to a high-minded righteousness. In fact, they failed to practice what they preached: So long as the correct forms were observed, behavior was much less restricted than might appear. Many were reluctant to use the phrase...
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