The Victorian Era1837-1901

Writers and Poets of the Victorian Era

Bram Stoker

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Thomas Hardy

Lewis Carroll

During Queen Victoria’s reign.Bridges between the Romantic Era and

Modernism.Common themes – hard work, love, marriage,

luck.Many poets/writers of the time were related

either by marriage or they were siblings.Many novels were released by chapter so

Victorians had to buy each part of the novel each week/month.

Paid someone who could read, to read novels/poetry.

The Victorian novels were mainly about the society, individuals, sexes and communities.

Victorian Literature (1837-1901)

Middle-class family.Associated as a lower

class citizen.His parents neglected

him.First successful in 1835.His parents neglected

him.He wrote novels, short

stories, plays etc about the social classes and more values of his time.

Charles Dickens

Charlotte Brontë’s notable works – Jane Eyre, Villette.

Emily Brontë’s notable works – Wuthering Heights.

Charlotte's first attempt at the novel was entitled The Professor, but the story was rejected by publishers. 

Charlotte Brontë was seen as a heroine who was courageous and independent.

The Brontë Sisters

Could speak five languages by the age of fourteen.

Dramatic Romances and lyrics was another collection of his poems which was known as the finest after a year.

He was overshadowed by his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Browning explored the human psychology through his characters and the dramatic situations he presented.

Robert Browning

His writing style was more of tragedy than comic.

Influenced by a lot of the writers around him.

His writing style was fairly typical of the period.

He wrote a great deal of poetry, most of it went unpublished until after 1898.

His novels are set in the imaginary world of Wessex.

Thomas Hardy

Dominant form in Victorian literature.Victorian novels seek to represent a

large and comprehensive social world, with a variety of classes.

Victorian novels are realistic.Major theme is the place of the

individual in society, the aspiration of the hero or heroine for love or social position.

The protagonist’s search for fulfillment is emblematic of the human condition.

For the first time, women were major writers: the Brontë's, Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot.

The Victorian novel was a principal form of entertainment.

Victorian Novels

Victorian poetry developed in the context of the novel.

Poets sought new ways of telling stories in verse

Dramatic monologue – the idea of creating a lyric poem in the voice of a speaker ironically distinct from the poet is the great achievement of Victorian poetry.

Victorian poetry is pictorial; poets use detail to construct visual images that represent the emotion or situation the poem concerns.

Conflict between private poetic self and public social role.

Victorian Poetry

The theater was a flourishing and popular institution during the Victorian period.

The popularity of theater influenced other genres.

Victorian Theatre

The End