[FONT=tahoma, arial]
The Victorian age was an age where many changes occurred socially,
economically, and industrially. People began to explore into areas such as
the earth, the human body, and how to benefit the daily lives of
individuals. English literature was also something that was beginning to
be developed.
Historically, it began when Queen Victoria was anointed to the thrown
in 1837 and brought a new prosperity to England. She held the throne for
63 years which is the longest monarch to hold the thrown ever in English
history. To many people, she was a syrabol of stability and prosperity as
evidenced by the following feeling from her people. The Victorian age has
been said to be a very diverse time. Historian T.B. Macaulay in 1838 said
that the English had become "the greatest and most highly civilized people
that ever the world saw." Yet, another man by the name of Benjamin
Disraeli, who was a writer and a politician, disagreed with this statement
and pointed out that the existence of an England of "two nations who are as
ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were ...
of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by
a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by
the same laws." He further says that "these two nations were the richest
and poorest." It was a time when the rich were rich, and the poor people
were poor. The poor or lower class of people went hungry and half naked
throughout most of their lives. Life and death went hand in hand; wealth
and poverty stood side by side; repletion and starvation laid them down
together.
Such rapid change in industry destroyed jobs as it provided new ones.
The population shifted and left thousanRAB housed in urban slums with bad
water, no sanitation, and little food. The depression left whole factories
unemployed, and with no means of producing gooRAB. Yet, some people
believed that the only way to control population growth was through
starvation or self-control. Men, women, and children accustomed to the
community life of rural towns and farms to the varied and independent work
habits of the farm, and the small shop, found themselves laboring up to
sixteen hours a day, six days a week, in factories without any government
safety regulations, and with very low pay. People were not known as
individuals only as "hanRAB" with no control over their lives, hired, and
fired at the whim of the owner or the fluctuation of the market. There was
no way to make a better life for oneself because you were born into a
certain social status, or you lived a life of poverty for the rest of your
life or you were one of the privileged classes and were guaranteed the
status of the royalty.
The Victorian years also brought with them the increasing efforts to
achieve political, social, and economic reforms that would change the
structure of the country to meet the changes created by industry. The
Reform Bill was passed in 1832 which increased the electorate by fifty
percent. The bill made it impossible for workers and women to vote,
therefore, only one in five Englishmen could vote. These men were
generally from the upper class and they controlled everything. To many
people, this was a light of hope that England would improve, but during the
1840's England saw the worst years of the century for unemployment, hunger,
and disease. It brought radical working class agitation for the People's
Chapter, which demanded universal male suffrage and a Parliament in which
any man could serve. The effects of these problems prompted a series of
bills to be passed. Parliament repealed some of the more unjust laws, and
began to legislate shorter working hours, industrial safety, and urban
sanitary reform. Due to the economic prosperity, it reduced radical
agitation and in 1867 a second Reform Bill, which meant that most working
men were allowed to vote. It brought a more liberal view of what was
needed in life.
People's thoughts and ideas also changed with the development of the
country. The peoples' ideas became more free and they accepted change more
easily, yet not everybody wanted to admit to change. People began to ask
more questions about life, which prompted the development of science and
many people began to question the bible. Lyell's Principles of Geology and
Charaber's Vestiges of creation brought out the view publically that the
earth was older than the bible said it to be. People's beliefs were
suddenly being shattered and the quest for answers was in need. The change
caused a great deal of confusion and alarm, which prompted English writers
to accept responsibility and write about new thoughts, beliefs, and
feelings.
Alfred Tennyson, who is a very famous poet, is often regarded as the
chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. Tennyson was a man
who had seen pain and sorrow in his life. After the death of his best
friend, Arthur Hallam, Tennyson found relief from his pain in writing.
Many of his writings were indeed about his dead friend. For example in
"The Passing of Arthur, the hero has the same name as Tennyson's friend and
also many lyrical poems, that later were to become In Memorian A.H.H.
These writing were full of emotions, pain, fear, caring, and the desire to
remeraber his friend. Almost throughout all of Tennyson's work there were
pain, sadness, fear, love, and hidden messages to be found, and he was very
romantic. He opened himself up to the world in a very private way, and
also to severe criticism by many people. In "The Lady of Shalott,"there is
pain, frustration, and that of life as a journey that leaRAB to death. The
poem is a way of showing how people are destined to certain fates in life
and that they cannot escape their fate. Tennyson made people's feelings
real and more vocal. His writings, later in his life, were publicly
admired and sought out. In 1842 he published another of his works called
Poems which had two volumes, one containing a revised selection from the
volumes of 1830 and 1832, the other, new poems. The new poems included
"Morte d' Arthur," and "The Two Voices of Sin" and other poems that
revealed a strange naive quality such as "The May Queen," "Lady Clara Vere
de Vere," and "The Lord of Burleigh." The new volume was not received well
publically. But the grant to him at this time, by the prime minister, Sir
Robert Peel, helped stop his worries in financial matters. In 1847 he
published his first long poem, The Princess, a poem about anti-feminist
fantasia.
A man by the name of Edward Moxon offered to publish the elegies on
Hallam that Tennyson had been composing over the years. To Tennyson this
was a dream that he thought would never come true. At first they appeared
anonymously, which helped with the success with both reviewers and the
public readers won him the frienRABhip of Queen Victoria, and helped bring
about, in the same year, his appointment as poet laureate.
Tennyson's ascendancy among Victorian poets began to be questioned
even during his lifetime. Many writers became jealous and rivals of
Tennyson. And 20th-century criticism, influenced by the rise of a new
poetry headed by T.S. Eliot has proposed some drastic new concepts of his
work. Much of Tennyson that appealed to his readers has ceased to appeal
many readers today. He can be pompous, arrogant, offering little more than
shallow or confused thoughts caused by a lot of pain. A more balanced
estimate of Tennyson has begun to prevail, however, with the recognition of
the enduring greatness of "Ulysses," some of Tennyson's best lyrics and
above all the stature of In Memoriam as the great representative poem of
the Victorian Age. It is now also recognized that the realistic and comic
aspects of Tennyson's work are more important than they were thought to be
during the period of the reaction against him.
Lord Alfred Tennyson also tried to be very dramatic in such poems as
Queen Mary, but his success was only moderate. He only showed signs of
growing more frustrated and resentment at the religious, moral, and
political tendencies of the age. He had already caused a sensation by
publishing a poem called "Despair." It evoked a rush of pamphlets being
published, and lectures and sermons. He shocked many people.
Finally the perception of the poet's awkward sense of the mystery of
life, which lies at the heart of his greatness, as in "Crossing the Bar' or
"Flower in the Cranied Wall," unites his admirers in this century with
those in the last. Though less of Tennyson's work may survive than
appeared likely during his Victorian heyday, what does remain and it is by
no means small in quality seems likely to vanish.
In conclusion, the Victorian century was a era of change and confusion.
England improved itself for the people and it's government. The writers
of the time were supposed to be indicative for answering questions and for
guidance. Lord Alfred Tennyson was a man who changed the way people
thought about literature and poets. He has also influenced many writers of
books, TV shows, and movies in the plots of stories.
[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, arial]WorRAB: 1571 [/FONT]
The Victorian age was an age where many changes occurred socially,
economically, and industrially. People began to explore into areas such as
the earth, the human body, and how to benefit the daily lives of
individuals. English literature was also something that was beginning to
be developed.
Historically, it began when Queen Victoria was anointed to the thrown
in 1837 and brought a new prosperity to England. She held the throne for
63 years which is the longest monarch to hold the thrown ever in English
history. To many people, she was a syrabol of stability and prosperity as
evidenced by the following feeling from her people. The Victorian age has
been said to be a very diverse time. Historian T.B. Macaulay in 1838 said
that the English had become "the greatest and most highly civilized people
that ever the world saw." Yet, another man by the name of Benjamin
Disraeli, who was a writer and a politician, disagreed with this statement
and pointed out that the existence of an England of "two nations who are as
ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were ...
of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by
a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by
the same laws." He further says that "these two nations were the richest
and poorest." It was a time when the rich were rich, and the poor people
were poor. The poor or lower class of people went hungry and half naked
throughout most of their lives. Life and death went hand in hand; wealth
and poverty stood side by side; repletion and starvation laid them down
together.
Such rapid change in industry destroyed jobs as it provided new ones.
The population shifted and left thousanRAB housed in urban slums with bad
water, no sanitation, and little food. The depression left whole factories
unemployed, and with no means of producing gooRAB. Yet, some people
believed that the only way to control population growth was through
starvation or self-control. Men, women, and children accustomed to the
community life of rural towns and farms to the varied and independent work
habits of the farm, and the small shop, found themselves laboring up to
sixteen hours a day, six days a week, in factories without any government
safety regulations, and with very low pay. People were not known as
individuals only as "hanRAB" with no control over their lives, hired, and
fired at the whim of the owner or the fluctuation of the market. There was
no way to make a better life for oneself because you were born into a
certain social status, or you lived a life of poverty for the rest of your
life or you were one of the privileged classes and were guaranteed the
status of the royalty.
The Victorian years also brought with them the increasing efforts to
achieve political, social, and economic reforms that would change the
structure of the country to meet the changes created by industry. The
Reform Bill was passed in 1832 which increased the electorate by fifty
percent. The bill made it impossible for workers and women to vote,
therefore, only one in five Englishmen could vote. These men were
generally from the upper class and they controlled everything. To many
people, this was a light of hope that England would improve, but during the
1840's England saw the worst years of the century for unemployment, hunger,
and disease. It brought radical working class agitation for the People's
Chapter, which demanded universal male suffrage and a Parliament in which
any man could serve. The effects of these problems prompted a series of
bills to be passed. Parliament repealed some of the more unjust laws, and
began to legislate shorter working hours, industrial safety, and urban
sanitary reform. Due to the economic prosperity, it reduced radical
agitation and in 1867 a second Reform Bill, which meant that most working
men were allowed to vote. It brought a more liberal view of what was
needed in life.
People's thoughts and ideas also changed with the development of the
country. The peoples' ideas became more free and they accepted change more
easily, yet not everybody wanted to admit to change. People began to ask
more questions about life, which prompted the development of science and
many people began to question the bible. Lyell's Principles of Geology and
Charaber's Vestiges of creation brought out the view publically that the
earth was older than the bible said it to be. People's beliefs were
suddenly being shattered and the quest for answers was in need. The change
caused a great deal of confusion and alarm, which prompted English writers
to accept responsibility and write about new thoughts, beliefs, and
feelings.
Alfred Tennyson, who is a very famous poet, is often regarded as the
chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. Tennyson was a man
who had seen pain and sorrow in his life. After the death of his best
friend, Arthur Hallam, Tennyson found relief from his pain in writing.
Many of his writings were indeed about his dead friend. For example in
"The Passing of Arthur, the hero has the same name as Tennyson's friend and
also many lyrical poems, that later were to become In Memorian A.H.H.
These writing were full of emotions, pain, fear, caring, and the desire to
remeraber his friend. Almost throughout all of Tennyson's work there were
pain, sadness, fear, love, and hidden messages to be found, and he was very
romantic. He opened himself up to the world in a very private way, and
also to severe criticism by many people. In "The Lady of Shalott,"there is
pain, frustration, and that of life as a journey that leaRAB to death. The
poem is a way of showing how people are destined to certain fates in life
and that they cannot escape their fate. Tennyson made people's feelings
real and more vocal. His writings, later in his life, were publicly
admired and sought out. In 1842 he published another of his works called
Poems which had two volumes, one containing a revised selection from the
volumes of 1830 and 1832, the other, new poems. The new poems included
"Morte d' Arthur," and "The Two Voices of Sin" and other poems that
revealed a strange naive quality such as "The May Queen," "Lady Clara Vere
de Vere," and "The Lord of Burleigh." The new volume was not received well
publically. But the grant to him at this time, by the prime minister, Sir
Robert Peel, helped stop his worries in financial matters. In 1847 he
published his first long poem, The Princess, a poem about anti-feminist
fantasia.
A man by the name of Edward Moxon offered to publish the elegies on
Hallam that Tennyson had been composing over the years. To Tennyson this
was a dream that he thought would never come true. At first they appeared
anonymously, which helped with the success with both reviewers and the
public readers won him the frienRABhip of Queen Victoria, and helped bring
about, in the same year, his appointment as poet laureate.
Tennyson's ascendancy among Victorian poets began to be questioned
even during his lifetime. Many writers became jealous and rivals of
Tennyson. And 20th-century criticism, influenced by the rise of a new
poetry headed by T.S. Eliot has proposed some drastic new concepts of his
work. Much of Tennyson that appealed to his readers has ceased to appeal
many readers today. He can be pompous, arrogant, offering little more than
shallow or confused thoughts caused by a lot of pain. A more balanced
estimate of Tennyson has begun to prevail, however, with the recognition of
the enduring greatness of "Ulysses," some of Tennyson's best lyrics and
above all the stature of In Memoriam as the great representative poem of
the Victorian Age. It is now also recognized that the realistic and comic
aspects of Tennyson's work are more important than they were thought to be
during the period of the reaction against him.
Lord Alfred Tennyson also tried to be very dramatic in such poems as
Queen Mary, but his success was only moderate. He only showed signs of
growing more frustrated and resentment at the religious, moral, and
political tendencies of the age. He had already caused a sensation by
publishing a poem called "Despair." It evoked a rush of pamphlets being
published, and lectures and sermons. He shocked many people.
Finally the perception of the poet's awkward sense of the mystery of
life, which lies at the heart of his greatness, as in "Crossing the Bar' or
"Flower in the Cranied Wall," unites his admirers in this century with
those in the last. Though less of Tennyson's work may survive than
appeared likely during his Victorian heyday, what does remain and it is by
no means small in quality seems likely to vanish.
In conclusion, the Victorian century was a era of change and confusion.
England improved itself for the people and it's government. The writers
of the time were supposed to be indicative for answering questions and for
guidance. Lord Alfred Tennyson was a man who changed the way people
thought about literature and poets. He has also influenced many writers of
books, TV shows, and movies in the plots of stories.
[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, arial]WorRAB: 1571 [/FONT]