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As is quite evident from the title the kind of literature that evolved during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) is famously known as the Victorian Era literature.

The literature of the Victorian Age (1832-1901) entered a new period after the romantic revival. The literature of this era was preceded by romanticism and was followed by modernism or realism. Hence, it can also be called a fusion of romantic and realist style of writing. Though the Victorian Age produced two great poets Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning, the age is also remarkable for the excellence of its prose.

Characteristics of Victorian Novels

Victorian novels tend to be idealised portraits of difficult lives in which hard work, perseverance; love and luck win out in the end. They were usually inclined towards being of improving nature with a central moral lesson at heart. While this formula was the basis for much of - earlier Victorian fiction, the situation became more complex as the century progressed.

Characteristics of Victorian Poetry

Victorian Poetry was also indifferent from the already stated style. Much of the work of the time is seen as a bridge between the Romantic Era and the modernist poetry of the next century. Alfred Lord Tennyson held the poet laureateship for over forty years. The husband and wife poetry team of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning conducted their love affair through verse and produced many tender and passionate poems.

The reclaiming of the past was a major part of Victorian literature and was to be found in both classical literature and also the medieval literature of England. The Victorians loved the heroic, chivalrous stories of knights of old and they hoped to regain some of that noble, courtly behaviour, and impress it upon the people both at home and in the wider empire.

In dramatic, farces, musical burlesques, extravaganzas, and comic operas competed with Shakespeare productions and serious drama by the likes of James Planche and Thomas William Robertson. The discoveries of science seem to reflect considerable and particular effects upon the literature of the age. The Victorians had a mission to descnbe and classify the entire natural world. Much of this writing was not regarded as literature but one book, in particular, Charles Darwin's ‘On the Origin of Species’, remains famous. The theory of evolution contained within the work shook many of the ideas the Victorians had about themselves. Although it took a long time to be widely accepted, completely changed following thoughts and literature.

The old Gothic tales that came out of the late 19th-century are the first examples of the genre of fantastic fiction. These tales often centred on larger-than-life characters such as Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective of the times, Barry Lee, big time gang leader, Sexton Blake, Phileas Fogg, and other fictional characters of the era, such as Dracula, Edward Hyde.

Common Themes in Victorian Literature

If one studies possibly, all the great writers of this period, you will mark three general characteristics. Firstly, literature in the Victorian Age tended to come face to face with realism. This reflected more on practical problems and interests. It becomes a powerful instrument for human progress. Secondly, the Victorian literature seems to deviate from the strict principle of ‘art for art's sake’ and asserts its moral purpose.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Ruskin Bond — all were the teachers of England with the faith in their moral message to instruct the world. Thirdly, this was more like the age of pessimism and confusion. The influence of science was strongly felt here. Alfred, Lord Tennyson's some immature works seem to hold doubtful and despairing stains but his ‘in Memoriam’ comes out as a hope after despair. Although characterised as practical and materialistic, the literature of the Victorian Age portrays a completely ideal life. It was an idealistic age where the great ideals like truth, justice, love, brotherhood were emphasised by poets, essayists, and novelists of the age.

Influence of Victorian Literature

The persistent popular embrace of Victorian literature has had a profound influence on modern literature and media. Writers such as Charles Dickens and the Bronte sisters still sell robustly on most book resellers’ lists and are frequently adapted into films and television productions, both directly and in modernised retellings. In addition, many modern novels such as ‘4 Great and Terrible Beauty’ demonstrate that the intricate cultural mores of the Victorian Era find a home in the modern cultural psyche.

Famous Victorian Novelists and Poets

Significant Victorian novelists and poets include: Matthew Arnold, the Bronte sisters, Christina Rossetti, Joseph Conrad, Robert Browning, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edward BulwerLytton, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, George Eliot, George Meredith, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Gissing, Richard Jefferies, Thomas Hardy, A. E. Housman, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Philip Meadows Taylor, Alfred, Lord Tennyson biography, William Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, George MacDonald, G. M. Hopkins, Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll.

Victorian age in English literature

Green Land | March 02, 2024 | 0 comments

As is quite evident from the title the kind of literature that evolved during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) is famously known as the Victorian Era literature.

Characteristics of Victorian Novels

Characteristics of Victorian Poetry

Common Themes in Victorian Literature

Influence of Victorian Literature

Famous Victorian Novelists and Poets

Victorian Period

19th century novel achieves full respectability with George Eliot. Yet the master of early Victorian novelists was Charles Dickens. The success of his books depend on their quality of comedy and pathos and their attacks on public abuses. Dickens entertains everybody. His novels came out originally not in book form but in parts in an illustrated monthly magazine. They were read aloud in the family. Some of his novels were staged and were adapted to film and musical performance. His successful novels are “Pickwick Paper”, “David Copperfield”, “Bleak House”, “Our Mutual Friend”, “Great Expectations” etc. The “Pickwick Paper” is the story of an office boy who contracts to get a job as a reporter on a London daily newspaper. He travelled England by coach writing news reports to drawings and also sketches. The story is important for its comic and pathetic incidents. He was a dramatic writer.

“David Copperfield” is his most delightful book. It is an autobiographical fairy tale. We share the view points both of child and adult. We see Dickens’s smile and pity. We experience Steerforth’s seductiveness to David.

“Bleak House” is the best integrated book. The plot has two main lines. The chancery case of the estate of Jarndyce and Jarndyce so iong drawn out that caused absorb all the benefits and the discovery that the orphan Esther Summerson is the illegitimate child supposed dead of Lady Deadlock. The saintly Esther is to marry John Jarndyce for whom she keeps house but he releases her to marry a young doctor. Dickens created Jot of characters in this novel. The home of Esther is to set up with her doctor. The narration conveys many symbols, metaphors, fables of good and bad. We find various bleak houses in the novel.

“Our Mutual friend” introduces three subjects in the first three chapters of the novel that is the recovery of a body from the Thames, the Veneering’s dinner party and Sylas with his wooden legs. The themes always do not hold together but Dickens’s parts are better than other writers whole. This novel important for it’s narration of every part. The wit and satire of the novel make it a Victorian novel. Dickens’s “Hard Times” is a satire on the industrial life and the government policies.

“Great Expectations” combines narrative and analysis. It is a story with single focus of consciousness.

“Expectations are thirst on Pip. Pip is a little boy brought up by his harsh sister who was the wife of a simple blacksmith. Pip is given money from a mysterious source. He imagines Miss Havisham to be his benefactor. Pip rises in the world turns his head. In London he embarrassed by his brother in-law Joe. Miss Havisham trained up beautiful Estella to take revenge on men. Estella chooses to marry Pip’s rival who his social superior. The story of “Great Expectations” is not only important for Pip’s great expectation but also Dickens’s style. Dickens’s simile is like Homer’s simile in the “Hiad”.

ln a sense “Great Expectations” is a romantic autobiography. Dickens combines myth making with a world of experience. Charles Dickens is a pre-eminently the novelist of London and lower middle class people. He portrayed the life of London street and middie class people. He was a painter of London life. His novels focus the realistic picture of London life that is the social, political and the life of industrial revolution. Dickens shows man woman to be struggling together for the welfare of society. Dickens appears as a moralist as well as a social reformer. He is interested in the problem rather than the incidents. He doesn’t portray rather comic and humorous character with a touch of pathos.In fact Dickens is not only a representative novelist of Victorian age but also a typical Victorian novelist.

Write a note on Dickens's novel

Green Land | February 19, 2024 | 0 comments

“Great Expectations” combines narrative and analysis. It is a story with single focus of consciousness.

Victorian Period

English literature of the last decade of 19th century is termed as Naughty Nineties. Because it was a revolt against the tendencies of early decades of queen Victoria. The Victorian era achieved much scientific knowledge and developed incomes of industry trades and commerce. But at the end of the era a new revolt arose. The publications of two magazines “Yellow Book” and “The Savoy” gave expression to the revolt-against Victorian ideas. The revolt of the nineties has three aspects. Firstly, they emphasized the old idea of liberty, equality and fraternity.

Secondly, they worship power rather than beauty. Thirdly, they challenged the values of art and life and criticise the idea of Victorian compromise.

The nineties was a period of literary activity. Poetry, novel and drama flourished with new Vigour. Huxley, Oscar Wilde are some of the important writers of nineties. They reacted against Victorianism. They wanted to restore the spirit of romance to novel. They made novel a criticism of social documents. In poetry we also find a similar reaction. Poetry became pessimistic in tone. It was a period of indecision and disillusionment. The drama of the nineties alse marks a new beginning. In fact the nineties was a revolt against Victorian ideals of manner and morality.

Write a short note on ''Naughty Nineties'' of Victorian Literature

Green Land | December 02, 2023 | 0 comments

Secondly, they worship power rather than beauty. Thirdly, they challenged the values of art and life and criticise the idea of Victorian compromise.

Victorian Period

First of all in the Victorian Age the dominating literary form was the novel. It was in fact easier to be read and understood by simple people, its plot was more interesting than any other literary forms, the main protagonists of the novel were the same people who read it so that they felt deeply involved in the adventure told, the writer and his readers shared the same opinions, values, and ideals because they belonged to the same middle class, the setting was mainly that of the same city where readers lived. In conclusion the novel was a kind of mirror which reflected society and where a self-identification of the readers was possible. Of course the middle class readers were the most avid consumers, particularly women: they had the money to buy or to borrow books. they had plenty of free time to dedicate to reading, but they also had enough privacy to read. The problem of privacy was in fact very important: poor or working people lived in narrow houses and more than a single family often shared the same flat or, at worst, the same room. So they didn't have the possibility to read because reading needed silence, tranquility, light.

In order to improve the reading public, in this period they started to publish novels in instalments: every week few pages of the novel (or a complete chapter), were included in one of the periodicals issued. This kind of publication had an important advantage on the price of the novel but also on the writers: they could check the reaction of their public to the plot and, if parts of it were not appreciated, they could decide to change it in accordance with the taste of readers. This happened because, if not satisfied, the readers could stop buying the magazine determining the failure of the novel and of its writer.

The novelists represented society as they saw it but, being aware of the problems created by industrialisation, (exploitation of women and children, terrible living conditions, etc.y they used their novels in order to put in evidence these evils and to stimulate people to find remedies to them. In this sense ‘didacticism' was the dominating aim of most of the novels of these years. As a consequence the narrator is generally omniscient: he operates a marked division between good and evil characters, he judges people and actions, he makes its stories finish with a wise distribution of ‘punishment for the evil characters, ‘retribution’ for the good ones.

The plot of the novels was generally very long and complicated by many sub-plots: the writer also wanted to give a marked impression of reality so that he presented not only the adventures of the main characters, but also those of the secondary ones. .

What are the characteristics of the Victorian Novel?

Green Land | November 11, 2023 | 0 comments

Victorian Period

Victorian poets are also known as later nineteenth century poets. Most of the writing of this period reflects current social, economic, and intellectual problems. The poetry of this period shows the crisis of religion.and philosophy because of the development of science.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Tennyson is one of the most skilled and self-conscious poets of the Victorian Age. He is typical Victorian who adopted the conventional religious and social views and values of his age. His early poems were not much accepted, but gradually he sharpened his skill. Tennyson's later poems are serious, thoughtful, and musical. His poem 'The Idylls of the King' is preferred by many people even today. In ‘Morte a’ 'Arthur'he turned Malory's story into poetry. He. did experiment with different meters. In his long poem ‘In Memoriam’ he ‘laments for the death of his friend Arthur Hallam. Tennyson's shorter poems are generally better than longer ones. Ulysses is his most controlled and perfectly written poem which presents the heroic voice of the aged hero. 'The Princess'is the collection of his fine lyric which shows his best mysterious and musical quality.

Robert Browning

Browning is a major Victorian poet who voiced the mood of optimism in his works. For Browning the intellect was more important than the music. His great knowledge was the result of his self-study and travels. His reputation is higher as the writer of dramatic monologue. One of his successful dramatic poems is ‘Pippa Passes’. We find many such poems in his dramas, but his natural gift was in poetry. Sometimes we notice his poetic style very difficult. It is because of his unusual knowledge of words and his strange sentence structure. Sordello is a good example of his difficult poem. ‘The Ring and the Book’ is a poem based on a book that he found in Florence. Asolando is a collection of many fine poems which was published on the day of Browning death. ‘

Matthew Arnold

Arnold was a great poet and critic of his time. He had been a professor of poetry in Oxford for ten years. His works truly represent his age. A sad undertone runs through nearly all his poetry. His views of modern life, of its complexity, its sick hurry and divided aims are Present in his poetry. Amold was also the headmaster of Rugby School. He wrote a poem entitled ‘Rughy Chapel’. 'Thyrsis’is a poem of lament for his friend, Clough. In his poem ‘The Scholar Gipsy’ the poet talks about an Oxford man who joins a band of gypsies and wanders with them. ‘Memorial Verses’ is his sad poem in which the poet laments for the deaths of many poets at home and abroad. He also wrote a critical sonnet of Shakespeare, whom he praised too much. One of his other poems, ‘Empedocles on Ema’, has been highly praised, perhaps because it is not altogether sad.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Rossetti was a poet as well as a noted painter. His sonnets are among the most musical in English. Many critics have accused him of writing a moral poems belonging to the Fleshy School of poetry. But he argued that poetry ought to be based on the senses. Many of his poetic lines are written in way a painter's eye captures the beauty of the thing. Rosseti wrote about nature with his eye on it, but did not feel it in his bones as Wordsworth does. Rossetti was too fond of alliteration.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Another great poetess of this time was Elizabeth Barrett, who, on her marriage, became Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Some of her poems are ¢ too long, but in a sonnet she could not write too much because the form is limited to fourteen lines. Thus much of her best work is contained in Sonnets from the Portuguese. She pretended at first that these sonnets were translated from the Portuguese; they were really an entirely original expression of her love for Robert Browning.

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Swinburne followed the poetic style of Rossetti, but could not use alliteration so much successfully in his poems as did Rossetti, Critics argue that his poetry does not contain much thought, though it can be sung well. When his work ‘Poems and Ballads' appeared in 1866, he was much blamed for moral reasons. A later book of Poems and Ballads is not so much offensive as the previous one. It shows his interest in French writers and includes the laments for them. ‘Tristram of . Lyonesse' is usually considered to be his best work. It tells the undying story of Tristram and Iseult.

Edward Fitzgerald

One of the greatest poetic translators was Edward Fitzgerald. He translated six of Calderon's plays 'The Agamemnon’ of Aeschylus and ‘The Rubaivat' of the Persian poet Omar Khayyam. Most translations jose something and are not as good as the originals, But this book is considered by some Persian scholars to be better than Omar Khay)yam's work, In this translation of ‘The Rubuiyat’, he entirely omitted the hidden meanings of the original. The other poets of this age are Arthur Clough, and Christina Rossetti.

Fleshly School of Poetry or the Pre-Raphaelites

The Fleshly School Poets or the Pre-Raphaelites were inspired by the Italian painters before Raphael. In 1848, a group of three young painters, who were also poets, founded the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. They followed a medieval outlook, art for the sake of art, sensuous and clear word painting, and a poetry rich in music and melody. Due to their detailed description of scene and situation, and the frank and free dealing of sexual passion, they are also referred to as the 'Fleshly School’.

D. G. Rossetti was the chief among these young poets, as well as painters. He is sometimes criticised as a fleshly poet because his poems contain sensuous pictures of feminine beauty. But he combines the physical beauty with spiritual beauty in ‘The Blessed Demozel’. He also wrote about nature, but instead of feeling like Wordsworth, he studied it. He was also fond of alliteration, as in "flying hair and fluttering hem."

A. C. Swinburne was a follower of D. G. Rossetti, but he misused alliteration. He wrote much political verse, but he had a new rich music in his verse drama ‘Atlanta in Calydon'. Though his music is good, there is a lack of thought in his poetry. He was also criticised for moral . reasons when his Poems and Ballads was published in 1866. His best work is considered to be Tristram of Lyonese.

William Morris was also influenced by Rossetti. His early works ‘The Defense of Guenevere’ and ‘Other Poems' (1858), 'The Life and Death of Jason' (1867), and ‘The Earthly Paradise' (1870) are purely romantic in method and style, with an undertone of sadness.

Write an essay on the major poets of the Victorian Age.

Green Land | August 02, 2023 | 0 comments

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Robert Browning

Matthew Arnold

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Edward Fitzgerald

Fleshly School of Poetry or the Pre-Raphaelites

Victorian Period

Victorian Era marked a significant age in the field of literature. The occupation of the Queen on the throne of England had a liberating effect on the females all over Europe and the Americas. The most prominent female writers of Victorian Era are as below.

Judith Sargent Murray

Judith Sargent Murray was an early American essayist, who's religious, and political writing, as well as personal letters, helps us understand that period of history. She also wrote one of the earliest feminist essays in America.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

She is the famed author of ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin', a book which helped build anti-slavery sentiment in America and abroad. This novel expresses her moral outrage at the institution of slavery and its destructive effects on both whites and blacks. When Stowe met President Lincoln in 1862, he is said to have exclaimed, "So you are little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War!"

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte

Now considered as the pioneers of feminist literature, the sisters are authors of literary classics Jane Eyre’, ‘Wuthering Heights‘ and ‘Agnes Grey’ respectively.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A major poet, but often thought to be a bad one, she catered to popular tastes. While few today recognise her name, some of her lines are still very familiar, such as these: “Laugh and the world laugh with you; Weep, and you weep alone." (From 'Solitude’)

Kate Chopin

‘The Awakening’ was her only second novel and she is remembered for her writing. Although regarded as a classic towards the end of the century, during initial days it was infamously known as a scandal in 1899. Now it is widely used in women's studies courses. The novel describes one woman's awakening and subsequent revolt against socially prescribed roles for women and their sexuality.

Louisa May Alcott

An American novelist, she is best known for the novel ‘Little Women’, set in the Alcott family home, in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868. This novel is loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters. The novel was followed by 3 others, which did not gain the popularity of her first novel.

Jane Austen

She was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the upper middle class, earned her a place as one of the most widely i read writers in English literature. Her realism and biting social commentary are responsible for cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics. She is known for her novels ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Sense and Sensibility' among others.

George Eliot

Mary Ann Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers a of the Victorian Era. Though female authors were published under their Bs own names during Eliot's life, she used a male pen name, to ensure her He works were taken seriously. " She is the author of seven novels, including ‘Adam Bede‘ (1857), ‘Mill on the Floss' (1860), and ‘Daniel Deronda‘ (1876), most of them set in provincial 4 England and well known for their realism and psychological insight

Write a short note on the women novelists of the Victorian Period.

Green Land | July 31, 2023 | 0 comments

Judith Sargent Murray

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte

Now considered as the pioneers of feminist literature, the sisters are authors of literary classics Jane Eyre’, ‘Wuthering Heights‘ and ‘Agnes Grey’ respectively.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Kate Chopin

Louisa May Alcott

Jane Austen

George Eliot

Victorian Period

The Victorian age doesn’t mean precisely the years during which Queen Victoria reign. Victorianism means an attitude to life and society. Too many influences work on the Victorian age. It was an change of internal and external changes. The literature of the society shows the growing social consciousness. The political turmoil, the industrial revolution, the life of working class people, the political, intellectual and philosophical debate were reflected in the works of the authors. Therefore we can say that there has been an attempt on the part of the authors to bring about a compromise between the various forces of the Victorian era.

A compromise was necessary between the rich and the poor. Life was easy for those who had many power and wealth. On the other hand, millions suffer from poverty. The Victorian society witnessed class consciousness that is conflict between rich and poor. Tennyson’s poetry adequately show the various tendencies and the compromises of the Victorian era. There was a compromise between democracy and kingship. It seems that people accepted the democracy. Victorian society witnessed the freedom of women. There was compromise between war and peace, revolution and reconciliation, The most glaring conflict that Victorian age witnessed is the conflict between science and religion. The discovery of scientific theories brought doubt in the mind of the people. They were not sure whether to have faith in science or religion. The Victorian people suffered from faith and doubt. However; of all the Victorian authors Tennyson is called the poet of Victorian compromise because in his poetry we find both the characteristics of the age. He tried to bring about a compromise between Science and religion. His poems present the conflict between science and religion, the material advancement and spiritual crisis of the age. His important poems are Locksley Hall, Ulysses, Tithonus, Oenone, In Memoriam ete. These poems express the idea of compromise between the various issues of Victorian age.

The Victorian time frame was a period of logical inconsistency, frequently alluded to as the Victorian Split the difference: On the one hand, there was the progress made possible by the Industrial Revolution, the rising wealth of the upper and middle classes, and Britain's and its empire's growing power; On the other hand, the working classes were subjected to injustice, disease, poverty, and other forms of deprivation. The Industrial Revolution brought about rapid change: As new factories and industries were established and thousands of people moved to the cities for work, towns, and cities expanded at an incredible rate. The country's progress and status as a global power were demonstrated by its new industries, inventions, and developments. The middle classes had the opportunity to improve themselves and their fortunes while the upper classes continued to prosper. Church, family, and home values were fundamental during Queen Victoria's reign (1837–1901). The father was an authoritarian figure in the family, and the mother played a submissive role. Society's intense concern for female chastity imposed the concept of the "fallen woman" on thousands of women. Generally, sexuality was suppressed, both in its public and private forms. Prudery at its extremes led to the denigration of nudity in art and the elimination of words with a sexual connotation from everyday speech. Respectability and morality were important, and society became almost pure. Buildings and monuments were erected to honor civic pride and identity.

Altruism and noble causes were important, so libraries, washhouses, and swimming showers were likewise worked to permit individuals from the working classes to work on themselves. However, in actuality, this was extremely unlikely. In Victorian towns and cities across the country, the working class mortality rate, disease, and poverty were among the worst in the world. Overcrowded rooms and filthy slums were where people were forced to live. Young children were compelled to work, such as in textile mills, mines, and chimney sweeps, and poverty and debt were considered crimes that could only be dealt with in prison. It is abundantly clear that Victorian morals, beliefs, and values were not reflected in the world around them. Despite this, many reformers struggled to improve and alter working-class and lower-class conditions, particularly in education and health care. Ideas of racial superiority influenced patriotism in the late 19th century. Therefore, the Almighty obligated the British to impart their superior way of life to native people everywhere. This mentality became known as "Jingoism."

The term "Victorian Compromise" came to be used to describe this era because the Victorians, who lived under the strict rule of Queen Victoria, had to give up many important aspects of individuality and ways of speaking. This Victorian trait eventually showed up in Victorian literature, as was to be expected.