The reign of Queen Victoria is said to be the longest in the history of England. During these 64 years England has seen changes in different spheres of life. England was considered a working factory due to industrialisation. Urbanisation and colonisation were the other important key features of this era.
Queen Victoria was born in the year 1819 and succeeded the throne in 1837 at the age of 18 years. She married her German Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840. She was earnest, honest, modern and traditional. She wanted everyone to be down to earth like her, so there was harmony in the British societies. She also wanted them to live a hardworking life without earning through corruption. She was greatly influenced by Prince Albert who was involved in matters of art, science and other developments. He was instrumental in her queen making decisions. Her reign saw an expansion of the British Empire in context to political and social reforms. A feeling of national pride was connected to her name. Writings of this age is a documentation of the lives of the people, their struggle for survival. The changes in social, political, religious, technological and scientific developments had an impact on literature. Charles Dickens novels ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘Great Expectations’, ‘A tale of Two Cities’, ‘A Christmas Carol’ and many more were based on the problems in England. These changes gave way to uncertainty and doubt regarding Britain’s place in the world. The people doubted the supremacy of England all over the world.
In 1930, a rail line was established from Liverpool to Manchester, by 1900 15,195 rail lines were established. England’s wealth increased as a country and globally due to inventions such as the Steam Engine by James Watt, the Light Bulb by Thomas Edison, the Telegraph by Samuel F. B. Morse, the Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, etc. it was the world’s workshop. London saw a lot of economic growth. Colonies that sprung up were North America, India, Africa and Australia. In 1832 the first reform bill was introduced. This bill disfranchised voting to many boroughs which enjoyed undue representation and increased that of the large towns. Later many more reform bills and acts were introduced. The year 1840 was known as the hungry 40s due to industrial depression. In spite of having a monarch England was a republic. Education was introduced through public schools. Women studied in home schools as they were not taken in these schools. By 1880, education became compulsory. It required children to attend school until the age of 10.Scientific temper in literature involved logic-rationality. With materialism came the greed of man. In 1859, biology reduced humankind into nothingness with Charles Darwin publishing the ‘Origin of Species’. People felt anxious and isolated. Religious beliefs were questioned by this theory of Darwin. With Darwinism emerged a conflict of new theories with old faith. Social evils kept increasing. People lived in the slums and gutters of London.
Novels became famous as people preferred reading them. These novels represented a large and comprehensive social world with variety of classes. They were realistic and were based on the place of the individual in society. The protagonist looked for a fulfilment that was emblematic of the human condition. Women were major writers.
Poetry was another form of art that people read. These were the new ways of telling stories in verse that experimented with characterization, point of views, rhythm and meter. Poets responded to complex social and political changes of their time. Paintings became famous as the illiterate could also interpret them. Art for delight, art as an expression, art as something that is diadetic, art has something to teach. Art is for the mind, to amuse. An artist gives vent to his creativity. Diadetic is when the poet takes the responsibility of portraying the injustice in the world. Each writer writes in his own circumstance depending on their sensitivity with the situation around them. This age ended with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. The modern age began after the first world war.
Daphne Pearl D’Souza
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Words About Words 