English Victorian Literature that features Death/Funeral

[mestrae]

Hello everyone,

I am currently writing my Master's thesis on perceptions of death and proper ways of mourning in Victorian England. I am analyzing samples of life writing and comparing those depicitions of grief and death to examples in popular literature.

I am struggling to find th eliterature though! So far I have Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop, and possible North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

I am looking for book recommendations that:

• Fall into the Victorian era published by authors from the UK
• Depict some sort of death, funeral, expression of grief.
• ** Bonus points if it has a woman dying

I wouldn't mine poems either.

Thank you!
-M

Comments

[pedanther]

There's the chapter early in Oliver Twist where Oliver is apprenticed to the undertaker? The book goes into the details more than most of the adaptations do.

[mestrae]

Thanks! I will definitely check it out. Could be great for contextual information.

[cyphomandra]

Charlotte M Yonge’s The Daisy Chain has multiple deaths - the mother, a baby, and one of the children. There are lots of deaths in Victorian children’s literature, often aimed at providing improving morals and/or encouraging charity, eg Froggy’s Little Brother (and Helen Burns in Jane Eyre, although the rest of the book isn’t like this).

[mestrae]

I haven't heard of The Daisy Chain, and it sounds like it could be extremely helpful. Thank you!

[rissabby]

In Wuthering Heights Cathy dies somewhere in the middle. I actually, many years after reading, remember the scene with Heathcliff and Lynton and each wanting a lock of their hair to be buried with Cathy.

[fred_mouse]

emma_in_dream has a '19th century book club' tag (https://emma-in-dream.dreamwidth.org/tag/19th+century+book+club) which may have something suitable? They are knowledgeable on the books, and read widely, and I always find interesting details.