Topic 13: The Victorian Age
January 18th, 2023
Introduction to the Victorian Era
One of the ways to look at the literature of the period is the aesthetic resistance in literature.
● Before 1829, Roman Catholics throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England were not
allowed to hold public office or attend university, among many other things.
● Things started to (somewhat) get better for Jewish people in England.
● The emergence of children’s literature came in the Victorian Era.
Medievalism
Why did the Middle Ages rise to become a period of such social prestige and prominence for the
Victorians? We often think about this era as a period with new technology.
● At the same time, this is a period obsessed with the industrial past of the Middle Ages.
● A lot of Victorian writers “hit on” one particular way of thinking about the massive
changes that were characterizing their era (nostalgia was one way of doing that!)
○ “It used to be better,” “there’s something inhumane about this world”
○ There’s anxiety in this period about how to “fix” it.
○ How does a society overcome things that it considers “deficiencies?”
● This is a period before the disease of the Renaissance had begun. The beginning of the
Renaissance in western Europe was the “beginning” of the rot.
Carlyle: “Past and Present” (in the 1830s) explicitly contrast the present industrial state of
England to its past (often to the detriment of the present).
● The Oxford Movement: attempted to renovate Anglican doctrine by recovering and
reconciling it with earlier religious practices (emphasizing hierarchy in the Church)
● Gothic revival: when the houses of Parliament burned down in the 1830s, they were
rebuilt in the 1840s in a style which emulated nearby Westminster Abbey
The idea of the “gentleman” and the “lady” were extremely important for the Victorians:
● Often patterned on a version of a modern “knight” and “princess,” with chivalry as a
protective, paternity prevails.
● The idea that female innocence needs to be cherished and protected is double downed on
in the Victorian era – thus, a lot of writers turned to history to imagine alternatives to the
present England that they lived in.
Tennyson was a public poet insofar as he was widely admired and adored by the public.
● We’re not quite at a stage yet where the artist or the writer is a figure that is completely at
odds with the public (this is a post-Victorian idea)
● Tennyson is much more a “consensus poet,” the official poet for England at the time.
○ He was also a recluse! He lived in a remote part of the country. There’s a tension
between withdrawal from the world into one’s creative pursuits and active
involvement in the community (he has responsibilities as the court poet)
January 18th, 2023
Introduction to the Victorian Era
One of the ways to look at the literature of the period is the aesthetic resistance in literature.
● Before 1829, Roman Catholics throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England were not
allowed to hold public office or attend university, among many other things.
● Things started to (somewhat) get better for Jewish people in England.
● The emergence of children’s literature came in the Victorian Era.
Medievalism
Why did the Middle Ages rise to become a period of such social prestige and prominence for the
Victorians? We often think about this era as a period with new technology.
● At the same time, this is a period obsessed with the industrial past of the Middle Ages.
● A lot of Victorian writers “hit on” one particular way of thinking about the massive
changes that were characterizing their era (nostalgia was one way of doing that!)
○ “It used to be better,” “there’s something inhumane about this world”
○ There’s anxiety in this period about how to “fix” it.
○ How does a society overcome things that it considers “deficiencies?”
● This is a period before the disease of the Renaissance had begun. The beginning of the
Renaissance in western Europe was the “beginning” of the rot.
Carlyle: “Past and Present” (in the 1830s) explicitly contrast the present industrial state of
England to its past (often to the detriment of the present).
● The Oxford Movement: attempted to renovate Anglican doctrine by recovering and
reconciling it with earlier religious practices (emphasizing hierarchy in the Church)
● Gothic revival: when the houses of Parliament burned down in the 1830s, they were
rebuilt in the 1840s in a style which emulated nearby Westminster Abbey
The idea of the “gentleman” and the “lady” were extremely important for the Victorians:
● Often patterned on a version of a modern “knight” and “princess,” with chivalry as a
protective, paternity prevails.
● The idea that female innocence needs to be cherished and protected is double downed on
in the Victorian era – thus, a lot of writers turned to history to imagine alternatives to the
present England that they lived in.
Tennyson was a public poet insofar as he was widely admired and adored by the public.
● We’re not quite at a stage yet where the artist or the writer is a figure that is completely at
odds with the public (this is a post-Victorian idea)
● Tennyson is much more a “consensus poet,” the official poet for England at the time.
○ He was also a recluse! He lived in a remote part of the country. There’s a tension
between withdrawal from the world into one’s creative pursuits and active
involvement in the community (he has responsibilities as the court poet)
