THE VICTORIANSAn Era of Rapid Change

1832-1901

Changes during this time period

Before During Victorian

Horse drawn carriages

Motor cars

Farm Worker

Factories

Aristocrats Every man gets a vote

Victorian Writers

Victorian writers responded to the economic, social, and political changes sweeping England during Victoria’s reign.

Time of Growth and Change

1. The British Empire Expands

2. Britain dominates world politics.

3. Industrial Revolution Begins.

4. Wealth and Prosperity grow, but so does suffering .

British Monarchy

Queen Victoria Crowned when she

was just 18 years old

Ruled for 63 years, 7 months, and 2 days This is the longest

rule in British history She insisted upon

hard work and proper behavior

British Monarchy

Victoria realized that the role of royalty had to change: She “gave advice”

rather than orders, Yielded day-to-day

operations of government to the Prime Minister

She withdrew from politics in 1861 when her husband died.

She spent the rest of her life in mourning.

Progress, Problems, and Reform

The Industrial Revolution had already transformed England by the time Victoria took the throne By 1850, England already had 18,000 cotton mills and produced half of the iron in the world.

Progress, Problems, and Reform

Middle Class Prosperity The Great Exhibition of

1851 Displayed the

technological marvels of the age and impressed the Victorians with the wealth and power of their society.

Along with technology, greater access to money made middle-class life easier.

Children suffered greatly during this time.

Reform and Uncertainty

Though Parliament enacted many important reforms during this time period, change came slowly.

In 1833, Parliament: Abolished slavery in

the British Empire Restricted Child Labor Ushered in Free Trade

A Changing LanguageThe Birth of Standard English

In Victorian times, as education spread and people entering the middle class tried to speak “proper” English, the English language became more consistent.

Increased literacy also stabilized English, since the written language tends to change more slowly than spoken language.

Cultural Influences

Writers clash over Britain's expanding imperialism: Imperialism called

for expansion of the British Empire by taking control of other nations or cultures.

Little Englander position opposed such expansion.

Cultural Influences

At first, many British Citizens supported imperialism.

That support dissolved over time as colonial conflicts revealed the costs of imperialism.

Victorian Literature

Victorian literature shifted gradually from romanticism to realism, with the change led by novelists, who enjoyed a golden age.

Late Victorian’s writing moved into naturalism and escapist fiction.

Victorian Literature

Overall, the Romantic movement had an enormous influence on the early Victorian poets:

Not so much on their style (Victorians were brilliantly original) of writing,

But on their ideas of what poetry should be

Victorian Literature

On the streets, they say factories belching smoke and ragged, hungry children begging pennies.

In their writing, though, they ignored this grim reality, focusing instead on “poetic” subjects: Ancient legends Exotic lands Romantic love Awe-inspiring beauty of

nature

Victorian Literature

Readers seemed to share this dislocation.

On one hand, they revered their poets.

On the other hand, many readers, especially among the middle class, viewed poets as irrelevant to their own lives.

The growing reading public turned to other forms of literature-particularly the novel.

Victorian Literature

Realism in Fiction Fiction was considered

to be light entertainment

Realism captured every life

Realist writers exposed social problems and pretensions

Psychological realism focused on internal realities

Novels were long and often published serially

Victorian Literature

A voice from the Times: “But this I know; the writer

who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master – something that at times strangely wills and works for itself…If the result be attractive, the World will praise you, who little deserve praise; if it be repulsive, the same World will blame you, who almost as little deserves blame.”

Victorian Viewpoints

Periodicals offered nonfiction articles on all manner of subjects.

England's thinkers clashed over issues of the day.

Uncertainty permitted literature of the late Victorian period.

Naturalist writers saw the universe as an uncaring force, indifferent to human suffering.

Readers turned to escapist fare.

The end of the Victorian Era

Uneasiness permeated the literature during the last years of Victoria’s reign.

Poets no longer contemplated life at a romantic distance but instead expressed their sense of loss and pain at living in a world in which order had been replaced with chaos and confusion.

The end of the Victorian Era

The late Victorians began to avoid serious literature. They found serious

literature depressingly bleak.

They turned to children’s books Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland Treasure Island

The end of the Victorian Era

In the end, the pessimistic writers of the time came closest to anticipating what lay just around the corner: the catastrophe of WWI.

In the next century, modernist writers would pick up the torch from their Victorian predecessors and grapple with issues the Victorians could not have imagined.