Victorian Literature

Marta Fernández

What is Victorian

literature?Victorian literature refers to the literary works

written during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-

1901).

It was the transition between the Romantic

period and 20th century literature.

It can be divided into two periods:

High Victorian literature (1830-1870)

Late Victorian literature (1870-1901)

Common themes

Critique of industralization

Critique of the deterioration of

the rural lifestyle

Celebration of the past

(including chivalry)

Conflicts between classes

Women´s rights

MoralityMost works were written to teach moral lessons to

readers.

Hard work and strong virtue are always romanticized

and rewarded, and poor behaviour is punished at the

end.

Literary works are full of passion and characters are

often tempted by evil, but they show restraint against

wild emotions (as opposed as during the Romantic

Genres

Poetry

Novel

Theater

Nonfiction

Gothic and supernatural literature

Children‘s literature

NovelsNovel was the dominantgenre during the Victorianperiod.

High Victorian novels tendedto be edifying moral storiesthat portraited difficult lives,and where hard work, loveand perseverance werealways rewarded.

Late Victorian novels weremore complex, as theyreflected an inner struggle toconquer the flaws of humannature through effort andvirtue.

Some novelistsCharles Dickens is probablythe most widely read authorfrom this time.

His novels achievedimmense popularity duringhis lifetime and there wereeven spin-offs andmerchandise made of them.

Most novels criticized societyand represented its poorest,but in line with the literatureof the era, there was a verystrong moral element to thetales.

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë are the mostoriginal novelists of this period.

The sisters published their works under the malepseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Ashton Bell, as it wascommon practice for female writers that wanted to betaken more seriously.

Their novels include some unconventional themes forthis era, such as violence, a deep desire for freedom, awilderness of spirit, feminism and even the supernatural.

Their work was considered controversial but theyeventually achieved the success they deserved.

Some of their works:

Charlotte: Jane Eyre

Emily: Wuthering Heights

Anne: The Tennant of Wildfell Hall

William Makepeace

Thackeray began as a

parodist and satirist but later

started to write novels with a

very strong satiric component.

He enjoyed great success

during his lifetime but today

his best known work is Vanity

Fair.

In it, he satirizes British

society of the 19th century,

although it is set during the

Napoleonic Wars.

There have been several film

adaptations of this novel and

it is still one of the best loved

by the British public.

Poetry

The most famous poet of

the Victorian period was

Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

His poetry mostly retelled

classical myths, although it

also covers religious

dilemmas and scientific

discoveries.

Although he experimented

with metric, he mostly

followed a strict pattern, a

reflection of the formality of

the era.

Husband and wife Robert and

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

enjoyed great popularity

because of their love poems

to each other.

Elizabeth Barrett was already

a successful author before

she met her husband, and

was also an involved activist

in social issues.

Her prolific work made her a

rival to Tennyson as a

candidate for poet laureate in

1850 after the death of

Wordsworth.

There was also a group of writers and artists, the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, of which Dante

Gabriel Rossetti and his sister Christina were

part.

Their aim was to replace the academic approach to

art with the more natural approach taken before the

Italian Renaissance.

Several writers joined this movement, echoing a

simpler, less formal approach to literature. The

Rossettis are the greatest poets of this movement.

Theater

Theater became an extremelypopular form of entertainmentfor all social classes during thisera and Queen Victoriapromoted it.

Plays usually had a strongcomedic element, both highand low, and the plots were fullof mistaken identities,coincidences and mistimings.

Oscar Wilde was the leadingdramatist of the late Victorianperiod and his comicmasterpiece The Importanceof Being Earnest is a satiricreflection of the time.

Nonfiction

The Victorian era was a period

of great scientific discovery

and the Victorians tried to

describe and classify the world

they lived in.

Among others, Charles Darwin

with On the Origin of Species,

Friedrich Engels with his

Condition of the Working

Classes in England and John

Stuart Mill with his

philosophical works, changed

the way the Victorians thought

about themselves and about

the world.

Supernatural and gothic

literatureGothic literature combinesromance and horror inattempt to thrill and terrify thereader.

Possible features in a gothicnovel are monsters, ghosts,curses, hidden rooms, madwomen in the attic andwitchcraft.

The plot usually takes placein monasteries, castles andcementeries.

They were hugely popular butpanned by critics.

Children‘s literatureThe Victorian period was the firstone in history where children weretargeted as readers.

This was a consequence of theevolution of social attitudes towardschildhood.

Literature became a popular way toteach children lessons and morals.They were only rarely enjoyableworks.

Later, when reading for pleasurebecame socially accepted, folk andfairy-tale compilations became verypopular

There were different types ofpublications written for boys andgirls. Girls stories were domesticand focused on family life, whereas

Victorian literature todayMany view it with scepticism because of the stereotypes

of the era: current readers may see it as prudish, rigid

and excessively formal.

However, many contemporary authors criticized these

same trends, and there were many brilliant works that

were considered unconventional even then.

Those works have passed the test of time and are today

considered masterpieces of classic literature.