Victorian Age and Modernism Literature & History Flashcards

Vocabulary practice cards covering the socio-political history and major literary figures of the Victorian and Modernist eras.

Victorian Age (1837-1901)

Period beginning when Victoria ascended the throne at age 18 following the death of William IV, characterized by progress in science, industry, and the expansion of the British Empire.

Lord Melbourne

The Prime Minister who supported young Queen Victoria and helped her restore the reputation of the monarchy.

George Stephenson’s railway

A key technological advance of the Industrial Revolution, which later included the Metropolitan underground and the telegraph.

Corn laws

Laws passed in 1804 and 1846 that led to high bread prices and were opposed by the Anti-Corn Law League.

Chartist movement

Political group that in 1839 presented the "people’s charter" to parliament, demanding universal male suffrage and reform.

Whigs

The political party that evolved into the Liberal Party, represented by Gladstone.

Tories

The political party that became the Conservative party, represented by Disraeli, who had Victoria crowned “Empress of India.”

Social Darwinism

The belief that human life in society was a struggle for existence and that inequality and poverty were natural.

Battle of Balaklava

A conflict during 1854-56 where Britain and France fought to halt the Russian Empire's advance toward the Dardanelles.

Dominion

A status of self-government obtained by colonies such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Fabian Society

An organization that advocated for gradual reform rather than revolution and helped in the formation of the Labour Party.

Law of “entailment”

A legal restriction mentioned in Pride and Prejudice where only males could inherit property, leaving women without financial independence.

Bertha Mason

A character in Jane Eyre representing the gothic atmosphere and the “other self,” living as a prisoner in Rochester's attic.

Poor Law of 1834

Legislation that viewed poverty as a sin and dictated that poor people could only receive assistance if they worked in workhouses.

Coketown

The industrial setting of Dickens' Hard Times where pupils were forced into conformity and harsh discipline.

Utilitarianism

A materialistic philosophy that encouraged reform and education but often excluded imagination and individual development.

Aestheticism

A 19th-century art movement claiming art exists for beauty's sake alone and does not serve a moral purpose.

“White man’s burden”

The colonial-era belief that it was the moral responsibility of the Western world to civilize “inferior” people.

Free verse

A poetic style used by Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass that utilizes slang, dialects, and enumeration instead of traditional meter.

WSPU

The Women’s Social and Political Union, known as suffragettes, formed in 1903 to demand the right to vote through militant means.

Triple Entente

The alliance formed by Britain, France, and Russia during the lead-up to the First World War.

Sinn Fein

The group of rebels led by Eamon de Valera who staged the Easter Rising in 1916 to proclaim the Irish Republic.

New Deal

A policy enacted by Roosevelt that placed regulations on the stock market and banks while creating employment in public works.

Balfour Declaration

A 1931 document that formalized the idea of the Commonwealth and recognized the independence of many states.

Modernism

A 20th-century literary and art movement characterized by fragmentation, shifting points of view, and a rejection of traditional grammar.

“The old Lie”

The phrase used by Wilfred Owen to denounce the Horace-derived belief that dying for one’s country is sweet and fitting.

Heart of Darkness

A Joseph Conrad novel centered on the cruelty of colonizers in the Belgian Congo and the search for a man named Kurtz.

Direct interior monologue

A narrative technique representing a character's uncontrolled, unfiltered thoughts in the first person.

Epiphany

A James Joyce term for a sudden moment of self-realization where a banal situation reveals a character's condition of paralysis.

Paralysis

A theme in Joyce’s Dubliners representing the spiritual and physical stagnation of Irish citizens who are unable to act on their desires.