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Salient features of the Victorian age.

Introduction
The modern period of progress and unrest when Victoria
become queen in 1837, English literature seemed to have
entered upon a period of lean years, in marked contrast with
the poetic fruitfulness of the romantic age which we have
just studied. Coleridge, Shelley, Keats Byron and scot had
passed away and it seemed as if there were no writers in
England to fill their place. Words worth had written in 1835.
Like clouds that rake the mountain summits or waves that
own no Curbing hand, How fast has brother followed brother,
from sunshine to the sunless land I
In these lines is reflected the sorrowful spirit of a literary
man of the early nineteenth century who remembered the
glory that had passed away from the earth. But the leanness
of their first year is more apparent than real. Keats and
Shelley were dead, it is true but already there had appeared
three disciples of these poets who were destined to be far
more widely read then were their masters Tennyson had
been publishing poetry since 1827 his first poems appearing
almost simultaneously with the list work of Byron Shelley
and Keats. Moreover even as romanticism seemed passing
away, a group of great prose writers Dickens, Thackerdy,
Carlyle and Ruskin had already begum to proclaim the
literary glory of a new age which now seems to rank only just
below the Elizabethan and the romantic periods.
The salient features of the age are mentioned here.
1. Democracy : Amid the multitude of social and political
forces of this great age, four things stemd out clearly. First
the long struggle of the Anglo-Saxons for personal liberty is
definitely settled and democracy becomes the established
order of the day. The king who appeared in an age of popular
weakness and ignorance, and the peers who came with the
Normans in triumph are both stripped of their power and left
as figure-heads of a past civilization. The last vestige of

personal government and the divine right of rulers

disappears; the house of commons becomes the ruling
power in England; and a series of new reforms bills rapidly
extend the people choose for themselves the men who shall
represent them.
2. Social Unrest : Second because it is an age of
democracy, it is an age of popular education, of religious
tolerance, of growing brotherhood, and of profound social
unrest. The slaves had been freed in 1833 but in the middle
of the century England a work to the fact that slaves are not
necessarily negroes, stolen in Africa to be sold like cattle in
the market place, but that multitudes of men, women, and
little children in the mines and factories were victims of a
more terrible industrial and social slavery. To free this
competitive method, has been the growing purpose of the
Victorian age until the present day.
3. The ideal of Peace : Third, because it is an age of
democracy and education, it is an age of comparative peace.
England begins to think less of the pomp and false glitter of
fighting and more of its moral evils, as the nation realizes
that it is the common people who bear the burden and the
sorrow and the poverty of war, while the privilege classes
reap most of the financial and political rewards. Moreover,
with the growth of trade and of friendly foreign relations, it
becomes evident that the social equality for which England
was contending at home belongs to the whole race of men
that brother hood is universal, not insular that a question of
justice is never settled by fighting and that war is generally
unmitigated horror and bar barusm. Tennyson, who came of
age when the great reform bill occupied attention, expresses
the ideas of the liberals of his day who proposed to spread
the gospel of peace. Till the war drum throbbed no longer
and the battle flags were furled in the parliament of man the
federation of the world.
4. Arts and sciences : Fourth, the Victorian age is
especially remarkable because of its rapid progress in all the

arts and sciences and in mechanical inventions. A glance at

any record of the industrial achievements of the nineteenth
century will show how vast the are and it is unnecessary to
repeat here the list of the inventions, from spinning looms to
steamboats, and from matches to electric lights. All these
material things, as well as the growth of education have their
influence upon the life of a people and it is inevitable that
they should react upon its prose and poetry thought as yet
we are too much absorbed in our sciences and machines to
determine accurately their influence upon literature. When
these new things shall by long use have become familiar as
country roads or have been replaced by newer and better
things, then they also will have their associations and
memories and a poem on the rail roads may be as
suggestive as words worths sonnet on Westminster bridge
and the busy, practical working men who today throng our
stress and factories may seem to a future and greater age as
quaint and poetical as to us seem the slow toilers of the
middle ages.
5. An era of peace : The few colonial wars that broke out
during the Victorian approach did not seriously disturb the
national life. There was one continental war that directly
affected Britain the Crimean war and one that affected her
indirectly though strongly the Franco german struggle yet
neither of these caused any profound changes. In America
the great civil struggle left scars that were soon to be
obliterated by the wise statesmanship of her rulers. The
whole age may be not unfairly described as one of peaceful
activity. In the earlier stages the lessening surges of the
French revolution were still felt but by the middle of the
century they had almost completely died down, and other
hopes and ideals largely specific were gradually taking their
place.
6. Material Developments : It was an age alive with new
activity. There was a revolution in commercial enterprise,
due to the great increase of available markets and as a
result of this an immense advance in the use of mechanical

devices. The new commercial energy was reflected in the

great exhibition of 1851. Which was greeted as the
inauguration of a new era of prosperity on the other side of
this picture of commercial expansion we see the appalling
social conditions of the new industrial cities, the squalid
slums and the exploitation of cheap labor (often of children),
the painful flight by the enlightened few to introduce social
legislation and the slow extension of the franchise. The evils
of the industrial revolution were vividly painted by such
writers as dickens and Mrs. Gaskell and they called forth the
missionary efforts of men like Kingsley.
7. Intellectual developments : There can be little doubt
that in many cases material wealth produced a hardness of
temper and an impatience of projects and ideas that brought
no return in hard case yet it is to the credit of this age that
intellectual activities were so numerous. There was quite a
revolution in scientific thought following upon the works of
Darwin and his school, and an immense outburst of social
and political throrizing which was represented in this country
by the writings of men like Herbert Spencer and john Stuart
mill. In addition, popular education became a practical thing.
This in its turn produced a new hunger for intellectual food
and resulted in a great increase in the production of the
press and of other more durable species of literature.
Literary features of the age:
The sixty years commonly included under the name of the
Victorian age present many dissimilar features. Yet in several
respects we can safely generalize.
1. Its morality : Nearly all observers of the Victorian age
are struck by its extreme deference to the conventions. To a
later age these seem ludicrous. It was thought indecorous for
a man to smoke in public and for a lady to ride a bicycle. To a
great extent the new morality was a natural revolt against
the grossness of the earlier regency, and the influence of the
Victorian court was all in its favor. In literature it is amply

reflected. Tennyson is the most conspicuous co placement sir

Galahad and King Arthur, dickens, perhaps the most
representative of the Victorian novelists took for his model
the old picaresque novel. But it is almost laughable to
observe his anxiety to be moral. This type of writing is quite
blameless but it produced the king of public that denounced
the innocuous jane eyre as wicked because it dealt with the
harmless affection of a girl for a married man.
2. The Revolt : Many writers protest against the deadening
effect of the conventions. Carlyle and Matthew Arnold in
their different accents were loud in their denunciations
thackerary never tired of satirizing the snobbishness of the
age and bowings cobbly mannerisms were an indirect
challenge to the velvety diction and the smooth self
satisfaction of the Tennysonian School. As the age
proceeded the reaction
strengthened. In poetry the Pre-Raphaelites, by Swinburne
and William Morris proclaimed no morality but that of the
crtists regard for his art. By the vigour of his method
Swinburne horrified the timorous and made himself rather
ridiculous in the eyes of sensible people. It remained for
Thomas hardy to pull a side. The Victorian veils and shutters
and with the large tolerances of the master to regards mens
actions
with open gaze.
2. Intellectual developments : The literary product was
inevitably affected by the new ideas in science, religion and
politics. On the origin of species (1859) of Darwin shook to
its foundation scientific thought. We can perceive the
influence of such a work in Tennysons. in memoriam in
Matthew Arnolds meditative poetry and in the works of
Carlyle. In religious and ethical thought the Oxford
movement as it was called was the most note warthy
advance. This movement had its source among the young
and eager thinkers of the old university and was headed by
the great Newman who ultimately (1854) joined the church

of Rome, as a religious portent it marked the widespread

discontent with the existing belief of the church of England
as a literary influence it affected many writers of note,
including Newman himself, roude, Maurice kingsley and glad
stone.
3. The new education : The new education acts, making a
cetian measure of education compulsory, rapidly produced
and enormous reading public. The cheapening of printing
and paper increased the demand for books so that the
production was multiplied. The most popular form of
literature was the novel and the novelists responded with a
will. Much of their work was of a high standard so much so
that it has been asserted by competent critics that the
middle years of the nineteenth century were the richest in
the whole history of the novel.
4. International influences : During the nineteenth
century the interaction among American and European
writers was remarkably fresh and strong. In Britain the
influences of the great german writers was continuous and it
was championed by Carlyle and Mathew Arnold. Subject
nations in particular the Italians, were a sympathetic theme
for prose and verse. The browning Swinburne, morris and
Meredith were deeply absorbed in the long struggle of the
followers of garibaldi and Cavour and when Italian freedom
was gained the rejoicings were genuine.
5. The achievement of the age : With all its immense
production, the age produced no supreme writer. It revealed
no Shakespeare no Shelley nor a Byron or a Scott. The
general literary level was however very high and it was an
age moreover of spacious intellectual horizons, noble
endeavor and bright aspirations.
Conclusion :
To conclude this point we can see that basically in this age
the most beneficial things is the cheapening of printing and
paper. They increased the demand for books. This age is also

known as the age of peace. In these ages there is also one

important development of material and during that time
there was a revolution happened in commercial enterprise.