Victorian period
1837-1901; named after Queen Victoria
The Golden Age: key events
first urban industrial society, British Empire (India, Canada, Austraia), rising middle class & socio-political reforms, develoment of new media & new reading public
The Age of Doubt: key events
crisis of faith, social & environmental problems (child labour, famine), pollution, Britain losing its victorian glory
Victorian prudery & hypocrisy
sexuality & profanity unaccepted => censorship & intolerance
Victorian major authors
Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickiens, Alfred Lord Tennyson
Victorian literature: features
fiction = dominant form; attention to details, large social world, focus on protagonist who seeks his place in a society
Charles Dickiens: biography
1812-1870; prolific writer
Charles Dickiens: works
Pickwick Papers (1836), Oliver Twist (1837), A Christmas Carol (1843), Great Expectations (1860-61), Dombey and Son (1846), Hard Times (1854)
Victorian Poetry
most respected genre, rise of dramatic monologue, narrative verse
Dramatic monologue
monologue addressed to reader in which speaker reveals his/her views and feelings
Narrative verse
storytelling in verse
Alfred Lord Tennyson: biography
1809-1892; spokesman of that age
What poem was written in response to newspaper article on Battle of Balaclava (1854)?
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854) by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Battle of Balaclava
25 Oct 1854; key battle in Crimean War, British army vs Russia
Victorian drama: intrio
frivolous plays; only in late Victorian era
Victorian drama: works
Pygmalion (1916) by George Bernard Shaw; Gilbert and Sullivan
Alfred Lord Tennyson: works
Lady of Shalott (1833;1842), Idylls of the King (1888)
William Makepeace Thackeray
1811-1863; Vanity Fair (1847-1848)
Brontë sisters
Anne, Charlotte, Emily; Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte
George Eliot
(Mary Ann Evans) 1819-1880; Middlemarch (1871-72)
Aestheticism
1880s-1890s; art for art’s sake, art has no moral content; The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
fantasy writing (author and work)
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898); Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
Novels of Escapism (author and work)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894); Treasure Island (1883)
Novels of Sensation (author and work)
Wilkie Collins (1824-1889); The Woman in White (1860)