The Victorian Age
The Victorian age begins with the realm of Queen Victoria(1837) and lasted quite long over 63 years.. The common perception of the period is the Victorians are:
1. Prudish
2. Hypocritical
3. stuffy
4. Narrow-minded
Particularly Middle class was increasing that time both in number and power. Another important aspect of this period is the large-scale expansion of British imperial power. The British empire had existed for centuries, and during 19th century it extensively expanded its colonial presence in many parts of Africa, in India, in the middle east and in other parts of Asia.
Characteristics of Victorian Literature
1. Social advancement-
The drive for social advancement is frequently appears in Literature.
i) This drive is primarily financial, for eg. Charles Dickens's Great expectations.
ii) Marrying above one's status, for eg. Charlote Bronte's Jane eyre
iii)Intellectual and Education based
2. Highly idealized notion
The period saw the rise of highly idealized notion of what is "English" or what constitutes an "Englishman." Many colonists and politicians saw it as their political duty to "help" or "civilize" native populations in colonized region.
3. Seeds of Rebellion
In later Victorian Era many people started rebelling against the highly idealized notion and stereotypical codes of conduct. For eg. Oscar wilde's plays
4- The rise of Aesthetism
Later Victorian Era saw the rise of aesthetism, the" art for art's sake" movement which directly contradicted the social and political goals of much earlier Victorian Literature.
Characteristics of Victorian poetry
1. Sensory Elements
2. Sentimentality
3. Theme of Religion and Science conflict
4. Interest in medieval fables and legends
Two groups of Poetry- The high Victorian poetry and The pre-raphaelite poetry.
1.Sensory elements
The most important feature of Victorian poetry was the use of sensory elements. Most of the Victorian poets use imagery and the senses to convey the scenes of struggle between religion and science and ideas about Nature and Romance.
Example- Lord Alfred Tennyson's poetry
The most prominent of the Victorian poets, held the title of Poet Laureate for over forty years. His poem marked a wide range of topics from romance, to nature, to criticism of political and religious institutions.
His charge of the Light Brigade was a fierce criticism of a famous military blunder.
The poems of In Memoriam dealt with Tennyson's exploration of his feelings of love, loss and desire.
i) Mariana- In which Tennyson he creates the image of an active, yet lonely farmhouse by using phrase like, creaking door, the blue fly singing in the window, and the mouse with the moldy wood panelling.
"The doors upon their hinges creaked,
The blue fly sung in the pane,
the mouse;
behind the moldering wainscot shrieked"
2. Sentimentality
Sentimentality is the another characteristic of Victorian poetry. Poets like Emily bronte, Lord Alfred Tennyson(Tears Idle Tears) prominently used sentimentality in their poems. The husband and wife Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret- Browning conducted their love affair through verse and produced many tender and passionate poems.
Robert browning- i) Meeting at night and parting at morning
ii) Two in a campagna
iii) Break Break Break
iv) My last Duchess
Elizabeth Barret Browning- i) How do I love thee
ii) The cry of the children
iii) Sebastian, or,Virtue rewarded
iv) Aurora leigh( Virginia woolf called it "a masterpiece in embryo)
3. Theme of religion and science conflict
There was conflict between science and religion, scientist and moralists. The oxford movement represents the revival of old Roman Catholic religion and the authority of church. Darwin's "Origin of Species" became the revolutionary work for the age. It became period of scientific thinking and intellectual ferment.
4. Interest in fables and legends
The Victorians loved the Heroic, Chivalrous stories of knights of old and they hoped to regain some of that noble, courtly behavior and impress it upon the people both at home and in the wider empire.
Example- Alfred Tennyson's Idylls of the king, it blended the story of King Arthur.
Pre- Raphaelite brotherhood
Originally it was movement for the regeneration of paintings on the models of the early Italian painters, against Raphael's loftiness of conception. It favors early Italian painters's stle of painting with simplicity, originality and natural grace. This movement breaks the stereotype tradition in painting set by Raphael.
The seven member brotherhood
i) William Holman Hunt
ii) John Everett Millais
iii) Dante Gabriel Rossetti
iv) William Michael Rossetti
v) James Collinson
vi) Frederic George Stephens
vii) Thomas Woolner
All these members prote their ideas in the periodical named "The Germ"
Afterwards this movement came to Poetry
In poetry it deals with the theme of Art for art's sake. It is against the conventionality of poetry and turns to the medievalism. The Pre-raphelite poets influenced by the romantic revival and their poems, highly riched in melody. Pictorial quality in poetry also developed in Pre-Raphaelite poetry.
Examples-
i) D.G Rossetti- The blessed damozel, Sister Helen, A last confession
ii) William Morris- Earthly Paradise
iii) Swinburne- The Garden of Prosperine
The Victorian age begins with the realm of Queen Victoria(1837) and lasted quite long over 63 years.. The common perception of the period is the Victorians are:
1. Prudish
2. Hypocritical
3. stuffy
4. Narrow-minded
Particularly Middle class was increasing that time both in number and power. Another important aspect of this period is the large-scale expansion of British imperial power. The British empire had existed for centuries, and during 19th century it extensively expanded its colonial presence in many parts of Africa, in India, in the middle east and in other parts of Asia.
Characteristics of Victorian Literature
1. Social advancement-
The drive for social advancement is frequently appears in Literature.
i) This drive is primarily financial, for eg. Charles Dickens's Great expectations.
ii) Marrying above one's status, for eg. Charlote Bronte's Jane eyre
iii)Intellectual and Education based
2. Highly idealized notion
The period saw the rise of highly idealized notion of what is "English" or what constitutes an "Englishman." Many colonists and politicians saw it as their political duty to "help" or "civilize" native populations in colonized region.
3. Seeds of Rebellion
In later Victorian Era many people started rebelling against the highly idealized notion and stereotypical codes of conduct. For eg. Oscar wilde's plays
4- The rise of Aesthetism
Later Victorian Era saw the rise of aesthetism, the" art for art's sake" movement which directly contradicted the social and political goals of much earlier Victorian Literature.
Characteristics of Victorian poetry
1. Sensory Elements
2. Sentimentality
3. Theme of Religion and Science conflict
4. Interest in medieval fables and legends
Two groups of Poetry- The high Victorian poetry and The pre-raphaelite poetry.
1.Sensory elements
The most important feature of Victorian poetry was the use of sensory elements. Most of the Victorian poets use imagery and the senses to convey the scenes of struggle between religion and science and ideas about Nature and Romance.
Example- Lord Alfred Tennyson's poetry
The most prominent of the Victorian poets, held the title of Poet Laureate for over forty years. His poem marked a wide range of topics from romance, to nature, to criticism of political and religious institutions.
His charge of the Light Brigade was a fierce criticism of a famous military blunder.
The poems of In Memoriam dealt with Tennyson's exploration of his feelings of love, loss and desire.
i) Mariana- In which Tennyson he creates the image of an active, yet lonely farmhouse by using phrase like, creaking door, the blue fly singing in the window, and the mouse with the moldy wood panelling.
"The doors upon their hinges creaked,
The blue fly sung in the pane,
the mouse;
behind the moldering wainscot shrieked"
2. Sentimentality
Sentimentality is the another characteristic of Victorian poetry. Poets like Emily bronte, Lord Alfred Tennyson(Tears Idle Tears) prominently used sentimentality in their poems. The husband and wife Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret- Browning conducted their love affair through verse and produced many tender and passionate poems.
Robert browning- i) Meeting at night and parting at morning
ii) Two in a campagna
iii) Break Break Break
iv) My last Duchess
Elizabeth Barret Browning- i) How do I love thee
ii) The cry of the children
iii) Sebastian, or,Virtue rewarded
iv) Aurora leigh( Virginia woolf called it "a masterpiece in embryo)
3. Theme of religion and science conflict
There was conflict between science and religion, scientist and moralists. The oxford movement represents the revival of old Roman Catholic religion and the authority of church. Darwin's "Origin of Species" became the revolutionary work for the age. It became period of scientific thinking and intellectual ferment.
4. Interest in fables and legends
The Victorians loved the Heroic, Chivalrous stories of knights of old and they hoped to regain some of that noble, courtly behavior and impress it upon the people both at home and in the wider empire.
Example- Alfred Tennyson's Idylls of the king, it blended the story of King Arthur.
Pre- Raphaelite brotherhood
Originally it was movement for the regeneration of paintings on the models of the early Italian painters, against Raphael's loftiness of conception. It favors early Italian painters's stle of painting with simplicity, originality and natural grace. This movement breaks the stereotype tradition in painting set by Raphael.
The seven member brotherhood
i) William Holman Hunt
ii) John Everett Millais
iii) Dante Gabriel Rossetti
iv) William Michael Rossetti
v) James Collinson
vi) Frederic George Stephens
vii) Thomas Woolner
All these members prote their ideas in the periodical named "The Germ"
Afterwards this movement came to Poetry
In poetry it deals with the theme of Art for art's sake. It is against the conventionality of poetry and turns to the medievalism. The Pre-raphelite poets influenced by the romantic revival and their poems, highly riched in melody. Pictorial quality in poetry also developed in Pre-Raphaelite poetry.
Examples-
i) D.G Rossetti- The blessed damozel, Sister Helen, A last confession
ii) William Morris- Earthly Paradise
iii) Swinburne- The Garden of Prosperine
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