London, England W8 4PX

Extreme, fanatical, excessive, OHMYGOD - these are the words I would use to describe Victorian treatment of death. British people during Victorian Age were literally obsessed with deaths. The way they treated deaths was so peculiar and excessive that it was often called a "cult of death". The extent of the Victorians' rituals for the dead ones is far beyond our imagination.

Queen Victoria herself had an awful obsession with death. The chance is the death of her husband Prince Albert traumatized Queen Victoria; she mourned her husband's death for 40 years, dressing in black every day and preserving their home as the way it was the day he died. During the 40 years, Victoria never wanted to move the glass that Albert used for the last time in his life. All servants set everything in the house the exact same way they did before Albert's death. They prepared his clothes and a cup of water every morning. People were not exceptions. Victorians wore regulated mourning dresses and held extravagant funeral and burial arrangements for prescript period of time whenever their loving ones died. They took postmortem pictures, not only to remember the dead ones but also to remind the living ones of mortality.

The death rate during the period explains this eerie obsession. In early 19th century, the average life span ranged from 22 to 44, depending on the class of the person. 57 percent of children of working class families died even before they got to the age of five. Death was around everywhere; it was more like part of everyone's life.

Tennyson, a poet who actually lived in London during Victorian Age, could have been influenced by this common attitude towards death. After going through the death of his own father and his best friend, Tennyson probably had strong sentiments toward death. Whether good or bad, the sentiment surely is parts of Tennyson's poems, such as The Bugle Song.

For those who want visual explanation of the Victorian treatment of death, here are some Victorian post-mortem photos. (Personally I wouldn't dare to watch them, I almost peed)