UNIT 3 SEMESTER III THE VICTORIAN AGETHE PERIOD

UNIT 3 SEMESTER III “THE VICTORIAN AGE-THE PERIOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA’S REIGN” 1837 TILL HER DEATH 1901 (CONTENT ELECTIVE COURSE) THE VICTORIAN ERA WAS THE GREAT AGE OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL— REALISTIC, THICKLY PLOTTED, CROWDED WITH CHARACTERS, AND LONG. IT WAS THE IDEAL FORM TO DESCRIBE CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND TO ENTERTAIN THE MIDDLE CLASS. THE NOVELS OF CHARLES DICKENS, FULL TO OVERFLOWING WITH DRAMA, HUMOR, AND AN ENDLESS VARIETY OF VIVID CHARACTERS AND PLOT COMPLICATIONS, NONETHELESS SPARE NOTHING IN THEIR PORTRAYAL OF WHAT URBAN LIFE WAS LIKE FOR ALL CLASSES.

GREAT NOVELISTS OF VICTORIAN AGE & THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS: • Emily Brontë's (see Brontë , family) single novel, Wuthering Heights (1847), is a unique masterpiece propelled by a vision of elemental passions but controlled by an uncompromising artistic sense. The fine novels of Emily's sister Charlotte Brontë, especially Jane Eyre (1847) and Villette (1853), are more rooted in convention, but daring in their own ways. The novels of George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) appeared during the 1860 s and 70 s. A woman of great erudition and moral fervor, Eliot was concerned with ethical conflicts and social problems. • Non-fiction: • Among the Victorian masters of nonfiction were the great Whig historian Thomas Macaulay and Thomas Carlyle , the historian, social critic, and prophet whose rhetoric thundered through the age. Influential thinkers included John Stuart Mill , the great liberal scholar and philosopher; Thomas Henry Huxley , a scientist and popularizer of Darwinian theory; and John Henry, Cardinal Newman , who wrote earnestly of religion, philosophy, and education.

GREAT POETS AND POETRY OF THE VICTORIAN AGE: • The preeminent poet of the Victorian age was Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Although his poetry was tempered by personal melancholy; in its mixture of social certitude and religious doubt. • The poetry of Robert Browning and his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning , was immensely popular, though Elizabeth's was more venerated during their lifetimes. Browning is best remembered for his superb dramatic monologues. • Rudyard Kipling , the poet of the empire triumphant, captured the quality of the life of the soldiers of British expansion. • Some fine religious poetry was produced by Francis Thompson , Alice Meynell , Christina Rossetti , and Lionel Johnson.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE+IMPORTANT EVENTS: • It was the time of the world’s first Industrial Revolution, political reform and social change. • Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, a railway boom and the first telephone and telegraph. But the Victorian Era— the 63 -year period from 1837 -1901 that marked the reign of England’s Queen Victoria—also saw a demise of rural life as cities rapidly grew and expanded. • Aug. 1, 1834: The British empire abolishes slavery, and more than 800, 000 slaves in the British Caribbean are freed. The government provides damages to slave owners, but nothing to formerly enslaved people. • June 20, 1837: Queen Victoria takes the crown at the age of 18. The granddaughter of King George III, her father died when she was just 8 months old, and her three uncles also died, putting her first in line as heir to the throne. • July 25, 1837: The first electric telegraph is sent between English inventor William Fothergill Cooke and scientist Charles Wheatstone, who went on to found The Electric Telegraph Company.

VICTORIAN ERA TIMELINE: • Sept. 17, 1838: The first modern railroad line, the London-Birmingham Railway, opens, starting the steam-powered railway boom and revolutionizing travel. • May 1, 1840: The Penny Black, the world’s first postage stamp sold for one penny, is released in Britain, featuring a profile portrait of Queen Victoria. More than 70 millions letters are sent within the next year, a number tripled in two years. It’s soon copied in other countries, and the stamp is used for 40 years. • Feb. 10, 1840: Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, her first cousin. As queen, she was the one to propose. During their 17 years of marriage (until Albert died of typhoid in 1861) the couple had nine children. • Dec. 19, 1843: Charles Dickens, one of the era’s greatest writers, publishes A Christmas Carol. Other works from the author during this period: Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby, among others. • September 1845: Ireland’s potato crop begins to rot, causing the four-year Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, that lead to 1 million deaths and caused 1 million people to emigrate from the country.

REFERENCE SITE FOR ASSISTANCE: • https: //www. history. com/topics/19 th-century/victorian-era-timeline

THE SUCCESS-BROUGHT ABOUT BY VICTORIAN AGE • Queen Victoria ruled Britain for over 60 years. During this long reign, the country acquired unprecedented power and wealth. Britain’s reach extended across the globe because of its empire, political stability, and revolutionary developments in transport and communication. Many of the intellectual and cultural achievements of this period are still with us today. • POLITICAL CHANGE: • England was already in the throes of limited reform: of Parliament, the treatment of Catholics, the way poverty was dealt with, and how the Church was run. To survive, the Tories reinvented themselves as Conservatives under the leadership of Sir Robert Peel. The Liberals gradually emerged from the old aristocratic Whig Party. For both parties, low taxation and minimal state interference were the watchwords.