William Michael Rossetti as critic: a digital, archival analysis

Abstract

This dissertation examines 211 critical articles published by William Michael Rossetti in multiple Victorian periodicals over fifty years spanning 1848 to 1909. Innovative new digital technology is employed to sort qualitative and quantitative attributes of each article and construct a fine-grained comparative analysis of Rossetti's critical intent, strategy and effect as a critic, historian and founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The dissertation includes a searchable digital archive of the collected annotations with citations for all 211 articles, supported with hyperlinked and embedded cross-references to Rossetti's two memoirs and his collected letters. The results of the study are comprised in both textual analysis and multiple graphic charts offering a close-up, detailed and supported examination of Rossetti, his periodical criticism, his interaction with the periodic press and other critics, as well as with some of the major figures of Victorian aestheticism.