Midterm #2 Terms and Concepts

3rd Generation Romantics

Alfred Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning (I think)

Industry

economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories.

Progress

to move a step in a positive direction; to improve; to move a step closer to a goal

Prudery

the behavior or thinking of people who are too easily shocked or offended

Earnestness

sincere and intense conviction

Political Reform

Progressives thought this could create a unified people.

Imperialism

A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

The Higher Criticism

questioned in the guise of scholarship the inspiration, authority, texts, and meaning of the Bible

Darwinism

the theory of the evolution of species by natural selection advanced by Charles Darwin.

High Church Anglicanism

It was the *practice of Anglicanism that tends to follow trends put forth by the Catholic Church, such as its traditions and ceremonies*. Followers of High Church Anglicanism believe that *any doctrine or tradition not specifically forbidden by the Bible is acceptable*. So, they were the loose constructionists of their time. This is the *form of Anglicanism established by the Six Articles.*

Oxford Movement

the movement within the Church of England to reintroduce many Roman Catholic practices

Catholicism

the faith, practice, and church order of the Roman Catholic Church.

Subjectivity

a personal presentation of events and characters, influenced by the author's feelings and opinions

Objectivity

treating facts without influence from personal feelings or prejudices

Sentimentality

excessive tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia

Didacticism

teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.

Public Spheres

Involve those people who seek participation in public debate and are recognized by the relevant decision makers

Private Spheres

a certain sector of societal life in which an individual enjoys a degree of authority, unhampered by interventions from governmental or other institutions.

Domesticity

home or family life

The "Fallen Woman"

a woman who has sinned sexually in the eyes of society and thus loses her virtue

The March of Intellect

a satirical term used in early 19th-century Britain to describe the rapid spread of education, scientific advancement, and social reform that characterized the era.

Mass Literacy

Widespread ability to read and write.

Universal Education

a product of the mass society to achieve technical training for the work force, political awareness, national pride, and civic responsibility

Gospel of Work

Affirmed the dignity of hard work, the virtue of thrift, and the importance of individual initiative.

Utilitarianism

idea that the goal of society should be to bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people

"Useful Knowledge"

Type of knowledge that could improve the condition of humanity; a product of the Enlightenment

The Self-made Man

A nineteenth-century ideal that celebrated men who rose to wealth or social prominence from humble origins through self-discipline, hard work, and temperate habits

Meritocracy

a system in which promotion is based on individual ability or achievement

Great Exhibition

the first world's fair

Crystal Palace

Building erected in London, for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Made of iron and glass, like a gigantic greenhouse, it was a symbol of the industrial age.

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

The Industrial North

life based on work in factories in Northern England

Manchester

City in England; one of the leading industrial areas; example of an Industrial Revolution City; first major rail line linked Manchester to Liverpool in 1830.

Proletariat

working class

Bourgeoisie

the middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people

Railroad Time

Helped unite the union. Each community operated on its own time. 1870, Professor C.F. Dowd proposed that the Earth's surface be divided into 24 time zones, one for each hour of the day.

Paternalism

(n.) the policy or practice of treating or governing people in the manner of a father dealing with his children

Circulating Libraries

Establishments that made possible wider dissemination of knowledge, as books were still expensive.

Serial Fiction

Fiction published in installments, often broken off at a suspenseful spot.

Household Words

Weekly Newspaper by Charles Dickens

Triple-Decker Novels

-this format of producing literature took over most of the Victorian age and was used by a number of authors (George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, etc.)
-it consisted of 3 works issued in a set of 3 published works at the same time, containing about 300 pages
-romantic period/ Victorian era

The Social Problem Novel

these novels spotlight problems in society to encourage reforms

Gothic Fiction

A genre that creates terror and suspense, usually set in an isolated castle, mansion, or monastery populated by mysterious or threatening individuals.

Realist Fiction

a type of fiction that could happen in the real world but didn't actually happen

Bildungsroman

Narrative of a fall. A novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character.

Byronic Hero

a self tormented outcast who is cynical and contemptuous of societal norms and is suffering from some unnamed or mysterious sin

Ballad

A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas

Allegory

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Soliloquy

A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage

Dramatic Monologue

when a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience

Sonnet

a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.

Elegy

a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.

Hero's Journey

the mythic quest in pursuit of some destination or goal whose attainment will lend greater meaning to life

Nadir

the lowest point in the fortunes of a person or organization

Natural Selection

A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.

Polygenesis

the theory that various groups of humans appeared on earth or were created separately

Arnoldian "Culture"

Idea that in order to create a good and educated society its culture must first be educated and value learning.--High Culture

Hellensim

Beauty, sweetness, light, striving for harmony

Hebraism

the attitude that subordinates all other ideals to those of the obedient conduct and ethical purpose; opposed to the Hellenistic conception of life that subordinates everything to the intellect.

Philistinism

inability to appreciate art or culture

Pre-Raphaelites

wished to regain the spirit of simple devotion and adherence to nature. Characterized by pictorial elements, symbolism, sensuousness, attention to minute detail, an interest in the medieval and the supernatural

"The Fleshy School"

The Fleshly School is the name given by Robert Buchanan to a realistic, sensual school of poets, to which Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Algernon Charles Swinburne belonged.

Realism in Art

Realist and materialist themes and attitudes influenced art as painters depicted the lives of ordinary people and drew attention to social problems.

Naturalism in Art

emphasis on nature, secular, big in Northern Renaissance

Sensuality

A preoccupation with the senses or appetites; overindulgence in sensual pleasure; the gratification of sensual pleasures, often to the development of deficiencies in the spiritual, moral, or intellectual realms.

Gothic Revival

Romantic-era architectural movement that employed Gothic forms.

The Nineties (1890-1900)

Transition Period

Fin de Siecle

end of the century

Decadents

late 19th & early 20th C. France, England, America. Writers who believed that art was superior to nature and that the finest beauty was that of dying or decaying things. They attacked the moral and social standards of their times. Members: France- Verlaine, England- Oscar Wilde, America- Edgar Saltus.

The members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were:

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones

Aesthetes

(n)a person who understands and enjoys beauty,

Aestheticism

reverence for beauty; movement that held beautiful form is to be valued more than instructive content

Art for Art's Sake

the painter's first loyalty is to the canvas not the outside world or the patron and certainly not for use.

The Dandy

a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance

Wildean Aphorism

a clever, often paradoxical, and witty statement that reflects the style of the famous Irish playwright and author

Queer Subculture

The subcontext of a queer reading

Victorian Theatre

grows into a popular institution, offering a variety of entertainments with spectacular effects, in the form of melodramas, farces, dramatization of novels, pantomimes and musicals.

Melodrama

A literary form in which events are exaggerated in order to create an extreme emotional response.