Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher and prominent social theorist of the Victorian era. In his work The Philosophy of Style he argues that written language should be as easy to understand as possible, allowing for the most effective and efficient possible communication. His suggestions for sentence structure supported ideas on formalist rhetoric.

This long poem written by Scottish author James Thomson is a notable literary accomplishment on several levels. It offers a no-holds-barred account of the seedy underbelly of London's nightlife in the late nineteenth century that stands in sharp contrast to the more popular vision that was advanced in many other Victorian-era novels and poems. On another level, the poem is an eloquent description of the despair one can fall into after losing one's