The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XII. The Romantic Revival.
§ 19. Dolben
But the glamour of tractarian theology extended far beyond those who were its first teachers or their direct heirs. It created a religious literature effective if ephemeral: it “tuned the pulpits” for some half a century to a gravity which strove, often successfully, after the majesty of classical sculpture. And, in the poetry of Digby Mackworth Dolben, only recently given to the world, and of Christina Rossetti, it formed a new life exuberant and aflame. Dolben pursued its teaching till it yielded to him a certain mediœval richness of ecclesiastical imagery that touched at many points a religious passion which was older than Christianity, and almost hostile to it. To Christina Rossetti, the catholic theology of the English church was the very breath of life, and she accepted its sternness without dispute. Yet, while the accent of severity clings to all she wrote, we are, in her company, on the road to a reaction which yet has its roots in the past: the splendour of Jeremy Taylor is not forgotten and the exotic richness of Walter Pater is in sight.