James Thomson, Matthew Arnold and Arthur Clough seemed to be the main sources of inspiration for new direction of outright pessimism, – seen in the works of Thomas Hardy, A.E. Housman, and Francis Thompson – which a major branch of the new poetry took.
It was not until the new century was well advanced that English poetry again put forward a hopeful spirit and began to come forward with a new strength and beauty which could, in any sense compare with the novelty and strength of Browning, the all-inclusive variety of themes of middle class interest of Tennyson, or with the warmth and melody of Rossetti or Swinburne.
The transition to the new century in English poetry is plainly a period of decadence. The new poets produced variety, but by there is no great figures among them. They represent very well the fin de siècle transition period of disillusionment, spiritual insecurity, and lack of positive attitudes, but there is not a name among them that stands out as a towering being among lesser figures.