THE VICTORIAN PERIOD (1837-1901)

THE VICTORIAN PERIOD (1837-1901)

 

The Victorian Age covers the period from Queen Victoria’s successes to the throne of England in 1837 and her death in 1901. It is also called as Second Renaissance. Two equally powerful forces opposing each other in the Victorian Age were Science and Religion. This strange predicament was described by Mathew Arnold: “Wandering between two worlds, one dead. The other powerless to be born”. It is also called as Age of Prose and Reason, Age of Reforms, Age of Doubt, Age of Demeocracy.

Historical Events

Chartist movement 1838: demanding voting rights for all. (in 1884 all working men got right to vote, in 1918 all men got vote, in 1928 all women got right to vote (universal suffrage))

Hungry 40’s- poor people suffered a lot because of unemployment, potato blight.

Repeal of Corn Laws 1846: reduced the corn prices

Year of revolutions 1848 -against the monarchy.

Great Exhibition (1851)-

Crimean War (1853-56)

Education Act 1870,76- all children between the ages 5 to 13 must attend schools

Queen Victoria became the Empress of India in 1876.

Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee -1887

Literary Events

Victorian Compromise: coined by G.K. Chesterton (He is known as Prince of Paradox). Conflict between science (Darwinian Critics) and religion (Biblical Critics); wealth and poverty; faith and doubt; authority and freedom; thought and action.

 

Charles Robert Darwin:

1.   On the Origin of Species (1859)

2.   The Descent of Man

 

Act of 1843: Monopoly of Theatres, Coventry Garden and Druary lane, was broken.

The Oxford Movement 1833: It was a movement in the Church of England and aimed at cultivating high church principles. It is called the Oxford movement because it originated in the University of Oxford from a sermon preached by John Keble, the Professor at Oxford. They demanded renewal of Roman Catholic thought and practices in church.  The movement's philosophy was known as Tractarianism after its series of publications, the Tracts for the Times (a series of 90 theological publications) published from 1833 to 1841.

The main leaders of this movement are:

Ø  John Keble – the originator;

Ø  Cardinal Newman – the most influenced person. (Apologia Pro Vita Sua- is his biography)

Ø  Edward Bouverie Pusey-

Ø  Robert Wilberforce-

 

The Aesthetic Movement: The Aesthetic movement, also known as Aestheticism became popular in England in 1890s. Drawn ideas from Theophile Gautier (French), and Kant’s Critique of Judgment, Walter Pater’s Renaissance (1876) and Oscar Wilde’s ‘the Apostle of Aestheticism’. Pater preached ‘Art for Art’s Sake’ and Oscar Wilde ‘Beauty for Beauty’s Sake’

Oscar Wilde: playwright. He was the best and most memorable writer of this aesthetic movement.

1.   The Importance of Being Earnest 1895 -A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a comical play- “Asta Chemma” movie in Telugu, story of Jack Worthing who has 2 names (Earnest in town, Jack in village). Gwendolen is in love with his name Earnest.

2.   A Woman of No Importance- comedy

3.   An Ideal Husband- comedy

4.   The Picture of Dorian Gray- Philosophical novel, famous lines in it: “All art is quite useless”; He disliked 19^th century realism and said, “Caliban seeing his own face in the glass”

Famous lines: “A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing”;

“Nothing spoils romance so much as a sense of humor in the woman” ― Oscar Wilde.

Walter Pater: essayist and critic.

1.   Studies in the history of Renaissance 1873: series of essays, Oscar wild called it as “Golden Book”.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848 –) Dante Gabriel Rossetti, J. E. Millais, W. H. Hunt etc., founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Inspired from Italian painters before Raphael. The main aim of this movement was to restore the beauty of Pre-Raphaelite painting to the English art. The purpose of pre-Raphaelite is to promote simplicity and naturalness. Buchanan identified Rosetti as leader. He used the term “Fleshy School of poetry” to criticize them. DG Rossetti replied this article by his article 'stealthy school of criticism’. It is a revolt against contemporary poets such as Tennyson. D. G. Rossetti, A. C. Swinburne, William Morris and Christiana Rossetti are regarded as Pre-Raphaelite poets.

D. G. Rossetti: Father of Pre-Raphaelite movement. He is poet and painter. His original name is Charles Gabriel Dante Rosetti, but in influence of Dante Aligheri, he changed his name as D. G. Rossetti.

1.   The Blessed Damozel – his best-known poem, influenced by E.A. Poe’s Raven poem. Story of a young woman who died at very young age. After attaining heavenly bliss, she longs for her earthly companion.

Algernon Charles Swinburne: poet, novelist and critic. Nominated for Nobel prize continuously for 5 years between 1903-07. Called as “Pseudo Shelly” by Arnold. His poetry is called as “Wonderful rhythmic invention”- by Tennyson.

1.   Atlanta in Calydon – his best-known play. It is a historical drama modelled on Greek Tragedy.

William Morris: printer and writer, founded Kelmscott press. Inspired by Ruskin.

1.   The Earthly Paradise: His master piece, collection of retelling of various myths and legends from Greece.

2.   News from Nowhere (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction

3.   The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs:  is an epic poem of over 10,000 lines

 

Christiana Rossetti: one of the important women poets in Victorian Age. Her pseudonym is “Ellen Alleyne”

1.   Goblin Market and other poems: famous, story of pleasure-seeking Laura and conventional Lizzie.

Poetry

Alfred Lord Tennyson:

He won the Chancellor Medal for his poem ‘Timbuctoo’. In 1850, he became Poet Laureate in succession to Wordsworth.

1.   Poems by two Brothers 1827– in collaboration with his elder brother Charles

2.   Mariana- poem

3.   Lotos Eater 1832- Inspired by his trip toPyrennis Mountains, Spain. describes a group of sailors who fall asleep after eating Lotos

4.   Ulysses – poem in blank verse- in dramatic monologic form- Greek hero Ulysses, in his old age, describes his discontent and restlessness to his wife, Penelope and son, Telemachus. To stive to seek to find nand not to yield

5.   Tithonus (1833)- Greek hero Tithon, in old age, worrying about his immortality, yearns for death. Appears in The Wasteland

6.   In Memoriam (1850)– an elegy on the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam. Worked for 17 years. “Nature red in tooth and Claw”; “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"

7.   The Charge of Light Brigade (1854)- about the Crimean war

8.   Maud (1855)- Mono drama

9.   The princes: A medley 1847 – establishment of woman university, feminist poem

Man for the field and woman for the hearth:

Man for the sword and for the needle she:

Man with the head and woman with the heart:

Man to command and woman to obey;

All else confusion. (The Princess, Canto V)

(The Princess- serio-comic blank verse narrative poem, written by Alfred Tennyson, published in 1847)

 

10.    The Idylls of the king –collection of 12 poems.  it deals with the theme of King Arthur and the Round Table. It is based on Malory’s Morte de’Arthur. Famous line: “The old order changeth, yielding place to new”

11.    Locksley Hall: sixty years after– vision of social unrest and disturbance. famous quote: “Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers and he bears a Laden breast”

12.   The Holy Grail

13.   Break, break, break- Tennyson’s feelings for the loss of A.H.Hallam, his friend.

14.    Oenone- Greek mythological character Oenone in Trojan War

15.  Defense of Lucknow:  war on sepoy mutiny and seize of Lucknow. He compared Indians to traitors.

16.  The Brook – famous quote: “For men may come and men may go, but I go forever.

17.  Crossing the Bar – fine epitaph, compares the death with crossing the sandbar between river of life.  Famous lines: “Sunset and evening star, and a clear call for me,

I hope to see my pilot face to face, when I have crossed the bar.”

18.  The Dreamer (1892): Last poem by Tennyson, refrain: “All is well that ends well”

Apostils: small group of writers and friends- Tennyson and A.H.Hallam.

 

Robert Browning:

Known as Victorian Donne.mostly self-taught in his father’s library. master of dramatic monologue.

1.   Pauline: A fragment of a confession (1833)– a tribute to Shelly

2.   Paracelsus – a Swish physician, quest for perfect knowledge

3.   Sordello– life of Italian poet of 12^th century. begins with, “who will hear Sordello’s story…….”

4.   Bells and Pomegranates-No.I – series of poems

i)     Pippa Passes 1841:-play about Pippa, a silk weaver, goes out, sings and helps the poor.

Famous line: “God's in his Heaven - All's right with the world"

ii)   Evelyn Hope: The speaker of the poem is an old man sitting with the corpse of Evelyn Hope, a 16-year-old girl who has recently died. She was too young, so he never made any direct proposal and it is now too late. “Beautiful Evelyn Hope is dead! Sit and watch by her side an hour.”

5.     Bells and Pomegranates No. II:

                     I.        King Victor and King Charles (play) (1842)

 

6.   Bells and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics:

i)     The Pied Piper of Hamelin- famous children story. Pied Piper of Hamelin solves the problem of rats by playing the pipe on a promise of 1000 coins from mayor. When the mayor refused to pay, piper plays the pipe again, all the children follow him (except a lame boy). He disappears with all the children of the town and never returned.

ii)    Porphyria’s Lover: Dramatic monologue- describes the act of murdering the woman he loved

iii) My Last Duchess: Dramatic monologue- Duke of Ferrara (who murdered his first wife) describes the character of his first wife to envoy. Famous line: I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together.

 

 

7.   Bells and Pomegranates No. VII: Dramatic Romances (1845):

i)     The lost Leader (a poem on Wordsworth): Famous line: Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us, Burns, Shelley, were with us,-they watch from their graves!

ii)   The Laboratory: a woman speaking to pothecary to prepare poison to kill her rival in love.

8.   Men and Women 1855– it consists his best Dramatic Monologues.

i)     FraLippo Lippi:  about a painter.

ii)   Andrew Del Sarto: a faultless painter.

iii)  Toccata of Galuppi’s-Toccata is a musical instrument

iv)  One Word More (addressed to his wife)

v)   A Grammarian’s Funeral- the Grammarian (scholar of the classical languages)’s former students (one of which is the speaker) are performing his eulogy and carrying his corpse to its burial place atop a mountain.

9.   Dramatic Personae – it contains studies of men and women.

i)     Rabbi Ben Ezra: about a poet, mathematician and scholar of 12^th century. Begins with the line: “Grow old along with me, The best is yet to be”

ii)   Abt Vogler- a musician

iii)  Caliban Upon Setebos: Caliban, a monster from Shakespeare’s Tempest.

10.    The Ring and the Book – his masterpiece, in blank verse, verse novel in 21000 lines, it is twice as long as Paradise Lost. It contains thestory of Pomphilia, and her unhappy marriage, returns to her parents. Her husband Franceschini murders Pomphilia and her parents, arrested and executed. Famous line: “O' Lyric Love, half angel and half bird”

11.    Asolando – published on the day of his death.

12.    Aeschylus Soliloquy – unfinished poem.

13.    Poetic Plays:1. Strafford (historical Tragedy) 3. A Bolt on the Scutcheon, 4. King Victor and King Charles.

 

Elizabeth Barret Browning: She was the wife of Robert Browning. Woolf described her as “True daughter of her age”

1.   Prometheus Bound-

2.   The Cry of the Children. - against child labor

3.   Sonnets from Portuguese 1850 – her best work, love sonnets for Browning. Portuguese is the nickname for Barret Browning given by Robert Browning. Sonnet 43 has the famous lines “How do I love thee…?”

4.   Casa Guidi windows 1851 - about Italian Liberty.

5.   Aurora Leigh 1856- mostly autobiographical- deals with the problems of Victorian women. It is considered as women’s version of Prelude (of Wordsworth). Anticipated the Virginia Woolf’s famous essay “A Room of One’s Own”.

6.   Poems before Congress 1860 – Italian fight for Independence.

The Barretts of the Wimpole Street: is a play based on the romance between Robert Browning and Barret Browning, and her father’s unwillingness to the marriage, written by Rudolf Besier.

Mathew Arnold:

The eldest son of Dr. Thomas Arnold, the famous headmaster of Rugby.He worked as the inspector of schools for 35 years. He became the Oxford Professor of Poetry.

“The end and aim of all literatureisa criticism of life,” and, again, that “poetry is, at bottom, a criticism of life,”-Mathew Arnold

1.   Switzerland – group of 7 poems

2.   Sohrab and Rustum1853– its theme has taken from the Persian book ‘Shah Namah=book of Kings’ written by Firdausi. Rustum’s killing of his Sohrab.

3.   Empedocles of Etna (1852)- poem about Empodecles (Greek mythology) and his suicide

4.   Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse-“Wandering between two worlds”

5.   The Scholar Gipsy1853– a pastoral poem of the Oxford countryside.

6.   Merope – a Greek tragedy

7.   Thyrsis– an elegy on the death of Arthur Clough

8.   Rugby Chapel 1857– an elegy on his father’s death.

9.   Dover Beach 1867- This poem sees the world o f endless sadness. Ends with vision of nothingness the meaningless war fought for meaningless reasons. compared to “The Wasteland” of the 19^th century. “The sea is calm to-night, The tide is full, the moon lies fair”- opening lines of Dover Beach.

10.    Memorial Verses – it mourns the death of Wordsworth, Goethe and Byron.

11.    Essays in criticism-1865- turned as critic in 1860’s (remember: Essay on Criticism is by Pope)

12.    Culture and Anarchy- 1869- (Anarchy=absence of political authority)- collection of essays, divided society into 3 main classes: Barbarians-rich aristocrats; Philistines- middle-class, money-making business men; and Populace- undeveloped working people. He coined the term “Sweetness and Light” = beauty and wisdom that adds to life. He talks about Hellenism(= knowing) and Herbaism (= doing) in chapter 4 of the book.

13.    The study of Poetry(1888)- introduced “touchstone method”. It is a comparative method of criticism. To judge a poet's work properly, a critic should compare it to passages taken from works of great masters of poetry, and that these passages should be applied as touchstones to other poetry.

14.   Literature and Dogma

15.   On Translating Homer

16.   God and the Bible

Prose

Thomas Carlyle: Scottish philosopher and writer. Founder of London Library. Life long friend of Emerson.

1.   Sartor Resartus 1836: (The tailor retailored)– his best work, commentary on the thought and early life of a German philosopher called Diogenes Teufelsdröckh (which translates as 'Zeus-born devil-dung'), author of a book “Clothes: Their Origin and Influence”. Preface by Emerson.

2.   The French Revolution 1837–major historical work, about the dangers of revolution

3.   On Hero’s, Hero worship and the heroic in History 1841:  biographies of great personalities. Hesays, “History is nothing but the biography of great men”

4.   Past and Present 1843:  It was written as a response to the economic crisis of the 1840s, with its closure of factories, loss of jobs, the growth of slums in industrial centers, and the starving poor.

 

John Ruskin: writer and critic

1.   Modern Painters – written in defense of the painting of Turner

2.   The Seven Lamps of Architecture – about fundamental of architecture

3.   The Stones of Venice – his masterpiece, about fundamental of architecture

4.   Unto this Last – 4 essays, essay on economy in it influenced M.K.Gandhi

5.   Sesame and Lilies 1865: collection of 3 essays

                     i.Sesame: Of King’s Treasure- criticizes Victorian manhood.

                   ii.Lilies: Of Queen’s Garden – urges parents to educate girls.

                  iii.The Mystery of Life: added this part later

6.   Time and Tide

Thomas Babington Macaulay:

1.   The Encyclopedia Britannica

2.   History of England: major work, only 5 volumes covered from the accession of James-II to George-II. “History of England is emphatically the history of progress”-Macaulay.

3.   Lays of Ancient Rome- poetry

4.   Critical and Historical Essays: Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) is a collection of articles by Thomas Babington Macaulay, later Lord Macaulay.

5.   Essay on Milton is famous.

6.   Impeachment of Warren Hastings- Essay (remember: Impeachment of Warren Hastings- speech by Burke)

 

Charles Dickens

first person to serialize novels. His novels are known as “NewgateNovels”as they deal with the adventures of the criminals.  As a journalist he edited ‘The Daily News’, and he founded ‘Household Words’ and All the Year Round’. He was greatly influenced by Carlyle. His life as a poor boy, clerk, lawyer, reporter, manager of news-papers taught him a lot. He used it in his literary works.

Short writings:

1.   Sketches by Boz 1836- is a collection of short pieces, originally published in various newspapers and other periodicals between 1833 and 1836. He adopted ‘Boz’ as Pseudonym, which is derived from his family name. Humorous writings about London life.

Novels   code: PONO-BLDD-BHLA-GOT

1.   The Pickwick Papers 1836-37 –His first novel. a picaresque novel, came out as serial sketches with 300 characters.

Samuel Weller is a fictional character in it, who used established proverbs in certain situations to show them that they are wrong in a funny way. Wellerism is named after this practice. Ex: "First I must check my balance" said the man in front of the ATM, swaying slightly and holding his arms out either side of him

2.   Oliver Twist: The Parish boy’s progress1837– a poor Oliver’s suffering in English work houses is depicted. About 1834 act. Most memorable image of the novel is Oliver asking the master for more rice. Fagin is an evil character in it.

3.   Nicholas Nickleby 1839– the abuses of charity schools, sufferings of students in Yorkshire schools and brutal school masters are depicted.

4.   Old Curiosity Shop 1840-41- about 13-year girl old Nell Trent and his grandfather in an antique gift shop. Death of Nell at the climax is sentimental. Quilp is a vicious, ill-tempered and grotesque dwarf and is the villain of the story

5.   Barnaby Rudge- historical novel based on anti-Catholic protests against Popish Act 1778.

6.   Life and adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit 1843-44: about his reactions to America

7.   Dombay and Son – Story of Paul Dombay, head of a shipping company and his desire to have a son.

8.   David Copperfield – It is his masterpiece and the history of his own life(autobiographical). Deepika Srivastava says that, “The pen that wrote David Copperfield was often dipped in his own blood.” Novel set in early Victorian England against the backdrop of social change. Story of David Copperfield’s growth from young age to maturity (Bildungsroman). Opening line: “Whether I Shall turn out to ne the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” He was born six months after the death of his father and raised by his mother Clara and his nurse Peggotty, who give him a happy childhood. Clara married Murdstone (antagonist) who is cruel and beats the boy. David’s step father Mr. Murdstone, sent him to strict boarding school, and later to London to work in warehouse where he meets Micawaber (known for asserting faith- something will turn up”). This character of Mr. Micawber is based on Dicken’s father. Later, David stays at his aunt Miss.Betsey’s House in Dover. He met Uria Heep, a servant who is known for obedient flattery (Uria Heep became synonym with the term Scycophant). David becomes writer, when his wife Dora dies, he marries Agnes at the end. In the preface to this book, Dickens wrote, “Of all my books, I like this the best. …………But, like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favorite child. And his name is DAVID COPPERFIELD.

9.   Blake House1852-53- Dicken’s only novel with female narrator, it is a critique of the law of courts, based on the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Story of Esther Summerson, illegitimate daughter of Lady Deadlock and Captain Hawdon(Nemo=nobody in Latin), who raised at Bleak House(believed to be dead), met her mother Lady deadlock at the end. Famous line in opening para: “Fog everywhere. Fog up the river … fog down the river…”and “It is always raining in the heart of Lady Deadlock” (Fog and Rain describes the corruption, confusion in the society)

10.    Hard Times –Subtitle is: “For these times” industrial novel-shortest by Dickens.it is a critique of Science and Industry written in 3 parts (Sowing, Reaping and Gannering). Novel is about the Industrial revolution, set in Coke Town, and describes the story of Thomas Gradgrind and his daughter Lousia who married Josaiah Bounderby, and his son Tom, who robs a bank.  Famous line: Grad grind says, “Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life”.

11.   Little Dorrit 1885-57: story of Amy Dorrit born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London.

12.    A Tale of Two Cities – set in London and Paris.  it is historical novel based on Carlyle’s The French Revolution. Written in 3 parts (Recalled to life, The Golden Thread, The track of Storm).The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie, whom he had never met. Sydney Craton, a barrister loves Lucie, but she marries Charles Damay, a French noble man. Lucie is the “The Golden Thread” (hair color of the heroine). Dickens opens the novel with a famous sentence: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, ……”

13.    Great Expectations- bildungsroman story of Philip Pirrip, who was also known as Pip. He suddenly raises from labor to a city gentle man. She is a wealthy spinster, once jilted at the altar, who insists on wearing her wedding dress for the rest of her life. She lives in a ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella. Dickens describes her as looking like "the witch of the place".

14.   Our Mutual Friend 1864-65- last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centers on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quoting from the character Bella Wilfer in the book, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life"

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15.    The Mystery of Edwin Drood – it remains incomplete.

16.   A Christmas Carol- Novella, story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

E. M. Forster, in his 1927 Aspects of the Novel, applied the terms “flat” and “round” to describe fictional characters. 1) Flat:  serves only one purpose in the story. For example, Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens’s novel Great Expectations, is a flat character who seeks only revenge for being abandoned on her wedding day.; Mrs. Micawber in David Copperfield. 2) Round: Those true to life he considered to be “round”. Complex, multifaceted. E.M. Foster says, “Dicken’s characters are flat(=having one mood), but round”

William Makepeace Thackeray: First colonial writer born in India (Calcutta). His penname is Arthur Pendennis.

1.   The Vanity Fair – his best work, it is considered as ‘the novel without hero’, Its title was drawn from JohnBunyan’s Pilgrim Progress. it deals with the adventures of Becky Sharp, strongly willed young woman amoral and unprincipled, initially poor but becomes rich; and Amelia Sedley, an ideal creature, milk and water type, initially rich but becomes poor. Famous lines: “Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied? -Come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.”

2.   History of Pendennis – partly autobiographical, growth of hero from childhood to adulthood.

3.   History of Henry Esmond- Historical novel, story of Colonel Esmond in Queen Anne’s reign.George Eliot labelled it as, "the most uncomfortable book you can imagine...the hero is in love with the daughter all through the book, and marries the mother at the end."

4.   The Virginians – sequel to Henry Esmond.

5.   His essays are- The English Humorist of 18^th Century, The Four Georges

Antony Trollope: Novelist, called as reflection of Thackeray.

1.   Barsetshire Novels: series of 6 novels, set in West country area.

2.   Palliser Novels: series of 6 novels, known as Parliamentary Novels, politically contextualized.

Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot): She took the male pen name “George Eliot”. She explores psychological and moral issues in her novels. Her novels are largely set in “Warwickshire”.

1.   Adam Bede1859: A village love story- first novel, set in rural Loamshire, love "rectangle" among the beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel; Captain Arthur Donnithorne, the young squire who seduces her; Adam Bede, her unacknowledged suitor; and Dinah Morris, Hetty's cousin, a fervent, virtuous and beautiful Methodist lay preacher. Eliot took the plot form the real story of a woman who killed her child, Adam was inspired by Eliot’s own father, Dinah Morris from her aunt and Mrs.Poyser from her mother. She described this novel as, “A country story full of the breath of cows and scent of hay”

2.   The Mill on the Floss 1859– partly autobiographical, the novel details the lives of Tom(brother) and Maggie Tulliver(sister), siblings who grow up at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. Closing line of the novel: “In their death, they are not divided”. Character of Tom is based on her real brother, Isaac.

3.   Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe 1861– the hero, Silas is a humble weaver.

4.   Romola1863– historical novel, set in Florence (Italy) during 1940’s renaissance.

5.   Felix Holt: The Radical 1866- social and political novel, set in Terby Magna town. Narrates the story of Harold Transome campaigns for the seat in Parliament, and Felix Holt stirs the new electorate and Esther’s dilemma whether to choose the wealthy Transome as a husband, or the impoverished but honest Felix Holt.

6.   Middle March: A Study of Provincial Life 1871-72– is an epic novel. Dorothea Brooke is the heroine

7.   Daniel Deronda 1876: controversial, fight for a Jewish nation is the key note of the book.

8.   Silly novels by Lady Novelists- she attacked the kinds of novels women are expected to write. Women authors started rejecting the major heroines such as Pamela, Clarissa, Moll Flanders etc. who were created by men. Eliot closes her essay claiming that women are equal to men in the ability to write fiction, she advised women writers not to publish novels of poor quality to flatter themselves.

9.   The Spansih Gypsy- A dramatic poem

Do you know why Mary Anne Evans used a male Pseudonym?In 19^th century, Famous female authors started using male pseudonyms in order to avoid attention to the fact that they are women and to challenge convention.  Mary wanted to raise above the Silly Novels syndrome and to differentiate her own work from that of her peers, both in terms of genre and gender, so she published her first novel, Adam Bede, under the name Eliot.

George Meredith: founder of psychological novel, lyrical comic novel. Considered as Grand old man of English Literature.

1.   The Egoist- his best-known work, tragic comic novel. Story of Sir Willoughby Patterne oscillated between sentimental Laetitia Dale and strong-willed Clara Middleton.

2.   The Adventures of Henry Richmond.

3.   Modern Love- collection of 50 sonnets about the decline of his own unhappy marriage with the daughter of Thomas Lovepeacock.

Wilkie Collins: Novelist, play wright, friend of Dickens.

               

1.   The Women in White 1859– sensational and gothic novel, early example of detective fiction, considered as first mystery novel. Story of an art teacher, Walter Hartright meets a woman in white at night; he is later informed by policemen that she has escaped from an asylum. Soon afterwards, he travels to Limmeridge House (on the recommendation of his friend, Pesca, an Italian language teacher) to teaching drawing to 2 half-sisters, Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe. Walter realizes that Laura is the woman in white, who is known to the household by the name of Anne Catherick, a mentally disabled child. Glydd sent Laura to asylum in place of Anne (for finding a secret about Glyde), Anne buried in place of Laura. He loves Laura, but Laura marries Sir Percival Glyde. Soon after Glyde dies, he marries Laura.Count Fosco is the friend of Glyde, who is bombastic, mysterious but intelligent, keeps canaries and mice as pet.

2.   The Moon Stone 1868- sensational novel, set in London and Seringapatam (India). Considered as first detective novel. The Moonstone of the title is a diamond got its name from the Hindu god of the Moon, Chandra and is protected by three Indian brahmins.  John Hardcastle, an army-officer, theft that moon stone by killing 3 brahmins. He dies in London, arranged to reach Rachel Verlander, his niece, on her 18^th birthday. The stone was stolen by Franklin Blake and then by Godfrey Abel White. Detective Sergeant Cuff arrives and finds the diamond, finally restored to India.   

 

CharlesKingsley:  Novelist, historian, disciple of Carlyle.

1.   Yeast: Problem 1848: Problems of Agriculture labours.

2.   Alton Locke: reforming novel, story of a London Tailor and Poet Locke.

3.   Hypatia or New foes with old face- historical novel about Greek philosopher, Hypatia, set in Alexandria.

4.   Water babies: - Mothers read this at the bed time for their children.  favorite of Queen Victoria, Actually, written for his son. A young chimney sweeper Tom runs way from brutal employer, falls into river and transformed into a water baby. Loves Ellie and united at the end.  Mrs. Do as you would be done by &Mr. Be done by as you did visit the water babies gives them sea things, cakes, oranges to eat, plays a large role in moral development.

5.   West Ward Ho!- best known novel, famous line: “For men must work and Women must weep”

Sensation Novels: A sub-genre of Victorian novels, took the horror from Gothic fiction and incorporated it in domestic settings. Instead of castles, they took country estates and land houses.

R. L. Stevenson (Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson): Scottish novelist, essayist and poet. Well known for his short story “How to live to be 200”, a satire on health mania with Higgins as main character.      

1.Treasure Island 1883: it’s a tale of buccaneers(=pirates) and buried gold in an island. Its influence is enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders. There are six parts in it: The old Buccaneer, The sea cook, My shore adventure, The stockade, My sea Adventure and Captain Silver

2. Kidnapped 1886: sub title is- Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751. Balfour is mother maiden name of Stevenson. Story of a 17year old David Balfour, left in poverty after the death of his father. His estate was illegally taken by his uncle Ebenezer. David was kidnapped by his uncle, sold as slave, shipwrecked, after many adventures recovered his rights on estate. It is a historical adventure novel on the backdrop of Jacobite Conflict (Glorious Revolution)

3.Catriona: it is the sequel to Kidnapped.

4. Strange case of Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1886: Dr. Jekyll is a physician discovers a drug to separate his evil thoughts and create doubling character Mr. Hyde.  Mr.Hyde commits a murder. Utterson John investigates the case and arrests Jekyll. The phrase “Jekyll and Hyde” came to mean a person who has split personality.

Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell

1.   Mary Barton 1848– sub title: A tale of Manchester Life. Herfirst novel, about the conditions of the poor in hungry 40’s.

2.   Cranford 1851-53 – her masterpiece, country story set in Cheshire.

3.   Sylvia’s Lover 1863 – historical novel

4.   Ruth 1853- Ruth Hilton a 15-year-old orphan, seduced by wealthy Henry Bellingham. She became pregnant, attempts suicide and saved by someone. She gives birth to a baby boy and raises him. Later She becomes a nurse and saves Mr. Donne (other name for Henry Bellingham) from Cholera epidemic and dies.

5.   North and South- Margaret Hale, the heroine who is sensitive, intelligent and shocked by the world which seems “as if commerce were everything and humanity nothing.”

6.   Wives and Daughters – unfinished novels’

7.   The life of Charles Bronte (1857)- a biography

Samuel Butler: novelist, known as “literary bad boy of Victorians.”

1.   Erewhon 1872: anagram of nowhere, a fictional country. It is a satirical utopian society, discovered by Higgs, a shepherd. Here morality is treated with health and beauty, and criminals are treated at hospital as ill people.  He was saved by jailors daughter Yram (=Mary). The goddess is Yndrum (=Grundy), named after Thomas Morton’s character in “Speed the Plough 1798”. This novel is often compared to Gulliver Travels.

2.   The Way of All Flesh: semi auto bio- story is narrated about the 4 generations of Pontifex family. He worked for years and refused to publish it since he says, “What is the use of addressing the people who will not listen?” (Note: Way of the world by William Congreve)

Charles Lutwidge Dodgeson: Known as Lewis Carroll.

1.   Alice in Wonderland 1865:  fantasy story about a girl falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world.

2.   Through the Looking Glass 1871: sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Alice climbs through a mirror into new world. Famous line: “When I use a word,” “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less” -By Humpty Dumpty (egg shaped character)

3.   Jabberwocky- nonsense poem about killing of an insect “Jabberwocky”

Coventry Patmore:

1.   Angel in the house (1854) poem- about the Victorian ideal feminist, modelled on his wife. Famous line: “A Women is a foreign land”. It appears in A Room of one’s own by Woolf

 

Bronte Sisters: Anne Bronte, Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte popularly known as Bronte Sisters. The pseudonyms(Curror Bell, Ellis Bell, and Acton Bell) veiled the sisters' sex while preserving their initials

 

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855): Her pen name is Curror Bell. She died with complication of pregnancy which caused excessive nausea and vomiting. Elizabeth Gaskell's biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857.

1.   The Professor, A Tale 1857: Charlotte Brontë’s first novel, failed to find a publisher and only appeared after her death. It is the story of a young man, William Crimsworth, and is a first-person narrative from his perspective. It describes his maturation, his career as a teacher in Brussels, and his personal relationships

2.   Jane Eyre 1847: autobiographical, based on her own life (bildungsroman), describes five distinct stages of her life linked to five different places. Novel isset in Wild Sargasso Sea. Charlotte wrote about the protagonist of the novel, “I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself.” Focus is on the growth and development of Jane from 8 years old to 30 years old married woman and her love for Mr. Rochester. On her wedding day, Jane discovers that Rochester cannot legally marry her, because he already has a wife, Bertha Mason, who has gone mad and is locked in a room. When Bertha Mason sets fire to the estate and jumped to her death, Rochester, in an attempt to save her, was blinded. Jane and Rochester marry at the end. Rochester later regains some of his sight, and the couple have a son. The most famous opening line of the concluding chapter 38 is “Reader, I married him.”

The Mad Woman in the Attic 1979: famous book on feminist criticism was written by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. They draw their title from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, in which Rochester's wife (Bertha Mason) is kept secretly locked in an attic apartment by her husband.

Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 novel by Dominican-British author Jean Rhys. The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress. Antoinette Cosway is Rhys's version of Brontë's "madwoman in the attic". Antoinette's story is told from the time of her youth in Jamaica, to her unhappy marriage to an English gentleman, Mr. Rochester, who renames her Bertha, declares her mad, takes her to England, and isolates her from the rest of the world in his mansion.

3.   Sherley: A Tale (1848) Set in Yorkshire. Robert Gerard Moore is half Belgium, Half England by birth.

4.   Villette (1853): Her experiences in Brussels, it is centered on pupil teacher relationship

 

Emily Bronte: Her pen name is Eliis Bell

1.   Wuthering Heights 1847: her only novel, gothic romanticism, set in Yorkshire moorland. Narrated by Lockwood, a gentleman in London. It is thetragic love story of Heathcliff, an orphan who became landlord (as a young boy he was raised byMr. Earnshaw, owned a remote farmhouse, Wuthering Heights,), And Catherine, the daughter of Mr. Earnshaw.

 

Acton Bell:  Her pen name is Acton Bell, youngest of three sisters.

1.   Agnes Grey 1847: semi auto biographical, based on her experiences with Ingham family and Robinson family.