Victorian Literature Introduction

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• WO
• Leerjaar 4

Victorian Era

A typical working day in Oxford Street at the end of the 19th century.

"Amazing Grace" was written in 1772-1773 by John Newton, an English slave ship captain turned Anglican minister, as a personal reflection on his conversion and redemption. Based on his own experience of being "saved" after a violent sea storm in 1748, the hymn was written for a New Year's Day sermon in Olney, England, to illustrate God’s mercy, emphasizing that even a "wretch" could be forgiven.

The Victorian Era

The Victorian Age began in 1837 with the accession to the throne of a young Queen Victoria (1819 - 1901). The Victorian Age is generally considered to extend into the next decade - the beginning of the World War I (1914 - 1918). 

Victorian Era

• The change of rural Britain into industrial society.
• Explosive growth in number of factories - leads to lack of materials - leads to trading - expansion of British rule - British Empire. 
• Factory owners - New Aristocracy.
• Countryside becomes depopulated - big cities rapidly grow - bad working conditions prevail - filthy, dangerous factories, bad housing, life in poverty, 14 hours working days.

VICTORIAN

Victorian refers to the period during which the Queen Victoria ruled.

"The sun never sets on the British Empire" -

refers to the 19th-early 20th-century era when British territories spanned the globe so extensively that it was always daylight somewhere in the Empire.

This phrase primarily applied to the Victorian era, particularly when Britain reached its maximum territorial extent after World War I.

Because the empire included lands in nearly every time zone -Canada, Australia, India, and parts of Africa - daylight was continuous.

The phrase highlighted the vast scale and dominance of British imperialism, powered by the industrial revolution and navy.

The sun never sets on British Empire

Victorian Era: attributes

• Narrow-minded, harsh, child unfriendly, hypocritical;
• bourgeoisie: middle class - sets standards for British society - moralistic attitudes;
• the rapid rise of science - prompts debate on the issue of religion;
• intellectuals - sympathise with new socialistic movement - control and power must be handed to workers;
• 1983 - Labour Party is established

B

Bourgeoisie: the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes.

Victorian Era (1)

• Machines powered by (1) .................. engines and later electricity transformed industries like textile, iron, (2) ...................  mining. 
• The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood movement which focused on detailed and colourful art in the Aesthetic movement celebrated beauty for its own (3) .................... .        
• (4) ..................  became a symbol of progress.
• The telegraphs allowed almost (5) ........................  communication over long distances. 

The Aesthetic Movement (also known as Aestheticism) was a late 19th-century European arts movement that championed the slogan "Art for Art's sake" (l'art pour l'art). Emerging in Britain between 1860 and 1900, it prioritized visual beauty, sensual pleasure, and mood over the moral, social, or didactic lessons typical of the Victorian era.

The movement was a rebellion against the perceived ugliness of the Industrial Age and the rigid, materialistic values of mainstream Victorian society.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) was a group of young British artists, poets, and critics founded in 1848 who aimed to reform Victorian art by returning to the sincerity, intense detail, and vibrant colors of Italian art before the time of Raphael.

Raphael (1483–1520) was a renowned Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated alongside Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci as one of the period's greatest masters. Known for his serene, harmonious compositions, his most famous work is the fresco The School of Athens in the Vatican Palace.

Painting: John William Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott (1888)

Victorian Era (2)

• Anesthesia, (6) ....................  techniques, and Charles Darwin's theory of (7) ................... all came about during this time. 
• Reform acts of 1832 and 1867 gave more people right to (8) ................., which made the government more representative. 
• Queen Victoria became a constitutional monarch which means that she had a (9) ........................  power and parliament had more power. 

A constitutional monarchy is a system of government where a monarch (king, queen, or emperor) serves as the head of state, but their powers are strictly limited and defined by a constitution

Legacy of Victorian Era (3): 

• push for social reforms such as labour rights and women (10) ...................... ;
• ideas about education and (11) ........................... ;
• technological progress laid the groundwork for many of the conveniences like modern transportation networks and global (12) .....................................  systems. 

Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in public elections, a right fought for by organized movements starting in the 19th century. 

Philanthropy is the active effort to promote the goodwill and quality of life for others, often described as "love of humanity". It involves the voluntary contribution of time, talent, or treasure (money/resources) by individuals, foundations, or businesses to support social causes, non-profits, and the common good.

The Great Exhibition in London

The Great Exhibition held in London in 1851 - new revolutionary technologies and inventions are presented. 

The 1851 exhibition was the first ever international exhibition of manufactured products. It inspired a long succession of international fairs in other cities, including Paris, Dublin, New York, Vienna and Chicago – almost one a year for the rest of the 19th century.

The Great Exhibition held in London in 1851.

Victorian Literature - novel

The art of novel writing ultimately makes a breakthrough.

• Charles Dickens - influential in promoting 'novel' genre; portrays social issues. Oliver Twist, Hard Times.
• H. G. Wells - science fiction novel. The War of the Worlds.
• Thomas Hardy  - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
• Robert L. Stevenson - Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre
• Emily Brontë - Wuthering Heights

Victorian Literature - theatre, poetry 

Theatre

• Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Ernest - the most celebrated comedy; short stories, poetry 
• George Bernard Show - an Irish born playwright

Poetry

• Christina Rosetti
• Robert Browning
• Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) is Oscar Wilde's final and most celebrated play, famously subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People". It is a masterpiece of the comedy of manners and high farce, known for its sharp wit, rapid-fire epigrams, and satire of Victorian social conventions. (AI)

Military conflicts

• The Crimean War (1854 - 1856) - between the British and the Russians - ended in the defeat of the British. The British forces were outdated in terms of weaponry and methods of fighting.   

'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Lord Tennyson is the poem that describes the battle that ended in the shocking defeat of the British. 

• The Boer War (1892 - 1902) - the British armed forces in South Africa fought to defeat the rebellious Boers (the children of Dutch colonists). 

Source: Alquin