Thomas Hood’s literary impact is integrated heavily with his humor which can be connected to his views on the education system, in the comics he produced, his ability to use puns in literature, and his fascination with the macabre. In 1811, when Thomas Hood was twelve years old his father passed away, this was the beginning of many deaths in his life. Death was a common occurrence in the Victorian period for Hood, however, it ignited the fires of humor that were present in his childhood and would shape his contributions to Victorian literature and art. In the active choice to use puns in his work, Hood showcased his deep concerns with class divisions, as puns were viewed as more primitive or rudimentary humor Thomas Hood championed the working class by including puns in his work as one could consider them a waste of labor as their worth is not obvious. The upper-class elite read Hood’s work; thus breaking down the linguistic class barriers and illustrating the necessity of the working class through the use of puns. Hood intertwined the dark nature of his humor, or ‘comédie noir’, with his critical views of Victorian culture and society. In doing so, Thomas Hood’s comics evoked morbid imagery that reflected both his individual experiences with death and that of the Victorian period. In one of his many poems, ‘The Song of the Shirt’ which criticized the treatment of female factory laborers, Hood takes the tone of Death and connects it to the impact of the repetitive labor in horrific conditions women faced. Grotesque and macabre imagery is apparent throughout Hood’s artwork and is a tool that he frequently used to overstate his distaste for the state of society at the hands of the British government. 

Other Sources:

• Thomas Hood and nineteenth-century poetry by Sara Lodge
• Thomas Hood by J.C. Ried
• Thomas Hood: His Life and Times by Walter Jerrold
• Thomas Hood by Lloyd N. Jeffery