The Victorian Age

Victoria
•The term “Victorian” literally
1837-1901 describes things and events
from the reign of Queen
Victoria.
•She is England’s longest
reigning queen, having ruled
from 1837 to 1901.
•Her husband was Prince
Albert of Sax-Coburg-Gotha,
her German cousin. The two
had a very close and
affectionate relationship;
Albert was instrumental in
Victoria’s decision making as
Queen. Together, they had
nine children (“Queen
Victoria - 1819-1901”).
The Queen's own ethics and personal tastes
(“Queen Victoria - 1819-1901”) have perhaps
lead to our association of the word Victorian
with things that are “prudish”, “repressed”
and “old fashioned”. In part, Victoria herself
encouraged her own identification with the
qualities we associate with the word Victorian
– earnestness, moral responsibility, and
domestic propriety. In general, when we think
of “Victorian” values today, we often think of
sobriety, hard work, and joyless abstinence
from worldly pleasures (Abrams 1044-1045).
 The Victorian Age
Victoria's long reign witnessed the expansion of the
British Empire as well as political and social reforms In
England and abroad.
Indeed, a feeling of national pride was connected with
the name of Victoria; however, this era was also a time
shaken by various social, political, religious,
technological and scientific developments, all of which
had an impact on the literature of the time.
Over time, these rapid changes deeply affected the
country's mood: an age that began with a confidence
and optimism leading to economic boom and prosperity
eventually gave way to uncertainty and doubt
regarding Britain's place in the world”(“Victorian
England: An Overview”).
 Key Factors of Change:
Advancements in Technology
The Industrial Revolution
The Growth of the British Empire
Scientific Discovery
Questioning of Religious
Authority
Mandatory Education and
Increased Literacy
 Technological
Advancements
In science and technology, the Victorians
developed the modern idea of invention based on
the belief that man could create solutions to
problems in order to better himself and his
environment. Here are some of the key inventions
of the era:
• The Steam Engine (1775) -
James Watt – making possible
steam-powered trains and ships.
• The Cotton Gin (1794) -
Eli Whitney - allowed for
the removal of cotton
from its seeds.
(“Industrial Revolution Inventors”)
• Sewing Machine (1844) –
Elias Howe

• Diesel Engine (1892) –

Rudolf Diesel

• The Light Bulb (1877) –

Thomas Edison
(“Industrial Revolution Inventors”)
• The Telegraph (1836) – Samuel F.B. Morse -
transmitted electric signals over wires from
location to location that translated into a
message.
• Transatlantic Cable (1866) –
Cyrus Field

• Telephone (1876) -
Alexander Graham Bell

• First Wireless Message (1902) –

Guglielmo Marconi – transmitted from
Ireland to Signal Hill, Newfoundland
(“Industrial Revolution Inventors”)
 The Industrial Revolution
Such improvements in technology fostered the
industrial revolution.
England was the first country in the world to become
industrialized.
Throughout Victoria’s reign, the population of London
grew from two million to six-and-a-half million.
There was a shift from an agricultural way of life
based on land ownership to a modern urban economy
based on trade and manufacturing. (Abrams 1043)
Key industries supported by the invention of new
technologies included the manufacturing of cotton
textiles, coal mining, and iron production.
(“The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain”)
 The Steam Engine and
Transportation
In 1830, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened
becoming the first steam-powered, public railway in the
world.
By 1850, 6,621 miles of railway line connected all of
England’s major cities.
By 1900, England had 15,195 lines of track and an
underground railway system beneath London.
The train transformed England’s landscape and
supported the growth of its commerce.
This resulted in an enormous increase in England’s wealth
through increased trade in growing global markets.
(Abrams 1046)
The Growth of the Empire
England became the world’s workshop and London the world’s
banker.
Profits gained through trade led to capital investments in
other continents.
England colonies sprung up in Australia, Africa, India, and
North America.
By 1890, more than a quarter of the world was part of the
British Empire, upon which the sun never set.
England was now at its highest point of development as a
world power (Abrams 1044).
 “British history is two thousand
years old, and yet in a good
many ways the world has
moved farther ahead since the
Queen was born than it moved
in all the rest of the two
thousand put together.” - Mark
Twain

(Abrams 1043)
 
The English people are “the
greatest and most highly
civilized people the world ever
saw.” - Thomas Babington Macaulay
    (Abrams 1044)
THE EARLY VICTORIAN PERIOD – 1830-
1848 – A “TIME OF TROUBLES”

Despite England’s growth as a

dominant world power, it also
experienced a host of social and
economic problems due to rapid
and unregulated industrialization.
It is perhaps necessary to
understand these issues in order
to understand the ideas that
preoccupy the writers of this era.
 The Industrial Revolution and
Political Reform
The opening of England’s first
railway coincided with the opening
of the country’s first Reform
Parliament.
It was soon observed that the
country’s electoral system needed
to change since some the new and
growing industrial cities were
unrepresented in Parliament.
Manufacturing interests who
refused to tolerate their exclusion
from the political process led the
working class in agitating for
reform. (Abrams 1046)
A Rising Middle Class
The Reform Bill of 1832 extended the
right to vote to all males owning property
worth £10 or more in annual rent.
In effect, the voting public thereafter
included the lower middle classes.
In 1867, a second reform bill was passed
granting the vote to the working classes
as well.
These reform bills represent the
beginnings of a new age in which middle-
class economic interests gained
increasing power.
(Abrams 1046-1047)
 The Industrial Revolution and
•Times were not always prosperous. A crash
Social Reform
in 1837 followed by a series of bad harvests
led to a period of unemployment, poverty
and rioting.
•Workers and their families lived in crowded
and filthy slums in cities such as Manchester
(Abrams 1047).
•Those without employment or any other
means of subsistence were condemned to
the workhouse
People became more
critical of the poor
working conditions in
factories and coal mines.
Women and children
workers were exploited,
often having to work 16
hour days in horrific
conditions especially in
textile factories and
mines.
Even five-year-old
children worked these
long shifts dragging
heavy tubs of coal in
low-ceilinged mine
passages. (Abrams
1047)
For ten years, a large organization of workers known as
the Chartists incited the public against government and
cried out for legislative reforms; so strong was the call for
social justice that there were even fears of revolution.
These “Times of Trouble” left their mark on Victorian
literature as writers advocated for change, expressed fear
of chaos and revolution, or documented the living
conditions of the time, as in the works of Charles Dickens.
Many writers began to denounce the evils of Victorian
industry, feeling that England’s leadership in commerce
and manufacturing was being paid for at a terrible price in
human happiness (Abrams 1047-1048).
So-called “progress” had been gained by abandoning
traditional rhythms of life and traditional patterns of
human relationships. Many Victorians writers expressed
an anxious sense of something lost in a world made alien
by technological changes (Abrams 1044).
The Rich
In contrast, the rich were
enjoying the perks of a booming
economy.
The British were the “best” in the
world at most things. People
were “blessed and happy” if they
were among the privileged and
rich (middle and upper class).
Industrialization didn’t affect
them, other than the fact that
they made more money; not all
Victorians cared about their
environment or the living
conditions of the poor.
Like the Romantics, many
Victorian writers opposed
materialism and the
preoccupation with “progress”
and material wealth.
THE MID-VICTORIAN PERIOD – 1848-
1870 – THE AGE OF IMPROVEMENT

Despite the harassing troubles we have just

seen, England saw renewed prosperity when
it began to pull out from the “Hungry 40’s”.
The Queen and her husband were admired
as models of domesticity and devotion to
duty.
Agriculture, trade and industry began to
flourish once more.
Factory Acts passed by Parliament restricted
child labour and limited the hours of
employment and the condition of the
working classes was gradually improved
(Abrams 1048-1049).
In 1851, Prince Albert opened the Great Exhibition
in Hyde Park where a gigantic glass greenhouse
called the Crystal palace had been erected to
display the exhibits of modern industry and
science.
It was one of the first building to be constructed
according to modern architectural principles in
which materials such as glass and iron were used
for purely functional ends.
The building itself symbolized the triumphant feats
of Victorian technology. (Abrams 1049)
 The Growth of the Empire
Between 1853 and 1880, almost 2.5 million
immigrants left England for various British
colonies (Australia, India, Canada, Africa.
Technological revolution in communication
and transportation supported the growth of
the Empire. Britain built railways, strung
telegraph wires and put in place a system of
education and government to preserved
British influence in the colonies.
Overall, the colonies were a source of wealth
as they created markets for British
manufactures goods and became sources for
raw materials. (Abrams 1049)
 SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT AND
RELIGIOUS DOUBT
Some writers of the Victorian Era wrote about the
religious conflicts of the time:
The Church of England had evolved into three conflicting
divisions: the Low Church, the Broad Church, and the High
Church.
Low Church – Evangelical branch advocating a strict Puritan code
of morality (closer in belief to other Protestant denominations
such as Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists etc.)
High Church – The more “Catholic” side of the Church of England
emphasizing tradition, ritual, and authority.
Broad Church – Sought a middle ground and avoided the
controversies which divided the Low and High Church. Open to
modern advances in thought, its adherents emphasized the
broadly inclusive nature of the church.
(Abrams 1050)
 The Value of Religion
Questioned
• Victorian England was a deeply
religious country. A great number
of people were habitual church-
goers, at least once and probably
twice, every Sunday. The Bible
was frequently and widely read
by people of every class; so too
were religious stories and
allegories.
• Yet towards the end of Queen
Victoria's reign, the Victorians
experienced a great age of doubt
as institutional Christianity was
questioned for the first time on a
large scale (“Victorian England:
An Overview”).
Utilitarianism –
A philosophy
based on
rationalism that
saw religion as
outdated
superstition. It
proposed that the
only way we
should judge a
morally correct
action is based on
the extent to
which it gives the
greatest pleasure
to the greatest
number of people.
(Abrams 1050)
Higher Criticism –
An intellectual
approach to the study
of the Bible as a
historical rather than a
sacred text. This
rational approach to
the Bible questioned
fundamental beliefs in
Christianity, including
the divinity of Jesus.
(Abrams 1051)
Atheists and
Agnostics felt
more religious
freedom to
express their
views. Atheist
orators such as
Charles
Bradlaugh
enjoyed the
privilege of
addressing large
audiences.

(Abrams 1050-
1051)
In geology, scientists were
extending the history of the earth
back millions of years, and
astronomers, by extending the
knowledge of stellar distances into
dizzying expanses, likewise reduced
the stature of the human species in
the grand scheme of the universe.
Darwinism – In 1859, biology
reduced humankind even further
into “nothingness” with Darwin’s
publishing of The Origin of Species.
As scientific and rational thought
reinterpreted and called into
question religious beliefs, some
Victorians felt anxious and isolated,
separated from the iron structures of
faith that once gave their lives
stability and meaning. (Abrams
1051-1052)
THE LATE VICTORIAN PERIOD – 1870 –
1901
 DECAY OF VICTORIAN VALUES
For many, this final phase of the era was a time of
security and prosperity.
London was known as a place of gaiety in the 1880’s due
to consumerism. Commodities, inventions, and products
were changing the texture of modern life.
There were, however, serious struggles:
The cost of maintaining the Empire was often great due to
rebellions, massacres, and wars in the colonies (Indian
Mutiny of 1857; Jamaican Rebellion 1865; massacre of
General Gordon in the Sudan; Boer War in South Africa).
At home there was tension as Ireland was demanding
home rule, and as Germany, under the leadership of Otto
von Bismarck challenged the naval, military and economic
power of England.
(Abrams 1052-1053)
In North America, the United States (now recovered after the
Civil War) and Canada were expanding westwards through
their railways and began to compete with England in the
realms of industry and agriculture.
By 1873-74, England was in economic depression and the rate
of emigration rose alarmingly. 
With the right to vote extended to the working classes and the
advent of trade unions, labour became a powerful political
force.
The revolutionary theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in
their Communist Manifesto challenged the class structure of
English society, proposing that utopia could only be achieved
when the working classes would control government and
industry.
As a result, in much of literature of this final phase of
Victorianism a change of attitude can be sensed. There is
often a tone of melancholy as the belief is expressed that the
answers to life’s problems may never be found.
The work of artists in the 1890’s seems to be project a sad
awareness of living at the end of a great century.
(Abrams 1052-1054)
 LITERACY and LITERATURE
Literacy increased significantly during the
Victorian Period.
In 1837, about half the male adult population
could read and write to some extent; by the end
of the century, basic literacy was universal.
Compulsory national education was instituted in
1880, requiring children to attend school until
the age of ten.
Steam-powered printing presses, paper made
with wood pulp, and new typesetting machines
allowed publishers to print more material more
cheaply than ever. (Abrams 1057-1058)
Periodicals became the most
popular form of literature.
In the first 30 years of the
Victorian period, 170 new
magazines were started in
London alone (sensational
tales, religious monthlies,
weekly newspapers, political
satire, women’s magazines,
monthly miscellanies
publishing fiction and
poetry).
The reputations of many of
the major writers of the
period were established in
this magazines (Dickens,
Thackeray, Eliot, Tennyson,
Browning to name a few).
(Abrams 1057-1058)
Novels and long works of
nonfiction prose were published
in serial form.
Communities of readers grew as
they followed their favourite
stories, read aloud especially in
family gatherings.
A broad readership, especially
middle-class readers, developed;
many readers expected that
literature would not only delight
but instruct, that it would reflect
the world they lived in and
illuminate social problems.
(Abrams 1058)
 The Victorian Novel
The novel was the most dominant form
in Victorian literature.
Victorian novels sought to represent
their social world with the variety of
classes and social settings that
defined their communities, but with
new emphasis on the possibility of
social mobility (Jane Eyre, Great
Expectations).
For the Victorians, the novel was a
principal form of entertainment and a
spur to social sympathy as the heroes
and heroines struggled within their
living conditions to determine their
social position and find love and
happiness. (Abrams 1058-1060)
 
 VICTORIAN POETRY
  in the context of the
Victorian poetry developed
novel.
As the novel emerged as a popular form, poets
sought new ways of telling stories in verse through
the creation of long narrative poems that
experimented with characterization, point of view,
rhythm and meter.
Victorian poetry also developed in the shadow of
Romanticism. Poets such as Rossetti and Swinburne
mirrored the Romantics in their expression of
intimate thoughts and personal emotions.
Others, such as Arnold, rejected this Romantic
quality in his writing, preferring to write from a more
objective point of view in order to comment on
social and political issues.
(Abrams 1060-1062)
 The Dramatic Monologue
The dramatic monologue, in which Browning
specialized, seems an appropriate compromise
between these two approaches. It allowed for a
lyric poem (expressing personal emotion)
presented by the voice of a speaker that was
distinct from the poet himself. (Abrams 1061)

Dramatic Monologue: A type of lyric poem in which a 
character (the speaker) addresses a distinct but silent 
audience imagined to be present in the poem in such a way 
as to reveal a dramatic situation and, often unintentionally, 
some aspect of his or her temperament or personality.   
(“Dramatic Monologue”)
 Characteristics of Victorian Poetry
A key characteristic of Victorian poetry is variety both in
style and subject matter as poets responded to the
complex social and political changes of their time. It is
almost impossible to generalize a set of characteristics
common to all writers.
 
FORM
There was a focus on long narrative poems.
The development of the dramatic monologue is often
said to be the great achievement of Victorian poetry.
Some poets stuck to traditional forms such as the
sonnet, while others experimented with new or
unusual forms such as free verse (such as Matthew
Arnold). (Abrams 1060-1061)

 
STYLE
It is pictorial in nature in that it uses detail to construct
visual images that represent the emotion or situation
of the poem. [For this reason, many artists illustrated
Victorian poems, and poems were often inspired by
paintings.]
Victorians use sound in a distinctive way. Some poems
offer mellifluous rhythms, alliteration, gentle vowels,
and liquid consonants, while others create rougher,
harsher sounds. Overall though, Victorian poets use
sound to convey meaning.
Some poets wrote with a tone of pessimism and saw
society and mankind in a period of doubt and
degradation. Others wrote optimistically about the
power of social change and hope for the future.
Diction could present an elevated or lofty tone, but at
times could also become colloquial and vulgar even
within the same poem. (Abrams 1060-1061)
SUBJECT
Subjects include love, nature, expression of intense
personal emotion, and quest for the strange and exotic
(like the Romantics) (Brown and Bailey xi).
For some Victorian poets, the intimate disclosures of the
heart were repulsive. The true poet was one who
remained impersonal, presenting great ideas without
being distorted by the poet’s personal values (Brown and
Bailey xv).
But poetry was also used to “preach or teach” addressing
topics such as the conflict between science and religion
and humanity’s relationship to God, the problem of
poverty and social inequality, and the social issues raised
by capitalism, consumerism, materialism, and the
industrial revolution.
For many, realism was key. It was believed poets should
speak frankly and realistically about society and human
emotionally states, even if this involves revealing the
darkest and most sordid aspects of human existence
(Brown and Bailey xii).
 
 Victorian Poets
Some of the most famous Victorian
Poets were:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Robert Browning
Matthew Arnold
Edgar Allan Poe (American)
Emily Dickinson
Mark Twain (American)
Christina Rossetti
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 Works Cited
Abrams, M.H. Ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 1987. Print.

Brown, E.K. and J.O. Bailey. Introduction. Victorian Poetry. New York: The Ronald
Press Company, 1962. Print.

"Dramatic Monologue." Glossary of Literary Terms. The Meyer Literature Site, Web. 28
Feb 2011.

"Industrial Revolution Inventors." About.com. The New York Times Company, 2011.
Web. 28 Feb 2011.

"Queen Victoria (1819-1901)." Victoria Station. N.p., 2001. Web. 28 Feb 2011.

"The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain." Infoplease.com. Family Education Network:

Pearson Education, 2011. Web. 28 Feb 2011.

"Victorian England: An Overview." University of Wisconsin Oshkoshh. 13 Jul 2009.

You Tube: Victorian England
You Tube Videos: go to You Tube and search the following:
The Victorian Age – University of Delaware
Nigel Williamsberg
The Worst Jobs in History – Victorian Age 1 and 2
Victorian Age Rap
Arts from the Victorian Age
Victorian Guide to Women
Queen Victoria (queen anne’s fury)

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