EN 206 Victorian Period Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms, concepts, author works, and key historical contexts for the EN 206 Victorian Period unit.

Victorian Period

The historical era corresponding to Queen Victoria's reign over Britain, lasting from 1837 to 1901.

Economic Liberalism

An economic perspective emphasizing private property, exchange, competition, and freedom from excessive government interference in markets.

Political Liberalism

A political tradition concerned with civil liberties, legal equality, representative institutions, and setting limits on arbitrary power.

Laissez-faire

An economic ideal translated literally as "to let people act," referring to limited government intervention in market activity.

Industrialization

The expansion of mechanized factory production, steam power, railways, and industrial trade that transformed nineteenth-century Britain.

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of productive resources and production for profit, commonly using wage labor.

Socialism

A broad family of political approaches seeking social or collective control of production and the reduction of class inequality.

Bourgeoisie

The capitalist owning class in Marxist analysis that possesses productive resources.

Proletariat

The wage-working class in Marxist analysis that depends on selling its labor to survive.

Alienation

The separation of workers from control, purpose, products, social connections, or creative fulfillment in their work.

Division of Labor

The practice of breaking production into specialized tasks, which increases output but can deprive workers of understanding and creative control.

Cash Nexus

Thomas Carlyle's critical term for an economic relationship that reduces the bond between employer and worker strictly to money payment.

Mammonism

The worship of wealth as though money were society's highest moral authority.

Utilitarianism

An ethical philosophy judging actions primarily by their consequences for overall happiness or social welfare.

Patriarchy

Social institutions and customs that give men disproportionate authority over women.

Separate Spheres

An influential nineteenth-century ideal assigning men to public work and politics while assigning women to domestic life.

Coverture

The legal framework that historically subordinated a married woman's independent legal identity and property rights to her husband.

Imperialism

The extension of political, military, or economic power over other peoples or territories.

Colonialism

A form of imperial domination involving direct control of foreign territories and often settlement.

Liberal Imperial Contradiction

The paradox where British claims to domestic liberty and progress coexisted with restrictions on colonized peoples' self-government.

Disinterested Criticism

Matthew Arnold's concept of examining ideas independently without subordinating judgment to political party or immediate practical advantage.

Realism

A literary style characterized by attention to recognizable social conditions, ordinary life, and realistic human experiences.

Dramatic Monologue

A poetic form in which a speaker addresses a specific situation, often revealing aspects of their character beyond their conscious intentions.

Dramatic Irony

A literary situation where readers understand critical implications or facts that the speaker or character misses or conceals.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or clause past the end of a line of verse without terminal punctuation.

Harm Principle

John Stuart Mill's rule that government or social coercion is only justified to prevent harm to others, not to restrict self-regarding actions.

Tyranny of the Majority

The suppression of individual liberty, dissent, or original lifestyle choices by majority political power or social custom.

Word Painting

Descriptive writing that directs a reader's attention to specific visual and sensory features of a scene.

On Liberty

An 1859 text by John Stuart Mill arguing for individual expression, open discussion, and protection against political and social conformity.

The Subjection of Women

An 1869 essay by John Stuart Mill challenging legal and social gender inequality and exposing domestic subordination disguised as natural custom.

Past and Present

An 1843 work by Thomas Carlyle criticizing laissez-faire capitalism and demanding moral leadership over simple wage payment.

How I Became a Socialist

An 1894 essay by William Morris presenting his political growth and advocating for an egalitarian society where beauty and work are integrated.

A Review of Southey's Colloquies

An 1830 essay by Thomas Babington Macaulay defending material progress and modern industry against nostalgic idealization of the past.

The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844

An 1845 book by Friedrich Engels that uses close urban observation of Manchester to demonstrate how industrial capitalism harms workers.

Hard Times

An 1854 novel by Charles Dickens depicting Coketown to critique industrial standardization and a culture of pure calculation.

Parliamentary Papers (Blue Books)

Official nineteenth-century government inquiry reports containing witness testimony and evidence on labor and working conditions.

Ulysses

An 1842 blank verse dramatic monologue by Alfred Tennyson depicting an aging hero expressing restless ambition and desire for action.

My Last Duchess

An 1842 dramatic monologue in rhyming couplets by Robert Browning in which an Italian Duke displays possessive and coercive control over his deceased wife.

Love Among the Ruins

An 1855 poem by Robert Browning contrasting the ruins of an ancient military empire with the higher value of quiet personal love.

The Function of Criticism at the Present Time

An 1864 essay by Matthew Arnold claiming that independent criticism creates a healthy environment of ideas necessary for creative work.

The Nature of the Gothic

An 1853 text from John Ruskin's The Stones of Venice arguing that imperfection in Gothic stone carving shows workers' creative freedom.

On Possessing Beauty

A 2002 essay by contemporary writer Alain de Botton examining John Ruskin's methods of close observation, drawing, and descriptive writing.