More handpicked essays just for you.
A note on the Victorian age
The impact of the Victorian era literature
The impact of the Victorian era literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: A note on the Victorian age
In Recessional by Rudyard Kipling and Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold, both authors evoke feelings of doubt about their great homeland England. Being writers of the Victorian Age, they encountered the science discoveries and material prosperity that brought great anxiety to the English people. This age, as Walter E. Houghton states, can be characterized by “widespread doubt about the nature of man, society, and the universe”. By analyzing both poems, one can agree that Walker Houghton is indeed correct in his observation that the Victorian age was indeed marked by doubt, simply by the choice of diction, language, and use of imagery in the poems. Houghton suggests that the Victorian age was, “characterized by doubt about the nature of man, society, and the universe”, and indeed, he is correct. In Kipling’s poem Recessional, a feeling of extreme doubt about society is almost overbearing. Kipling expresses a vile, negative mood almost instantly, when he states, “Beneath whose awful Hand we hold, Dominion over palm and pine” (Kipling, 3-4). He continues this negative mood throughout the ...
As the world progresses, attitudes and values constantly change, like the wind. Flowing through the depths of our inner morality and beliefs. Welcome back to another episode of Poetry Aloud, where I talk about poetry… aloud. Today I will be discussing how Victorian poets are able to illustrate this changeable nature of attitudes and values within their world through highlighting our most prevalent desires that unlock the true beast of humanity, thus exploring humanity’s transforming perspectives as society progresses. Letitia (La tee sha) Elizabeth Landon’s The Marriage Vow highlights
... Works Cited Everett, Nicholas. From The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English. Ed. Ian Hamilton.
The concerns of Victorian England about the status of faith and manhood have left a deep mark in the literature of the period. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dracula are good examples of this concern. In both books there is an emphasis in the corruption of the body and of the soul as maladies that haunt the greatness of England. The aristocracy is pointed as the social strata from where this decadence will spread. These books show a population of youth that lacks the guidance of parents and are apparently deprived of fertility as a consequence of the disorientation that reigns among them. This corruption is shown in conjunction with a lack of religious faith and an excess of sin that will result in the transference of England to the forces of evil.
Basically the Victorian era sucked for women. During the beginning they were expected to be smart, but to not have an opinion. They were to be beautiful, yet act and appear virginal. Women were also
In “Dover Beach”, the speaker describes how beautiful his life was before his ideals were shattered. It is set during the Industrial Revolution, where religion was challenged by the introduction of Darwin’s theory of evolution. The speaker feels powerless against these changes, as shown in the line “Swept with confused alarms o...
The 19th century was a time of massive change socially, politically and scientifically. This time saw the rise of Imperialism and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, seeing massive changes in the way industry was run. Also during this time the literary movements of Romanticism and Victorianism emerged. Romanticism dealt with the issues of reality versus illusion, childhood and man versus nature. The first book I will examine in this essay, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, comes from this literary period and focuses on the man versus nature theme, namely the theme of scientific development and it’s contrast to nature. The second book I will look at in this essay comes from the Victorian period of the 19th century. This period saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution and of huge social and political change. Hard Times by Charles Dickens deals with these issues very closely, focussing mainly on the rise of industry in Britain and its effects on the people of Britain. Both of these novels challenge the social, political and scientific developments of the 19th century, namely the advent of science and technology.
assumptions defining the period simply as morally rigid and intellectually dogmatic, for instance. Much of The Victorian Frame of Mind is devoted to an exploration of the complexities of the age in revealing established generalities as actually being not so clearly defined in terms of what they are assumed to represent. An example of this is the characterization of Victorianism as a reaction to Romanticism, Houghton demonstrates this as an oversimplification as he notes Romanticism's continuing, yet often subtle and paradoxical, influence over the Victorian age.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Arthur Hugh Clough wrote a poem entitle “The Latest Decalogue” in which he criticises the Victorians, specifically the contrast between the impression they gave of themselves, and their true morality. He uses form, language and tone in various ways to express this idea about the Victorian period, and makes his stance on the matter clear.
This novel was written in the Victorian Era, a time when society faces many social difficulties such as industrialization, prostitu...
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair” (Dickens n. pag.). These words by Charles Dickens, one of the most famous writers of the Victorian Period, were intended to show the connections between the French Revolution and the decline of Dickens’s own time, the Victorian Era (“About” n.pag.). Dickens wanted to show how the trends of his time were following a tragic path that had already played out and not ended well in France. According to an article about this historical period, the Victorian Era was “a time of change, a time of great upheaval, but also a time of great literature” (“Victorian” n.pag.). The Victorian Period reflects the great changes in the social, political, and economical shifts of the time.
* Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th Ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1985.
Rundle, Thomas J. Collins & Vivenne J. The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry ad Poetic Theory. Concise. Toronto: Broadview Press Limited, 2005.
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.
Colvile, Derek. Victorian Poetry and the Romantic Religion. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1970. 34-42.
During Queen Victoria's reign in England, ideals and the very thought of going against the “current” was born and passed along, embellishing into our mainstream personal views on practically everything. Throughout her reign of 64 years, till her death in 1901, England saw changes that changed their own way of doing things, their own way of thinking and refining their views to the point where it represented their work and no one could disagree with them. It was during her successful reign in England that incomprehensible things took place that changed history within such fields and specialties as art, literature, music, philosophy, sciences, and modern inventions. It is because of this time period, known as the Victorian Era, we have many of the modern conveniences, ideas, philosophies, and knowledge that we enjoy, and take for granted, on a daily basis. This period bridged the gap from the dark and medieval ages to our present and productive day. Authors, playwrights, and philosophers documented the changes that society underwent during the Victorian era. Oscar Wilde’s The importance of being earnest and even Charles Dicken’s works have included these such changes in society. This would not have come about without the influence of the ideas and works of several people from Britain, living under