BRITISH LIT. II

1. BRITISH LIT. II THE VICTORIAN AGE: 1830-1901

2. AN AGE OF EXPANSION • ENGLAND WAS AT ITS PEAK AS A WORLD POWER (THE BRITISH EM-PIRE CONSISTED OF ¼ OF THE WORLD’S TERRITORY), AND LONDON WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT CITY IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION.

3. AN AGE OF CHANGE • MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGE WAS THE CONTINUING SHIFT FROM AN AGRICULTURAL WAY OF LIFE TO A MODERN URBAN ECON-OMY BASED ON TRADE & MANUFAC-TURING.

4. AN AGE OF CHANGE (cont.) • THE PERIOD SAW THE HARNESSING OF STEAM POWER FOR TRANSPORTA-TION, MANUFACTURING, & FARMING.

5. AN AGE OF CHANGE (cont.) • IT ALSO SAW THE INTRODUCTION OF THE TELEGRAPH, INTERCONTINEN-TAL CABLE, PHOTOGRAPHY, ANES-THETICS, & UNIVERSAL COMPULS-ORY EDUCATION.

6. AN AGE OF CHANGE (cont.) • THE ENORMOUS INCREASE IN WEALTH WAS ACCOMPANIED BY SOCIAL & ECONOMIC PROBLEMS RELATED TO RAPID, UNREGULAT-ED INDUSTRIALIZATION.

7. AN AGE OF CHANGE (cont.) • MANY WRITERS OF THE DAY (E.G., TENNYSON, ARNOLD) FELT THAT THE PRICE OF PROGRESS WAS THE LOSS OF TRADITIONAL RHYTHMS OF LIFE & PATTERNS OF HUMAN RELA-TIONSHIPS.

8. REACTIONS OF WRITERS (cont.) • THEIR SATISFACTION W/ THE PRE-EMINENCE OF ENGLAND WAS MIXED W/ ANXIETY.

9. EARLY PERIOD: 1830-1848 • THE REFORM BILL OF 1832 EXTEND-ED THE RIGHT TO VOTE TO LOWER- MIDDLE-CLASS MALES & BROKE UP CONSERVATIVE LANDOWNERS’ MONOPOLY OF POLITICAL POWER.

10. EARLY PERIOD (cont.) • THIS PERIOD IN ENGLISH POLITICS LIFE WAS CALLED “THE TIME OF TROUBLES.”

11. TIME OF TROUBLES (cont.) • A SEVERE DEPRESSION LED TO RIOT-ING & A THREAT OF REVOLUTION B/C OF THE SQUALOR OF THE NEW IN-DUSTRIAL & COAL MINING AREAS (CONDITIONS FOR WHICH MINE & FACTORY OWNERS FELT NO RESPON-SIBILITY).

12. MID-VICTORIAN PERIOD: 1848- 1870 • IN SPITE OF PROBLEMS, THIS WAS A PROSPEROUS TIME WHEN THE COUNTRY’S INSTITUTIONS SEEMED TO WORK WELL & THERE WAS GREAT FAITH IN ENGLISH WISDOM & ENER-GY.

13. MID-VICTORIAN PERIOD (cont.) • CONDITIONS FOR THE WORKING CLASS GRADUALLY IMPROVED W/ THE PASSAGE OF LABOR LAWS. • CAME TO BE THOUGHT OF AS “THE AGE OF IMPROVEMENT.”

14. MID-VICTORIAN PERIOD (cont.) • THOUGH THERE WAS MUCH NATION-AL PRIDE IN TECHNOLOGICAL PRO-GRESS, RELIGION & SCIENCE WERE IN CONFLICT (NOTHING NEW).

15. SCIENCE VS. RELIGION • EARLIEST FORM OF THE DEBATE WAS BETWEEN THE UTILITARIANS (FOLLOWERS OF JEREMY BENTHAM) & PHILOSOPHICAL CONSERVATIVES (FOLLOWERS OF COLERIDGE).

16. SCIENCE VS. RELIGION (cont.) • FOR UTILITARIANS, THE TEST OF ALL INSTITUTIONS WAS WHETHER THEY CONTRIBUTED TO THE HAPPINESS OF THE GREATEST NUMBERS OF PEOPLE. THEY SAW RELIGION AS OUTMODED SUPERSTITION.

17. SCIENCE VS. RELIGION (cont.) • PHILOSOPHICAL CONSERVATIVES SAW UTILITARIANISM AS A TOO-NARROW VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE, AND REASON ALONE AS INADEQUATE TO ARRIVE AT TRUTH.

18. PHILOSOPHICAL CONSERVA- TIVES (cont.) • SOME (E.G., THOMAS CARLYLE) ABAN-DONED INSTITUTIONAL RELIGION & SOUGHT A SUBSTITUTE RELIGIOUS BELIEF.

19. PHILOSOPHICAL CONSERVA- TIVES (cont.) • OTHERS (E.G., JOHN HENRY NEW-MAN) SAW A POWERFUL CHURCH AS NECESSARY TO OPPOSE UTILITARI-ANISM.

20. SCIENCE VS. RELIGION (cont.) • OPPOSITION TO RELIGION FELL TO NEW SCIENTIFIC LEADERS (E.G., THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, WHO POPULARIZED THE THEORIES OF CHARLES DARWIN).

21. SCIENCE VS. RELIGION (cont.) • THE BIBLE WAS SCIENTIFICALLY EXAMINED AS IF IT WERE LIKE ANY OTHER HISTORICAL TEXT.

22. SCIENCE VS. RELIGION (cont.) • DISCOVERIES IN ASTRONOMY & GEO-LOGY DIMINISHED THE STATURE OF HUMANKIND IN TIME & SPACE, AND DARWIN’S THEORIES OF EVOLUTION FURTHER REDUCED MAN TO ANO-THER ANIMAL.

23. MID-VICTORIAN PERIOD (cont.) • BENEATH THE SURFACE PROSPERITY OF THE TIMES WERE MAJOR CON-FLICTS & ANXIETIES.

24. LATE PERIOD: 1870-1901 • FOR MANY THIS WAS A TIME OF SER-ENITY, SECURITY, & EXHILARATION. BUT CERTAIN ANOMALIES IN THE SEEMINGLY SMOOTH-WORKING INSTITUTIONS WERE BECOMING APPARENT.

25. LATE PERIOD (cont.) • THE QUESTION OF GRANTING “HOME RULE” TO IRELAND WAS ESPECIALLY DIVISIVE. • EMERGENCE OF GERMANY AS A MILI-TARY POWER POSED A THREAT TO ENGLAND’S SECURITY.

26. LATE PERIOD (cont.) • AMERICA ALSO BEGAN TO CHAL-LENGE ENGLAND’S DOMINANCE IN INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE.

27. LATE PERIOD (cont.) • TRADE UNIONS WERE ORGANIZED, AND THE LABOR PARTY BECAME A POLITICAL FORCE REPRESENTING VARIOUS FORMS OF SOCIALISM.

28. LATE PERIOD (cont.) • MANY WRITERS REBELLED AGAINST THE MAJOR MID-VICTORIAN IDOLS OR AT LEAST SAW THEIR STRIVING AS POINTLESS, LIFE’S PROBLEMS AS INSOLUBLE, & ALL THAT MATTERED WAS ENJOYING LIFE’S FLEETING MOMENTS OF BEAUTY.

29. THE (“GAY”) NINETIES • THE EMPIRE STILL FLOURISHED, BUT VICTORIAN STANDARDS WERE BREAKING DOWN & THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE BECAME PRONOUNCED.

30. THE NINETIES (cont.) • MUCH OF THE WRITING OF THE PERIOD WAS CHARACTERIZED BY MELANCHOLY, WEARY SOPHISTICA-TION, & A SEARCH FOR NEW SOURC-ES OF TITILLATION.

31. THE VICTORIAN TEMPER • THE VICTORIAN AGE WAS CHARAC-TERIZED BY EARNESTNESS OF SPIR-IT.

32. VICTORIAN TEMPER (cont.) • THOUGH MANY WRITERS CONTINUED THE TRADITIONS OF ROMANTICISM & GRAPPLED W/ THE SAME RELIGIOUS ISSUES, THEY HAD GREATER CON-CERN FOR DISCIPLINED FORMS & FOR ADDRESSING THE PRACTICAL PROB-LEMS OF LIFE.

33. VICTORIAN TEMPER (cont.) • AN EVANGELICAL SPIRIT WAS ALSO IMPORTANT, EVIDENCED IN DEDICA-TION TO GOOD CAUSES, ADVOCACY OF A STRICT PURITAN CODE OF MOR-ALITY, & OPPOSITION TO WORLDLI-NESS.

34. VICTORIAN TEMPER (cont.) • (EVANGELICALS WERE A BRANCH OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND WHO ALLIED W/ OTHER NONCONFORMIST SECTS TO INFLUENCE ENGLISH LIFE.)

35. VICTORIAN TEMPER (cont.) • SEXUAL BEHAVIOR WAS PARTICU-LARLY REGULATED (THOUGH PORN-OGRAPHY & PROSTITUTION FLOUR-ISHED).

36. VICTORIAN TEMPER (cont.) • THE VICTORIAN CODE OF BEHAVIOR DERIVED FROM THE OLD TESTA-MENT, BUT ALSO REFLECTED RE-CENT EXPERIENCE IN WHICH WORLDLY SUCCESS WAS THE RESULT OF SOBRIETY & HARD WORK.

37. VICTORIAN TEMPER (cont.) • THE FLUIDITY OF SOCIETY ALSO LED TO INSISTENCE ON RESPECTABILITY, ON CONFORMITY TO A FIXED SET OF MANNERS BY WHICH EVERYONE COULD BE JUDGED.

38. VICTORIAN TEMPER (cont.) • THUS MIDDLE-CLASS CONVENTIONS THREATENED INDIVIDUALITY IN THIS AGE OF POLITICAL & RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

39. THE ROLE OF WOMEN • POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS & THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION PROVID-ED THE BASIS FOR CHANGES IN THE POSITION OF WOMEN, LED TO THE RISE OF “THE WOMAN QUESTION.”

40. ROLE OF WOMEN (cont.) • POLITICALLY, WOMEN WERE 2ND-CLASS CITIZENS W/OUT THE RIGHT TO VOTE OR HOLD OFFICE.

41. ROLE OF WOMEN (cont.) • HOWEVER, MARRIED WOMEN WON THE RIGHT TO OWN & HANDLE PRO-PERTY, AND SOME OF THE WORST WORKPLACE ABUSES WERE COR-RECTED.

42. ROLE OF WOMEN (cont.) • EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN ALSO EXPANDED.

43. ROLE OF WOMEN (cont.) • IN 1837, NONE OF ENGLAND’S 3 UNI-VERSITIES WAS OPEN TO WOMEN; AT THE END OF VICTORIA’S REIGN, 12 UNIVERSITIES OR UNIVERSITY COL-LEGES WERE OPEN TO WOMEN (THOUGH THEY COULD NOT EARN DEGREES AT EITHER OXFORD OR CAMBRIDGE).

44. ROLE OF WOMEN (cont.) • AS FOR EMPLOYMENT, MIDDLE-CLASS & UNMARRIED WOMEN (OF WHOM THERE WERE MANY) HAD FEW OPPORTUNITIES (GOVERNESS, PROSTITUTE).

45. ROLE OF WOMEN (cont.) • THE HOME CONTINUED TO BE VIEWED AS WOMEN’S SPHERE.

46. VICTORIAN LITERATURE • NOVELISTS OF THE EARLY-TO-MID-VICTORIAN AGE HAD TO ABIDE BY THE PURITAN CODE OF MORALITY (NOVELS WERE COMMONLY READ ALOUD IN FAMILY GATHERINGS), BUT POETS & ESSAYISTS WERE LESS RESTRICTED.

47. VICTORIAN LIT. (cont.) • THE AUDIENCE WANTED WRITERS TO GUIDE & EDIFY THEM, AND MOST WRITERS WERE FLATTERED TO COMPLY, OFTEN SEEING THEM-SELVES AS PROPHETS W/ A MIS-SION.

48. VICTORIAN LIT. (cont.) • BUT MANY WRITERS WERE AMBIVA-LENT ABOUT THE DEMANDS PLACED ON THEM & WERE DIVIDED AS TO WHETHER TO SERVE THE PUBLIC OR THEIR ART.

49. VICTORIAN LIT. (cont.) • THE VARIETY OF LITERATURE PRO-DUCED WAS A SYMPTOM OF WRITERS’ ENERGY, BUT ALSO OF A LACK OF AGREEMENT REGARDING THE ROLE OF LITERATURE.

50. VICTORIAN LIT. (cont.) • POETS IN PARTICULAR EXPERIMENT-ED W/ NEW OR UNUSUAL METRICAL PATTERNS & SOUGHT NEW WAYS OF TELLING STORIES IN VERSE TO COM-PETE W/ THE NOVEL.