The Victorian Period (1833-1901) brought about the expansion of Britain’s booming economy. In Britain, around the beginning of the Victorian Period, the consequence of industrialism brought much unrest across the land. The factories were notorious for their horrible working conditions, and the common workers’ housing was atrocious. Victorians were struggling with religious, philosophical, and social ramifications (854-856). The complex background to what was happening in Britain at the time led
The significance of nature is apparent in Victorian poetry. There are Victorian poets who view the connection to nature of human beings. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Coventry Patmore, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti exemplify nature as being exuberant, indifferent, and sorrowful in a variation of their poetry. In Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Splendor Falls,” nature is vividly depicted as being alive. Tennyson uses many active verbs to illustrate his view of nature clearly. In the first four lines of stanza
The Victorian era was one teetering on the edge of a revolution. It was an age of scientific, economic and industrial revolution, but most notably, it was an age of a mass existential crisis. The publishing of Darwin’s “Origin of Species” caused a seismic shift in the lives of the Victorians by contradicting both the scientific knowledge and religious views of society at that time. Not only did it go against every creation story told in the bible, it also gave scientists proof that the earth was
remarkably duplicitous and could easily be construed to represent a number of commentaries, including a criticism of the commoditization of women in the Victorian marriage market, a critique on the rise of marketing campaigns in pre-capitalist England, or even a commentary about the exclusion of female artists from the world of art in Victorian times. All such narratives require a reading of the poem which would entail a much greater attention to detail than a child would be expected to be able to
The Themes of Love in Romantic and Victorian Poetry Within this essay I shall be comparing the themes of love used in ‘Red, Red Rose’ by Robert Burns, ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti, ‘So We’ll Go No More A-Roving’ by Lord Bryon, ‘Sonnet XVIII’ by William Shakespeare and ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese XLIII’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. To do this I will analyse the different themes of love portrayed by each poet, how the love is declared and explore the ways in which language is used and
Thomas Hardy was born in Stinsford, United Kingdom in 1840. He was born in a country where poetry dominated literature and where arguably some of the great poets lived including William Shakespeare. Most of his poetry got published in the later part of his life. He also wrote many famous novels to support himself financially. Some of his poetry was inspired by his first wife Emma, to whom he paid little attention to while she was alive. His works include regretful elegies inspired by his late wife
Pre 1914 Love Poetry from the Victorian and Elizabethan Era Conventional females were considered to be second class citizens who were expected to refrain in conveying their natural feelings and emotions. Women were also socially neglected, as they were expected to remain at home whilst their respective husbands ensured the upkeep of the family by managing the family finances. The male population at this point in time ignorantly viewed women as coy, innocent characters, seemingly unaware
The Victorian Era began in 1837, when Victoria became Queen, and this era ended around her death on January 22, 1901. This was a great era, because it brought peace and prosperity to Britain. The Victorian Era brought a rapid change and developments in nearly all aspects. This era brought many new writers and many different styles of writing. This era brought great writers like William Blake, Lord Byron, and John Keats. Victorian Era poetry was a mix between the Romantic period and Modernist poetry
One of the modes of poetry theme and content was that of psychological exploration of self, as characterized by the poem "The Buried Life" by Matthew Arnold. Class structure and gender roles were vividly looked at in depth, "definitions of masculinity and femininity were earnestly contested throughout the period, with increasing sharp assaults on traditional roles..." (Longman, p. 1888). What it was to be a man (or woman) was frequently in question, and much of Victorian poetry addressed this.
Quests in Victorian and Modern Times The idea of a quest was not only prevalent in the Victorian's stories and poetry, but it is also widely seen in modern novels. In order to discuss the idea of a quest in relation to literature, the definition of the word quest must first be established. A quest is a journey in search of adventure or a hunt. The idea of a quest was used very frequently in the Victorian times. Some of the more famous Victorians that used the idea of a quest in their poetry and
2014 Biography Robert Browning was born on May 7th, 1812 in Camberwell, London, England. He is the son of Robert and Sara Anna Wiedmen Browning. Despite growing up in a middle class family he is considered to be one of the major two poets of the Victorian era. He attended boarding school from the age of eight until he was sixteen. He then enrolled at the University of London in 1828. However he withdrew from the university after a few months because he believed he did not belong there. As a result
Post-Modern Victorian: A. S. Byatt's Possession If I had read A. S. Byatt's novel Possession without having had British Literature, a lot of the novel's meaning, analogies, and literary mystery would have been lost to me. The entire book seems one big reference back to something we've learned or read this May term. The first few lines of chapter one are poetry attributed to Randolph Henry Ash, which Byatt wrote herself. Already in those few lines I hear echoes of class, lines written in flowery
Ulysses as a Victorian Role Model Ulysses is a classical hero who reappears in the literary work of great poets such as Homer and Tennyson. During the Victorian era, Alfred Lord Tennyson was one of the most famous poets in England, he even held Britain’s prestigious position of Poet Laureate. Tennyson began writing during a period in which duty and conformity were traits that distinguished the middle class from the lower class. In a two-volume collection of “Poems,” Tennyson writes “Ulysses” after
The Victorian era for poetry and literature was an important step along the rocks of English development. Among such writers were those famous ones such as Thomas Macaulay, Thomas Carlyle, and Matthew Arnold. They wrote about the world that they lived in and all the changes that were rapidly modifying the earth. Matthew Arnold wrote a poem titled Dover Beach in which he expressed his views and Thomas Carlyle wrote The Condition of England in which he expressed his views in the form of an essay. While
affection and devotion. So how exactly did this tale of love, end in cruel, cold-blooded murder? Good evening and welcome to Poetry Break Down, I’m your host Mary Doe. Tonight, we will delve into the fascinating world of classic Victorian literature. Under the microscope is canonized poet, the late Robert Browning. Browning’s poetry was a reflection of his life and times living in Victorian England. Later on this evening we will analyze just how his times came to play a major role in some of his greatest
confusion about religion and new discoveries in science. Charles Darwin wrote The Origin of Species, which had many theories of evolution which include, the survival of the fittest and natural selection. These scientific developments characterized the Victorian age and confused the foundation of the Christian faith among people. The stories of the bible conflicted with the scientific facts and the people could no longer accept many of the things that the bible once said. There are many sections of the poem
The writers of the twentieth century modernist movement produced unique works of poetry and prose. The modernist writing style was unprecedented and reflected the socio-political events of the period. T.S Eliot was a pre-eminent figure in modernism, publishing many important works of prose and poetry in his lifetime. According to OXFORD BRITLIT, "Eliot forged a style of aggressively fragmentary, urban poetry, full of indelicate, 'unpoetic' images and diction." Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred
greatly admired Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, both existentialist writers. After graduation Fowles taught at a number of institutions, including Anargyrios College (1951-1953) where he met and married his wife, Elizabeth Whitton. Here, he wrote poetry and several novels, though he did not submit any for publication at this time. Fowles continued to teach in London until his writing enabled him to concentrate on a career as a writer. His first published novel in 1963, The Collector, was an immediate
One of the darker and more mysterious periods in history was the Victorian Era. The nineteenth century was a major period in literary history, with stories mostly related to supernatural beings, poetry, and fantastic literature. Along with the differing genres, there were also many different religions. People of England were extremely religious and centered their lifestyle off of their chosen religion. Mostly everyone went to church, despite their social class and standing. The higher up someone
Victorian Dogmatism as a Gift from the Romantic Age and Prior Walter E. Houghton prefaces The Victorian Frame of Mind by noting, "the Victorian mind remains for us blurred and obscure. It appears as a bundle of various and often paradoxical ideas and attitudes" (xiii). Houghton acknowledges the "fragmentary and incoherent" (xiii) characteristics of the Victorian period, in contrast to general assumptions defining the period simply as morally rigid and intellectually dogmatic, for instance