1830-1901

The Victorian AgeThe Norton Anthology of

English Literature, Norton E

The Young Victoria http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1040843545/

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3175810329/

file:///C:/Documents and Settings/Cheryl/My Documents/My Pictures/Queen Victoria_IMDB.ht

Queen Victoria

Responsible for bringing England to its highest point

John Stuart Mill stated “we are living in an age of transition”

Became the center of Influence in the world England transformed into an Industrial Center

with, resources of steam power, railways, iron ships, looms, and printing presses

In literature, the Victorian period was a “richly complex example of a society struggling with the issues and problems we identify with modernism”

Queen Victoria 1837 – 1901

Time of economic distressReform Bill 1832 – right to vote for all males

owning property worth 10 poundsIncluded low middle classes but not working classReform Bill – beginning of new age, economic gain1837 – fall from prosperity, series of bad harvest,

unemploymentCorn Laws –refers to wheat and other grains—law

regulated tariffs on imported products1846 Corn Laws repealed, system of free trade

initiated

The Early Period 1830-48A Time of Troubles

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“The Cry of the Children “ (1843)

• Addresses the horrifying conditions of child labor.

• Children five to twelve years old working in the coal mines.

• Owners of mine and factories working under the “economic theory of laissez-faire, which assumed that unregulated working conditions would ultimately benefit everyone.

George Sand, French Novelist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sand

Aurore Lucile Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant (1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pseudonym George Sand considered a feminist

authored literary and political criticism.

Her novels: Valentine Indiana 1838 Lelia 1833 Mauprat 1837 Consuelo 1843-44

Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert encouraged free trade

Factory Act insured child labor was regulated limiting hours and enforcing improved working conditions

Prince Albert opened the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, giant glass greenhouse with exhibits of modern industry and science

Church Divided into 3 major divisions: Evangelicals, Low Church and High Church

Darwin, The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man

The Mid victorian Age (1848 – 70)

1887-1897 considered the Jubilee years – time of serenity and security

London – center of civilizationProliferation in commodities, inventions,

products that were changing into a more modern society

1867, new Reform Bill extending the right to vote to working classes

Development of trade unions

The Late Period (1870-1901)Decay of Victorian Values

Reform bills gave men right to vote, but not women

Educational and employment opportunities still limited

Woman’s Question debates on women’s roles ignited

Custody Act of 1839The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act of

18571848 – establishment of first women’s college

in LondonLower classes of women worked in factories

Role of Women

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1109-1112)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred,_Lord_Tennyson

Tennyson’s homeFarringford, in the village of Freshwater, the Isle of Wright

Alfred Lord Tennyson with his wife Emily and sons: Arthur Hallam and Lionel

Poetry invoked visual impression with emotions

Creating a pictureBeautiful cadencesAlliterationVowel sound“Tone becomes the sign of the feeling” (997)

Alfred Lord Tennyson"Tears Idle Tears" (1135-1136)

Wrote series of books for improving women’s duties

Sarah Stickney EllisThe Women of England: Their Social Duties

and Domestic Habits

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/womenLit/literary_market/Stickney_Ellis_L.htm

George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans)from "Silly Novels by Lady Novelist"

• Criticized trivial and ridiculous plots written by some women

• Praised the realism of some

novels• Emphasis placed on

realistic story telling.

• Her Novels:Silas Marner (1861)Adam Bede (1859)The Mill on the Floss (1860)Daniel Deronda (1876)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eliot

Charlotte Bronte – Jane EyreEmily Bronte – Wuthering HeightsAnne Bronte –

Pseudonyms Acton, Currer & Ellis Bell

Charlotte, Emily, Anne Bronte