The Victorian Period1833-1901

By Dr. Carter

Queen VictoriaQueen Victoria

One of England’s powerful,One of England’s powerful,long-reigning queens long-reigning queens who support socialwho support socialmoral standards.moral standards.Married Albert of Married Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had nine childrenhad nine children

Age of Reform

Reform Bills - 1832, 1867, 1884-85Slavery abolished - 1833Repeal of Corn Laws - 1846Other reforms:

public educationwomen’s educationestablished work week

for women & children

Age of Imperialism

Opium Wars (1839-42)

Crimean War (1853-56)

Indian Mutiny (1857-58)

Boer War (1899-1902)

Acquisitions: Afghanistan, Botswana, Burma, Egypt, Gambia, Hong Kong, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe

Age of Controversy

science v. sentimentalismcomplacency v. reformfaith v. skepticismbirth of: evolution

socialism psychology

Age of Literature

Romanticism (cont.)RealismNaturalismPre-Raphaelites

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Poet Laureate in 1850, after Wordsworth’s death

Continues in the Romantic tradition

Made a baron for his literary achievement

Robert Browning

Largely self-educatedMarried to

Elizabeth Barret Browning,who was better known

Reinvented the “dramatic monologue”

Interest in psychology, esp. aberrant

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

father a slaverclassically educatedsuffered from tuberculosisproposed to Tennyson and Browning

(whom she had never met) in published poetry

opium addictvery popular poet & novelist

Charles Dickens

Born in poverty: debtor’s prison and child labor

Journalist & student of human nature

Social criticism and reformMost successful novelist

of his dayLong novels published

in serial format

Matthew Arnold

Social reformer & public servantSuccess as poet in midlifeInterest in the relationship

between the individual and society

Social and cultural criticCriticized the weaknesses of

Victorian “success”

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Upper middle-class Anglican background

Strong religious feelings:became a Jesuit

Verse celebrates religious faith, but also “contradicts” it

Verse form: “sprung” rhythm

A.E. Housman

Personal tragedies in youthPublic servant and scholarLittle known in his dayPoems have dark, emotional

themes