Victorian Era

The Victorian period was distinct in time as a time of change. Many advances were being made during this time period and it’s suggested that it was more than had been made in the two thousand years before. Sure, this might be exaggerating, but it could pretty close to the truth as well. This was a period of industrialization, when nearly everything that could run on steam power was altered to do so. People were urged to “close the Byron; open the Goethe”, meaning to set aside their introspective romances for the higher moral purposes found in other literature, such as Goethe. The initial idea is surprising in a period of invention, but makes sense as science was practicality were big players. Each period within the Victorian period is made distinct even upon itself, though this may be due to the books clean set up. The first period wasn’t a good time; women and children were at hard work with children as young as five working in mines, the representation of the people in Parliament was not as it should be with the population having shifted from where it was when the system was first created and there being no update. The Reform Bill of 1832 was the first step in remedying this as it gave the vote to all men owning property up to 10 British Pounds in worth. This still excluded many, but it was just the first step on the path to improvement. The Mid-Victorian era was full of people attacking the social system of the time, misgivings coming from the first period. The improvements of the era were evident here though. Industry was booming beyond just the railways of the first part of the Victorian age. Religion was evolving, which made sense as science was also bringing about new ideas and at least to me those two fields often like to counter each other. One of the important theories of the time was in fact evolution as though by Charles Darwin and pushed by Thomas Huxley. Many thought this was an addition to their beliefs, taking the meaning to be figurative and not literal. Men of science then were taking the Bible not as a sacred book, but a tome of history for examination and many religions didn't care for this. Toward the end of the era, things were obviously changing. While the first era could be considered one of unrest and politics, the middle of change, religion, and science, perhaps the last is of war, mutiny, and change. Mutiny and war came more from the colonies than England itself however. America having just gotten through its own civil war was becoming more of a rival. Labor was becoming a powerful force and many of its leaders were being influenced by things such as the writing of Karl Marx. Even the writers of this time were taking shots at those from the Mid-Victorian era. Obviously things were trying to head in a different direction.

The following generation after Queen Victoria’s death almost went out of their way to distinguish themselves from the Victorian era. Literary critiques of the next era would treat Victorian writers as “stuffily complacent prigs” and how very different literature had become since those writers. As always, the following generation was still built on the shoulders of its predecessors.