Between Poise and Power: Embodied Manliness in Eighteenth- And Nineteenth-Century British Culture

Abstract

This paper explores representations of the manly body and the ways in which its relationship with masculine identity and embodied selfhood changed over time and class. It spans a period in which different types of masculinities were dominant, from the later eighteenth-century man of feeling to the later nineteenth-century muscular Christian, and proposes that an embodied approach offers a more nuanced consideration of the ways in which ideals of masculinity were culturally viewed and utilised. First, it provides a chronology of the manner in which the ideal manly body changed over the two centuries, demonstrating that abstract masculine values were always rooted in male bodies. Secondly, it proposes that although most idealised masculine identities were elite, attention to the more corporeal aspects of gender offers evidence that there were features of the manly body, for example hardness, that appealed across social ranks.1 Elite men valorised idealised working-class men's bodies and saw in them something to emulate. Moreover, working-class men used classically inspired figures to represent themselves when formulating class and gender identities.

To make a figure in the world: Identity and material literacy in the 1770s coach consumption of British ambassador, Lord Grantham

“…32 The proper deportment and manners of a gentleman was embodied in elite men's balance of gentlemanly poise and manly power, as Joanne Begiato has shown. 33 Each of these definitions is preoccupied with ideas of performance; to 'make a figure' in the eighteenth-century world was to ascribe to, and perform, a certain set of expectations and characteristics in a heteronormative and patriarchal society. 'Making a figure' was done on specific, prescribed terms, but this is not to suggest that all men wished to live up to the expectation of their position and many did ignore the wishes of families and society in their choices of lifestyle.…”

Capturing homosocial worlds in the photographs of the Rugby Club, 1885–1920

“…Their svelte bodies came not from undernourishment but from physical training and discipline. 86 As Gorn has argued, a boxer's physique was 'a palpable expression of such masculine values as strength, power and stamina'. 87 These were values shared by the classes and thus these photographs do more than present working-class bodies; they demonstrate Donald's belief that he shared the same 'sporting gaze' as those men who were away from him.…”