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Queen Victoria’s reign signified the longest single rule of one monarch throughout the history of England. “British history is two thousand years old,” Twain observed, “and yet in a good many ways the world has moved father ahead since the Queen was born then it moved in all the rest of the two thousand put together.” Victoria—earnest, morally inclined, fond of domestic proprietorship—mirrored the concepts associated with the time period itself. Under her eloquent leadership, The Victorian Era, following the span of her reign from 1837-1901, was born. The era as whole experienced drastic cultural shifts; sporting a chameleon of identities. The Early Victorians signified despair, hopelessness, and a smatter of tired souls, but was followed by “calm and prosperity”—the Mid-Victorians. Stemming the river of Victoria’s reign were the years of hollow beauty, aptly entitled the “Age of Aesthetics.” These three stages of development congregated under the shadow of the woman who served monarch, and motherly-figure to their duration and, collectively, The Victorian Era. Referred to as “A Time of Troubles,” the Early Victorians began with a foreboding precursor: industrialization. The grand opening of a railway between Liverpool and Manchester catalyzed England’s transformation from a landscape of widely dispersed towns, to that of a bustling enterprise, newly awakened by the scent of pungent manufacturing. This ‘scent’ was accompanied by the ever-present murmur of an unhappy, discontented working class. But labor discontent was not the only blight England suffered. The Irish Potato Famine, the worst famine in Europe during the 19th century, killed off half of the Irish population, primarily the rural poor. “Time of Troub... ... middle of paper ... ...s Cited Alfred Lord Tennyson. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1981. Print. Blanchard, Mary Warner. Oscar Wilde's America: Counterculture in the Gilded Age. New Haven: Yale UP, 1998. Print. Cowie, Sarah E. The Plurality of Power: An Archaeology of Industrial Capitalism. New York: Springer, 2011. Print. "Irish Potato Famine." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2012. . Hoppen, K. Theodore. The Mid-Victorian Generation: 1846-1886. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998. Print. Koebner, Richard, and Helmut Dan Schmidt. Imperialism; the Story and Significance of a Political Word, 1840-1960,. Cambridge [Eng.: University, 1964. Print. Le, Vot André. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983. Print.
“It must be understood that we cannot feed the people” (Kinealy Calamity 75). The mid 1800s in Ireland were characterized by extreme poverty, death, and emigration. The Great Potato Famine, also known as “The Great Hunger,” first hit in 1845; however, its effects lasted into the 1850s and can still be seen today. Prior to the famine, Irish manufacture and trade was controlled and suppressed by British government, which made Ireland an extremely poor country. Farmers in Ireland were forced to export crops such as corn, wheat, and oats to Britain, which left the potato as the main dietary staple for the people, especially the poor. Therefore, when the fungus Phytophthora infestans caused some, and eventually all, of the crop to rot over the next couple of years, the reliance on the one crop made the people of Ireland extremely susceptible to the famine. The effects were devastating, and poverty spread across the nation causing a huge increase in homelessness, the death-rate, emigration, and a change in the Irish people and country overall.
There are several circumstances to take into consideration when looking at the causes of the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. Due to the great dependence the Irish people had on the potato, it is clear how blight could devastate a country and its people. To understand the Irish people's dependence on the potato for diet, income, and a way out of poverty, it is necessary to look at several key factors that were evident before the famine. Factors such farming as the only way of life, rise in population, and limited crops explain why the people of Ireland relied on the potato. But not only do these reasons clarify why the famine hit the Irish people so hard, other important factors play into effect as well. By looking at the weak relationship between England and Ireland through parliamentary acts and trade laws, it is more evident what the causes of the Great Famine are and why it was so detrimental.
Buzard, James, Linda K. Hughes. "The Victorian Nation and its Others" and "1870." A Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture. Ed. Herbert F. Tucker. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. 35-50, 438-455.
...sh potato famine lasted for several years, resulting a reduction of land holdings for small farmers and nearly a million Irish dead. Those farmers who survived the Phytophthora Infestins were able to buy land back from the land lords under the Encumbered Act of 1849 (Johnston). A non-violent peasant revolution occurred as the number of farms over 15 acres increased from 19 percent from 1841 to 51 percent in 1851 (Johnston).
During the mid 1840’s, blight in the potato crops in Ireland caused widespread starvation and migration of Irish citizens to the United States. Yet, the massive loss of life and massive exodus could have been avoided if British taxation upon the working class of Ireland was nullified. Though the struggle for liberation was already taking place, the potato famine furthered the cause and helped spread awareness. Furthermore, the potato famine made the average Irish family more reliant upon the government for subsidies and supports to get by.
Kelley, Tom. “The Great Famine and its Legacy of Poverty, Emigration, and Death.” TheEncyclopedia of Ireland. Ed. Ciaran Brady. New York: Oxford Press, 2000.
Robson, Catherine, and Carol T. Christ. "The Victorian Age." The Norton Anthology English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. Vol. E. New York: Norton &, 2012. 1130-137. Print.
O'Brien, Patrick, and Roland Quinault, eds. The Industrial Revolution and British Society. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993. Print.
The Victorian era is considered an era of rapid change and development in almost every field of science and politics. However, it is also known for being an era of contradictions. The era is known for its growth and prosperity, one of great political change and economic wealth. Major advancements were being made across all of the fields of science, technology, and medicine. As all of these were changing for the better, society and moral codes remained strict and outdated. Women were not allowed to wear revealing cloth...
The Victorian Era is a remarkable time in history with the blooming industries, growing population, and a major turnaround in the fashion world. This era was named after Queen Victoria who ruled United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 1837 until she passed away 64 years later in January 1901.When Victoria received the crown, popular respect was strikingly low. The lack of respect for the position she had just come into did not diminish her confidence. Instead she won the hearts of Britain with her modesty, grace, straightforwardness, and her want to be informed on the political matters at hand even though she had no input. She changed Britain into a flourishing country. She also impacted how women interacted during this era based on her personality.
The term Victorian exemplifies things and proceedings during the presiding of Queen Victoria; Victoria became queen of Great Britain and Ireland in 1837 (World Book 320). Queen Victoria’s control ended in 1901when she passed away (Holt 874). “The Victorian age was not one, not single, simple, or unified, only in part because Victoria's reign lasted so long that it comprised several periods” (Landow web). The Victorian age was a time of change because of the many advancements in science and technology (Cruttenden 4). Many of the cultural effects presented in the literature of the Victorian Era are philosophical, political, religious, and social. “The Victorians had unbounded confidence in progress—but this confidence led to uncomfortable questions” (Holt 878). The Victorians became skeptical about their spiritual and conventional principles (World Book 320-321). The culture of the Victorian Period has be...
Hibbert, Christopher. The Horizon Book of Daily Life in Victorian England. New York: American HEritage, 1975. Print.
The Victorian Era in English history was a period of rapid change. One would be hard-pressed to find an aspect of English life in the 19th century that wasn’t subject to some turmoil. Industrialization was transforming the citizens into a working class population and as a result, it was creating new urban societies centered on the factories. Great Britain enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity at home and thus was extending its global reach in an era of New Imperialism. Even in the home, the long held beliefs were coming into conflict.
... the era brought with it a change to the people of England and the globe. Thanks to England’s ideas of their responsibly and rights to the rest of the world, civilization as we know it would never be the same. Just like this change impacted England, the effects of Queen Victoria’s ruled shaped the world as it is now. One cannot imagine much less chart how different things would be if it were not for Queen Victoria’s influence on global economy, philosophy, biology, geology, psychology, religious beliefs, etc. Thanks to her and her support of reform from the Industrial Revolution, even the most simple of things that people take for granted today would not exist like being able to call it a day after eight hours of work, overtime pay, healthy and safe working conditions, and rights to defend themselves against unfair practices both in the workplace and out of it.
Oscar Wilde was born in October 16, 1854, in the mid era of the Victorian period—which was when Queen Victoria ruled. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901.While she ruined Britain, the nation rise than never before, and no one thought that she was capable of doing that. “The Victorian era was both good and bad due to the rise and fall of the empires and many pointless wars were fought. During that time, culture and technology improved greatly” (Anne Shepherd, “Overview of the Victorian Era”). During this time period of English, England was facing countless major changes, in the way people lived and thought during this era. Today, Victorian society is mostly known as practicing strict religious or moral behavior, authoritarian, preoccupied with the way they look and being respectable. They were extremely harsh in discipline and order at all times. Determination became a usual Victorian quality, and was part of Victorian lifestyle such as religion, literature and human behavior. However, Victorian has its perks, for example they were biased, contradictory, pretense, they cared a lot of about what economic or social rank a person is, and people were not allowed to express their sexuality. Oscar Wilde was seen as an icon of the Victorian age. In his plays and writings, he uses wit, intelligence and humor. Because of his sexuality he suffered substantially the humiliation and embarrassment of imprisonment. He was married and had an affair with a man, which back then was an act of vulgarity and grossness. But, that was not what Oscar Wilde was only known for; he is remembered for criticizing the social life of the Victorian era, his wit and his amazing skills of writing. Oscar Wilde poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” typifies the Vi...