VICTORIAN AGE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

1. When was 'Origin of Species' published?

Charles Darwin's Origin of Species was published in 1859.

2.The 1840s, known as the Hungry Forties, is related to what?

In Victorian Age, The Hungry Forties refers to a period of economic depression and widespread food shortages in Europe, particularly caused by the Irish Potato Famine and poor harvests.

3. Who coined the term "Victorian Compromise"?

The term "Victorian Compromise" was coined by G K Chesterton to describe the balancing act of the Victorian period, where the era combined strict morality with great social, economic, and political contradictions.

4. Who described the Victorian era as "wandering between two worlds, one dead, the other powerless to be born"?

The poet Matthew Arnold described the Victorian era in these words in his poem "Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse."

5. What is the famous line in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray related to realism?

One notable line related to realism in The Picture of Dorian Gray is:

• “The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.”
• "The nineteenth century dislike of Romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass."
• "All art is quite useless."

6. What is Tractarianism?

The Oxford Movement (also known as Tractarianism) was a religious movement within the Church of England in the early 19th century. It aimed to revive older Christian traditions and emphasized the importance of the sacraments and apostolic succession. The movement primarily operated through the publication of the "Tracts for the Times" from 1833 to 1841, which promoted their views on theology and church practices. Key figures involved in the movement include: John Henry Newman, Edward Bouverie Pusey, John Keble, Richard Hurrell Froude, Isaac Williams, Charles Marriott.

7. Laura and Lizzie are famous characters in which poem?

Laura and Lizzie are characters in Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market."

8. Who called D. G. Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite movement the "Fleshy School"?

The term "Fleshy School" was coined by the critic Robert Buchanan in 1871 in a scathing review of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, particularly aimed at Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848 –1853): 

founded in 1848 by group of three Royal Academy students William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Later, William Michael Rossetti (DG Rosetti’s brother), James Collinson (painter), Frederic George Stephens (painter and critic) and Thomas Woolner (sculptor) joined the group on invitation.

9.Tennyson's Break, Break, Break is an elegy on the death of whom?

Break, Break, Break is an elegy written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson after the death of his close friend Arthur Hallam.

10. Which Tennyson poem is related to women's education?

Tennyson's poem "The Princess" is related to women's education and explores the theme of gender equality in education.

11. Sepoy Mutiny is portrayed in Tennyson's...?

The Sepoy Mutiny (also known as the Indian Rebellion of 1857) is portrayed in Tennyson's poem "The Defence of Lucknow."

12.Who is the listener in Browning's My Last Duchess?

The listener in Robert Browning's My Last Duchess is an emissary (representative) of a count, whom the Duke is addressing as he negotiates a new marriage. (Duke of Ferrara)

13. Strafford (1837) is a...? by Browning

Strafford (1837) is a historical drama by Robert Browning.

14. What is the opening line of Sonnet 43 by Barrett Browning?

The opening line of Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is:
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." 
This is one of her most famous sonnets from the Sonnets from the Portuguese collection.

DO YOU KNOW? The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1930 play by the Dutch/English dramatist Rudolf Besier, based on the romance between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett

15. Who are the three writers mentioned in Arnold's Memorial Verses (1850)?

Matthew Arnold mentions three writers in his Memorial Verses:

William Wordsworth
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Lord Byron

Opening lines:
Goethe in Weimar sleeps; and Greece,
Long since, saw Byron's struggle cease.
But one such death remained to come:
The last poetic voice is dumb,—
We stand to-day by Wordsworth's tomb.

16. Who wrote the preface to Sartor Resartus (The Tailor Retailored) in 1836?

The preface to Sartor Resartus (1836) was written by Thomas Carlyle himself. The work, which humorously explores the philosophy of clothes, was initially published serially in Fraser’s Magazine before being compiled into a single volume.

Emerson later wrote an introduction to Sartor Resartus for American editions, where he praised Carlyle's work and ideas, helping bring Carlyle's philosophy to a broader audience 

 

17. Sesame and Lilies (1865) is a collection of...?

Sesame and Lilies (1865) is a collection of 3 essays by John Ruskin.

    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

18. Arrange the novels of Dickens in chronological order: Bleak House, David Copperfield, Our Mutual Friend, Oliver Twist?

Oliver Twist (1837–1839)

David Copperfield (1849–1850)
Bleak House (1852–1853)
Our Mutual Friend (1864–1865)
code to remeber the chronology of Dickens novels: PONO-BLDD-BHLA-GOT

19.Aspects of the Novel is a work by...?

Aspects of the Novel is a work by E. M. Forster.


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”

20. How is The Vanity Fair related to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress?

Vanity Fair in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress refers to a symbolic town representing worldly temptations. 

Vanity Fair is one of the 10 stops in the The Pilgrim's Progress. 

William Makepeace Thackeray later used this title for his novel, Vanity Fair, drawing on the symbolism of Bunyan’s work.

Famous line in VanityFair:
“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.”

21. Rachel Verlander is a character in which famous sensational novel?

Rachel Verlander is a character in Wilkie Collins' sensational novel "The Moonstone."

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.

22. Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem by...?

Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll. It appears in Through the Looking-Glass.

23. Heathcliff is an orphan who becomes landlord in the novel...?

Heathcliff is a character in Emily Brontë's novel "Wuthering Heights."

24. Wide Sargasso Sea and The Mad Woman in the Attic are related to Charlotte Brontë's...?

Both Wide Sargasso Sea  and The Madwoman in the Attic are related to Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre."

• 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.

25. Silly Novels by Lady Novelists is a work by...?

Silly Novels by Lady Novelists is a work by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans).

Do you know why Mary Anne Evans used a male Pseudonym?

 In 19th 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.