The History of Victorian Literature
The Victorian literary period coincides with the reign of Queen Victoria over Great Britain and its empire (1837-1901). During this time, Britain transitioned from a predominantly agrarian society to an industrialized urban one. New technologies, such as railways and steam printing presses, facilitated the unification of the British populace both physically and intellectually. While this era is often characterized by a conservative moral framework, the Victorians recognized that their world was changing rapidly.
Religious beliefs during this period varied from evangelical faiths to atheism. The working class, women, and people of color advocated for voting rights and self-governance. Reformers fought for safe working conditions, health reforms, and comprehensive education. Consequently, Victorian literature reflects these values, discussions, and cultural concerns.
Victorian literature stands apart from 18th-century literature and the Romantic period in that it did not cater to a specific social class. The steam printing press made the production of texts significantly cheaper, while railways allowed for rapid and easy distribution. This era also witnessed the emergence of new literary genres that appealed to fresh audiences.
Key Works of Victorian Literature
The Victorian era produced literature that both mirrored and challenged the social norms of the time, offering stories worthy of revisitation for years, decades, and even centuries to come.
The Scholar Gipsy
“The Scholar Gipsy” is a narrative poem authored by Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), who was born in Middlesex. His works often centered on the contemporary Western individual grappling with life after abandoning religious faith. Arnold’s writings spanned various fields, including literature, history, politics, theology, science, and art, with his most notable work being “Culture and Anarchy.”
Written in 1853 and comprising 250 lines, “The Scholar Gipsy” tells the story of a poor, disillusioned Oxford student who leaves the university to join a band of traveling Romani people. The scholar seeks not only to withdraw from his studies but also from modern life. He is welcomed into the Romani community and becomes privy to some of their secrets, intending to learn from them as much as he can.
Culture and Anarchy
This critical work, published in 1869 and spanning 150 pages, is Arnold’s most famous and significant contribution. In it, Arnold contrasts culture, defined as “the study of perfection,” with the prevailing chaos of the new democratic moods sweeping England, which lacked standards and a sense of direction. He categorized English society into barbarians, philistines, and the masses, asserting that the philistines held the key to culture due to their significant influence. Thus, it was essential to educate and humanize them.
Middlemarch
“Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life,” is a social novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). An influential English novelist, Eliot’s works often critiqued social life, drawing from her longstanding career as a journalist.
Published in eight parts from 1871 to 1872 and later in four volumes in the same year, “Middlemarch” is an expansive work of nearly 736 pages. This realistic novel examines different social classes in the fictional town of Middlemarch, from the landed gentry and clergy to industrialists, professionals, farmers, and laborers. However, the narrative primarily focuses on the failed idealism of two main characters: Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate, both of whom enter into disastrous marriages.
The Egoist
The Egoist is the third novel by English author George Meredith (1828-1909), born in Portsmouth. In addition to his efforts as a novelist, Meredith was also a poet, known for his notable work “Diana of the Crossways.” Meredith was celebrated for his mastery of language, which sometimes bordered on the incomprehensible. His themes often encouraged women to be assertive in the presence of men.
Published in three volumes in 1879, “The Egoist” is one of Meredith’s most popular works, though not his most prominent. It uniquely tackles the theme of the self-centered Sir Willoughby Patterne, a vain man eager to marry a woman he does not deserve, who ultimately finds herself falling in love with another man.
Modern Love
Despite his fame as a novelist, George Meredith’s initial inclination toward poetry enabled him to emerge as a gifted poet. His collection, published in 1862, is a prominent example of his poetic works and consists of 50 melancholic sonnets, each 16 lines long, that reflect his disappointment following his first marriage’s failure. This collection exhibits his pain over his wife, Mary Ellen, leaving him for the artist Henry Wallis, featuring the perspectives of four main characters: the husband, the wife, the other man, and another woman. The central theme revolves around the husband’s inability to forgive his wife for abandoning him for another man.
The Mayor of Casterbridge
This novel, authored by English writer and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), was born and died in Dorset. Hardy’s works are characterized by strong romantic elements and a focus on the rural classes of society. Two of his widely renowned novels are “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” and “The Mayor of Casterbridge.”
“The Mayor of Casterbridge” was serialized in 1886 and subsequently published as a single volume later that year, spanning 352 pages. This psychological fiction presents the fictional town of Casterbridge and closely mirrors Dorchester in the 19th century. The narrative details the rise and fall of Michael Henchard, who starts with nothing after impulsively abandoning his wife and daughter during a fit of rage. He resolves to reform and become a respectable man, but ultimately, his past relentlessly pursues him.
Prominent Victorian Writers
The Victorian era witnessed a flourishing of literature, particularly in the novel genre. Many literary works that have achieved lasting acclaim were, in fact, penned during this period. Below is a selection of notable authors from the Victorian era:
- Charles Dickens: (1812-1870), born in Landport, was known for addressing moral issues, with “Oliver Twist” being among his most famous works.
- Robert Louis Stevenson: (1850-1894), born in Edinburgh, was a poet and novelist celebrated for his adventure literature, notably “Treasure Island.”
- Victor Hugo: (1802-1885), born in France, was a poet and novelist famous for his bold political subjects, with “Les Misérables” being one of his most renowned works.
- Emily Brontë: (1818-1848), born in Thornton, was a poet best known for her sole social novel, “Wuthering Heights.”
- Charlotte Brontë: (1816-1855), born in Thornton, was a poet and novelist distinguished for her Gothic style, with “Jane Eyre” as her most famous work.
- Anne Brontë: (1820-1849), born in Thornton, was a poet and novelist recognized for her less romantic approach during the period, with “Agnes Grey” being her most recognized work.
- Alexandre Dumas: (1802-1870), born in France, was a playwright and novelist known for his adventurous narratives, notably “The Three Musketeers.”
- Elizabeth Gaskell: (1810-1865), born in Cheyne Walk, was a novelist and biographer distinguished for her focus on the lower classes, with “The Life of Charlotte Brontë” as a notable work.
- Anthony Trollope: (1815-1882), born in London, was a novelist recognized for his themes of gender and politics, with “The Chronicles of Barsetshire” among his well-known works.
- George Gissing: (1857-1903), born in Yorkshire, was a novelist acclaimed for his serious and realistic works, with “The Nether World” being one of his most famous titles.
The Evolution of Victorian Literature
In the first half of the 19th century, Victorians were avid readers of novels, as the theaters were often deemed disreputable and immoral. Poetry, particularly Byron’s, was popular, but there was a clear demand for narrative fiction. Impressively, women established their capacity to compete successfully with male novelists, contributing significantly to the rapid rise in popularity of novels amongst the educated and affluent middle-class audience, alongside a growing number of circulating libraries.
Publication in serialized form placed an artistic pressure on novelists, primarily due to the financial constraints faced by many middle-class writers. Nevertheless, numerous significant works were published in this manner, especially those by Dickens, Thackeray, and Hardy.
Novelists of this era compartmentalized themselves based on their age and shared a unique climate of ideas, emotions, and assumptions, welcoming the notion of progress without much skepticism. This period represented the triumph of Protestantism, witnessing the emergence of previously taboo subjects, such as explicit discussions of sex. Later, writers began to question and critique dominant assumptions, adopting roles akin to social critics in their works, a shift mirrored in their literature. Following this, a period of scientific discovery profoundly occupied the minds of authors.
However, the primary concern of this time was the class system. Almost all Victorian writers came from the middle class and often held contradictory views towards the working class. There was a noticeable distinction between skilled artisans and factory workers earning decent wages versus unskilled laborers subsisting on the poverty line. The empathetic portrayal of a working-class character in Elizabeth Gaskell’s “Mary Barton” and in Dickens’s “Hard Times” showcased this disparity.
In depicting these struggles, Victorian literature played a vital role. Life was not always glamorous; the lower class in urban areas was frequently viewed as disease-ridden and criminal, posing potentials threats to the well-being of society at large. Yet, through some works, these perspectives achieved prominence and communicated messages that eventually gained more traction.