Included in this unit: TEKS 1B, 1D, 1E, 2, 2A, 2C, 3, 4, 5A–D, 6,

7, 9B, 9C, 10A, 10B, 11A, 11B, 12A–D, 13A–E, 14, 14A, 14C, 15A,

unit

5literary
analysis
•
15C, 15D, 16, 17, 17A, RC-12(A), RC-12(B)

Preview Unit Goals

Understand the historical and cultural context of the Victorian era
• Identify and analyze characteristics of realism and naturalism in fiction
• Identify and analyze point of view, plot structure, and theme in fiction
• Identify and analyze rhyme scheme and rhythm in poetry
• Identify and analyze speaker, mood, and tone in poetry

reading • Make inferences and draw conclusions

• Identify a writer’s key ideas and supporting details
• Identify, analyze, and evaluate persuasive techniques
• Compare, contrast, and synthesize ideas

writing and • Write an analytical essay

grammar • Add descriptive details, choose effective settings, and establish voice
• Use rhetorical questions and interrogative sentences

vocabulary • Use context clues and affixes to help determine the meaning of
unfamiliar words
• Use a dictionary
• Understand the history and development of the English language

academic • analyze • impact • scheme

vocabulary • dominate • resource

media and • Evaluate the presentation of social and cultural messages in media
viewing • Evaluate the interactions of different techniques used in multi-
layered media
• Evaluate how audience, bias, and purpose influence the representation
of an issue or event, including changes in formality and tone
• Create a power presentation

Find It Online!
Go to thinkcentral.com for the interactive
version of this unit.

910
The Victorians
1832–1901

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

an era of rapid change

• The Influence of Romanticism
dvd-rom
• Realism in Fiction
Great Stories on Film
• Victorian Viewpoints
Discover how visual and sound techniques
combine to capture the driving motion of
Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Page 1050
911
 unit

5 Questions of the Times

DISCUSS After reading these questions and talking about them with a
partner, discuss them with the class as a whole. Then read on to explore the
ways in which writers of the Victorian period dealt with the same issues.

When is progress a Can values be

PROBLEM? I M P O SE D ?
England was the first nation to industrialize, and it made Many Victorians—among them the writer Rudyard
enormous strides during this period. Factories made more Kipling and Queen Victoria herself—proudly supported
goods available to more people than ever before, and imperialism, believing they were bringing the gift of
middle-class Victorians readily consumed these goods. English civilization to less civilized cultures. Bloody
At the same time, changes in working conditions and rebellions, however, proved that the colonized peoples
social structure led to a breakdown of communities, a rise did not share their view. Do you think a nation can or
in materialistic attitudes, and the creation of a class of should impose its values on other people?
poverty-stricken urban workers. Is progress always worth
its price?

912
 READING 2 Analyze, make inferences, and draw conclusions about
theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary
contexts.

Is it better to escape Why do people fear

or face R EALIT Y ? CHANGE?
Writers of this period were not unified in outlook. Early The Victorian period was a time of rapid change—exciting
poets ignored the everyday realities of their society in yet troubling. Many Victorians felt as though the rug of
favor of more poetic subjects. In contrast, many novelists their familiar world had been pulled out from under them.
and critics reflected and recorded their society as it was— While some embraced change, others despaired for their
warts and all. Yet by the end of the period, more and more society. Why do you think people resist change? What is
readers turned to literature to escape from the problems the best way to live in a world where everything seems
of the day. Do you prefer literature that reflects your unpredictable?
world or that takes you away from it all?

913
The Victorians
1832–1901

An Era of Rapid Change

During Queen Victoria’s reign, England
went from horse-drawn carriages to
motor cars, from rule by aristocrats to
votes for every man, from a land of
farmers to a land of factories. England
also actively embraced imperialism as
the country’s destiny and duty to the
world. Yet as their country changed in
unexpected ways, the English moved
from happy confidence in progress to
increasing doubt. Some writers turned
away from the new reality; others
tackled it head-on.

914
The Victorians: Historical Context
Victorian writers responded to the economic, social, and political READING 2 Analyze, make
inferences, and draw conclusions
changes sweeping England during Victoria’s reign. about theme and genre in different
cultural, historical, and contemporary
contexts. 2C Relate the characters,
A Time of Growth and Change setting, and theme of a literary work
to the historical, social, and economic
“The sun never sets on the British Empire,” boasted the Victorians, and ideas of its time.
it was true: with holdings around the globe, from Africa to India, Ireland
to New Zealand, and Hong Kong to Canada, it was always daytime in
some part of the vast territory ruled by Britain. More than just a simple taking notes
fact, however, this phrase captured the attitude of an era. During the reign Outlining As you read this
introduction, use an outline
of Queen Victoria, England was a nation in motion. “This is a world of
to record main ideas about
action, and not for moping and droning in,” said Victorian novelist the history and literature
Charles Dickens, and his contemporaries seemed to agree. of this period. You can
During this period, England was at the height of its power, both use headings, boldfaced
politically and economically. Abroad, Britain dominated world politics. At terms, and the information
home, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. With its new factories in boxes like this one
as starting points. (See
turning out goods of every kind at an unprecedented pace, England
page R49 in the Research
became known as “the workshop of the world.” For those with wealth and Handbook for more help
influence—including the burgeoning middle class—it was an expansive with outlining.)
time, a time of energy and vitality, a time of rapid and dramatic change.
Yet large segments of the population suffered greatly during this period. I. Historical Context
Many writers decried the injustice, rapid pace, and materialism of the age— A. Growth and Change
including poet Matthew Arnold, who referred to “[t]his strange disease of 1. The British Empire
modern life, with its sick hurry, its divided aims.” expands.
2. Britain dominates
Monarchy in the Modern Style world politics.
3. Industrial Revolution
This period of change is named after the person who, more than any other, continues.
stood for the age: Queen Victoria. Just 18 years old when she was crowned 4. Wealth and
in 1837, she went on to rule for 63 years, 7 months, and 2 days—the longest prosperity grow, but
reign in English history. Victoria’s devotion to hard work and duty, her so does suffering.
insistence on proper behavior, and her unapologetic support of British B. Monarchy
imperialism became hallmarks of the Victorian period.
Victoria was well aware of how previous monarchs had clashed with
Parliament and made themselves unpopular with their arrogant, inflexible
attitudes. She realized that the role of royalty had to change. Pragmatically
accepting the idea of a constitutional monarchy in which she gave advice
rather than orders, Victoria yielded control of day-to-day governmental
affairs to a series of very talented prime ministers: Lord Melbourne, Sir
Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, and the rival politicians Benjamin Disraeli
and William E. Gladstone. The position of prime minister assumed even
greater importance after the death of Victoria’s beloved husband, Prince
Albert, in 1861; grief-stricken, the queen withdrew from politics and
spent the rest of her life in mourning.

Train at Shakespeare Cliff, Dover (1850), George Childs. Watercolor.

© NRM/Pictorial Collection/Science and Society Picture Library.
unit introduction 915
Progress, Problems, and Reform a changing language
The Industrial Revolution had already transformed England into
The Birth of Standard English
a modern industrial state by the time Victoria took the throne. By
In Victorian times, as education spread
1850, England boasted 18,000 cotton mills and produced half the and people entering the middle
iron in the world. class tried to speak “proper” English,
middle-class prosperity The Industrial Revolution created the English language became more
homogeneous. Increased literacy also
vast new wealth for England’s rapidly growing middle class. This stabilized English, since the written
material progress was celebrated in the Great Exhibition of 1851, language tends to change more slowly
the purpose of which was to display “the Works of Industry of than the spoken. The period also saw
All Nations.” Housed in an enormous, glittering glass-and-steel the beginning of an effort to compile
building called the Crystal Palace, the Exhibition showcased every a definitive record of the histories,
marvel of the age: indoor toilets, telegraphs, power looms, electric uses, and meanings of English words,
resulting in the massive Oxford English
lights, even a full-size locomotive—17,000 exhibits in all. Dictionary, the first volume of which
For the middle class who ran the factories, all these inventions was published in 1884. This landmark
represented both a means of making money and a dazzling array work, completed in 1928 and revised
of goods to spend it on. Middle-class Victorians enjoyed indulging several times since, traces the changes
themselves in displays of wealth, from top hats and ruffled dresses in meaning of each entry word from its
to large houses crammed with heavy, ornate furniture and fancy first recorded use to the present.

knickknacks. With the help of servants, hostesses vied to serve the Jargon and Euphemisms Victorian
most lavish feasts and—insecure in their new respectability—tried advances in the natural and social
to outdo each other in displaying refined manners and behavior. sciences spurred the coinage of new
words, such as telephone, photography,
Some writers, such as Thomas Babington Macaulay, psychiatrist, and feminist. The new fields
expressed enthusiasm for the material advantages afforded by the of study developed their own specialized
industrial age. Others, such as Thomas Carlyle and William and technical vocabulary, or jargon,
Morris, were appalled by Victorian materialism, which they saw which began to infiltrate everyday
as tasteless, joyless, and destructive of community. Likewise, the speech. Euphemisms—mild or vague
virtuous airs adopted by the middle class, who often had trouble terms substituted for words considered
harsh or offensive—also grew more
living up to their own uncompromising moral standards, led to popular as Victorian propriety made
angry charges of hypocrisy. certain words taboo. A chicken breast
the downside of progress While the middle class was became “white meat”; the legs,
“drumsticks.” Even words such as belly
becoming more prosperous, conditions for the poor grew more and stallion were prudishly avoided.
intolerable. Factory workers spent 16-hour days toiling for low
wages under harsh and dangerous conditions. Children, especially, Slang Although “proper” circles frowned
on slang, it was widely used among the
suffered. Five-year-olds worked in the cotton mills as scavengers, lower classes as a means of conversing
crawling under the moving machinery to pick up bits of cotton safely in the presence of outsiders,
from the floor, or in the coal mines, dragging heavy tubs of coal including the police. The Cockneys
through narrow tunnels. Paid just a few cents a day, child workers of London’s East End developed an
endured empty bellies, frequent beatings, and air so filled with elaborate system of rhyming slang
dust that they could hardly breathe. in early Victorian times—using, for
example, loaf to mean “head” because
To make matters worse, in the 1840s unemployment in loaf is the first word in the expression
England soared, leaving many families without a breadwinner. In loaf of bread, which rhymes with head.
addition, the potato blight and famine that devastated Ireland in The expression “use your loaf” is still
1845 forced 2 million starving people to emigrate. Many crowded common in the East End today.
into England’s already squalid slums.

916 unit 5: the victorians

 Boy working in a Lancashire
reform and uncertainty Though Parliament enacted many important cotton mill (c. 1880s)
reforms during this period, change came slowly as the middle and upper
classes came to realize that the poor were not to blame for their own
plight. In 1833, Parliament abolished slavery in the British Empire and
passed the first laws restricting child labor. It also ushered in free trade,
repealing laws that kept out cheaper foreign grain. Slowly, more reforms
followed. Gladstone and the new Liberal Party established public schools
and mandated secret ballots for elections. Gladstone’s rival, the Tory
politician Disraeli, won passage of bills that improved housing and A Voice from the Times
sanitation, legalized trade unions, eased harsh factory conditions,
Well: what we gain by science is,
and, in 1867, gave the vote to working-class men.
Even for those who benefited most, though, progress could be after all, sadness, as the Preacher
painful. Despite their admiration for technology and their faith in saith. The more we know of the
human ingenuity, most Victorians were deeply religious, and some of laws and nature of the Universe
the theories proposed by modern scientists threatened cherished beliefs. the more ghastly a business we
In 1830 the geologist Charles Lyell published evidence that the earth perceive it all to be. . . .
was formed not in 4004 b.c., as held by popular interpretations of the
—Thomas Hardy
Bible, but millions of years earlier. Then, in 1859, Charles Darwin’s On
the Origin of Species introduced his theory that plant and animal species
evolved through natural selection—an idea that prompted furious
debate because it seemed to contradict the biblical account of creation.
“There is not a creed which is not shaken,” wrote poet and critic Matthew
Arnold, “not an accredited dogma which is not shown to be questionable,
not a received tradition which does not threaten to dissolve.”

unit introduction 917

Cultural Influences
Writers clashed over Britain’s expanding imperialism.

British Imperialism
Though Disraeli and Gladstone worked in tandem for domestic reform,
Analyze Visuals
they bitterly opposed each other on the issue of British imperialism. This photograph (c. 1895)
Throughout Victoria’s rule, the British Empire had been steadily expanding, depicts an English lord and
starting with the annexation of New Zealand in 1840 and the acquisition lady in India. What can you
of Hong Kong two years later. In 1858, after a rebellion in India by native infer about the English
couple’s relationship with
troops called sepoys, Parliament took administrative control of the colony the Indians shown? What
away from the British East India Company and put the colony under the impression does the photo-
direct administration of the British government. graph give of English
Gladstone was a “Little Englander”—one imperialism?
who opposed further expansion; Disraeli, in
contrast, saw imperialism as the key to Britain’s
prosperity and patriotic destiny. Victoria sided
with Disraeli—in part because his flamboyant
charm appealed to her, while she loathed
the staid, self-righteous Gladstone—and
she allowed him to pursue his ambitions.
He bought England a large share in Egypt’s
newly completed Suez Canal, acquired the
Mediterranean island of Cyprus, and annexed
the Transvaal, a Dutch settlement in South
Africa. Disraeli even persuaded the queen to
accept the title “Empress of India.”
Fascinated by the exploits of their explorers,
missionaries, and empire builders in Africa and
Asia, most British citizens—including certain
writers—supported imperialism. Rudyard
Kipling, for example, wrote short stories and
poems glorifying the expansion of the British
Empire. Indeed, it was Kipling who conveyed
the idea that it was England’s “burden,” or duty,
to bring civilization to the rest of the world.
William Morris contradicted him, asking,
“What is England’s place? To carry civilization
through the world? . . . [Civilization] cannot be
worth much, when it is necessary to kill a man
in order to make him accept it.” As the years
passed and colonial conflicts increased, British
citizens began to agree with Morris, and support
for imperialism waned.

918 unit 5: the victorians

Victorian Literature the artists’ gallery
Victorian literature shifted gradually from romanticism to
realism, with the change led by novelists, who enjoyed a
golden age. Late Victorian writing moved into naturalism
and escapist fiction.

The Influence of Romanticism

By the 1830s, romanticism was certainly past its height.
Shelley, Keats, and Byron were dead, and Wordsworth
was no longer a youthful revolutionary but a stuffy, elderly
member of the establishment. Still, young up-and-coming
poets such as Robert Browning and Alfred, Lord Tennyson
had been raised on the romantics. Of course, they had their
likes and dislikes: Tennyson said that Wordsworth at his best
was “on the whole the greatest English poet since Milton,”
while Browning, who idolized Byron and Shelley, told fellow The Pre-Raphaelites
poet and future wife Elizabeth Barrett that he would travel to In 1848, a group of art students at the Royal
a distant city just to see a lock of Byron’s hair but “could not Academy in London banded together in a
secret club, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
get up enthusiasm enough to cross the room if at the other
Tired of being told to imitate the techniques of
end of it all Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey were great Renaissance painters such as Raphael—
condensed into the little china bottle yonder.” techniques they saw as stale and insincere—
Overall, though, the romantic movement had an enormous the group sought to return to an earlier time,
influence on early Victorian poets—not so much on their when artists looked at nature with a fresh eye.
style of writing, which was often brilliantly original, but on Dante Gabriel Rossetti Though the club
their ideas of what poetry should be. On the streets, they saw itself lasted only a few years, it led to a larger
factories belching smoke and ragged, hungry children begging pre-Raphaelite movement, spearheaded by
pennies. In their writing, though, they ignored this grim one of the group’s first members, poet and
painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whose work La
reality, focusing instead on more “poetic” subjects: ancient
Ghirlandata (1873) is shown here. Rossetti’s goal
legends, exotic foreign lands, romantic love, and the awe- was to portray scenes as he imagined them,
inspiring beauty of nature. Matthew Arnold argued that the not as the rules of art dictated. He dreamed of
poet could have no higher goal than “to delight himself with painting like medieval artists—not in the same
the contemplation of some noble action of a heroic time, and style, but with the same attitude of honesty,
to enable others, through his representation of it, to delight simplicity, and reverence.
in it also.” Perhaps this approach was pure escapism, perhaps Arts and Crafts Movement One of Rossetti’s
optimism; or perhaps—just as attitudes inherited from enthusiastic young followers was the
an earlier generation hindered social reform—literary ideals writer, artist, and social reformer William
Morris. Morris was appalled at the mountains
inherited from the romantics kept the first Victorian poets
of cheaply made, mass-produced goods
from redefining poetry for their own time. churned out by factories to clutter Victorian
Readers seemed to share this sense of dislocation. On the homes. Urging a return to earlier standards
one hand, the Victorians revered their poets, seeing them as a of craftsmanship, he wrote, “We should have
higher order of human being—sensitive, intuitive, inspired—an nothing in our homes that we do not know to
image first popularized by the romantics, particularly Byron. be useful or believe to be beautiful.” As the
leader of the Arts and Crafts Movement,
On the other hand, many readers, especially among the
Morris himself designed wallpaper, pottery,
middle class, increasingly viewed poetry as irrelevant to their fabrics, glass, and furniture.

unit introduction 919

 own lives. While poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti passionately
insisted on “art for art’s sake,” the growing reading public turned to other
forms of literature, particularly the novel.

Realism in Fiction
Looking at the range and quality of Victorian novelists—the
humor, pathos, and unforgettable characters of Charles Dickens,
the psychological depth of George Eliot, the dark passion of
Emily Brontë and her sister Charlotte Brontë—it’s hard to
believe that at the time they wrote, fiction was widely considered
to be simply light entertainment, not serious literature. To be
fair, the vast majority of novels published weren’t great books like
David Copperfield and Middlemarch. The same mass production that
filled Victorian homes with inexpensive bric-a-brac of doubtful taste
also poured out cheap thrillers and maudlin, weepy tales known as
“penny dreadfuls” and “shilling shockers,” which the working classes in
particular devoured.
Middle-class readers enjoyed a good cry, too, but they wanted more.
They wanted to meet characters like themselves and the people they knew; These “penny dreadfuls”
focused on popular
they wanted to learn more about their rapidly changing world. In other subjects—the adventures
words, they wanted realism. Realistic novels tried to capture everyday life as of boys at school and of
it was really lived. Rather than ignoring science and industry as romanticism highwaymen on the road.
did, realism focused on the effects of the Industrial Revolution on Great
Britain. Keen-eyed and sharp-witted, realistic writers probed every corner
of their society, from the drawing room to the slum, exposing problems For Your Outline
and pretensions. Some openly crusaded for reform. Others were more romanticism
restrained, considering their role to be, as George Eliot put it, “the rousing • Romantics influenced
of the nobler emotions, which make mankind desire the social right, not early Victorian writers.
the prescribing of special measures.” • Early Victorian poets
Romanticism didn’t disappear entirely as soon as realism appeared; focused on “poetic”
subjects.
many of the best novelists combined elements of both and even borrowed
• Readers turned to novels.
reader-pleasing techniques from popular fiction. For instance, in Jane Eyre,
Charlotte Brontë blended the spooky suspensefulness of the gothic novel realism
with a realistic portrayal of the moral, social, and economic pressures faced • Fiction was considered
by a Victorian woman. Charles Dickens filled his many novels with harshly light entertainment.
realistic details drawn from his own experiences and observations, but he • Realism captured
everyday life.
sweetened his social criticism with amusingly eccentric characters, engaging
storytelling, and, often, sentimental endings. Other writers, such as Anthony • Realist writers exposed
social problems and
Trollope and William Makepeace Thackeray, were known for a more
pretensions.
straightforward realistic approach, faithfully depicting the manners and
• Psychological realism
morals of the upper middle class to which they both belonged. George focused on internal
Meredith and George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) pioneered realities.
psychological realism, which focused less on external realities than on the • Novels were long and
inner realities of the mind, though still within the context of contemporary often published serially.
social changes.

920 unit 5: the victorians

 Victorian novels were weighty affairs, quite literally—so weighty
A Voice from the Times
that they typically had to be divided into three volumes, collectively
known as a three-decker novel. Fortunately, readers had the time and But this I know; the writer
the attention spans to appreciate these elaborately constructed fictional who possesses the creative gift
worlds, with their complex storylines and leisurely narrative pace. owns something of which he is
Families often spent the evening reading aloud to each other, laughing not always master—something
at the adventures of Dickens’s Mr. Pickwick and his oddball friends
that at times strangely wills and
or sighing over Heathcliff and Catherine’s doomed romance in Emily
Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. works for itself. . . . If the result
Many novels were first published in serial form in magazines and be attractive, the World will
newspapers, that is, in monthly installments of several chapters each, praise you, who little deserve
meaning that readers might have to wait as long as two years to find praise; if it be repulsive, the
out how a novel ended. Dickens was a master of this form. Hordes of same World will blame you, who
fans—not just in England but around the world—rushed to snatch almost as little deserve blame.
up each new installment of his 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop,
especially as the beloved character Little Nell approached her tragic —Charlotte Brontë
end. In fact, the suspense was so great that passengers aboard a British
ship arriving in New York that year were met by crowds of anxious
American readers who had not yet received the latest installment. They
were shouting from the dock, “Is Little Nell dead?”
A poster from the 1939 film
Wuthering Heights

unit introduction 921

Victorian Viewpoints
Victorians’ love of reading was by no means limited to fiction. The same For Your Outline
periodicals that provided them with the most recent novel installment by victorian viewpoints
Trollope, Thackeray, or Dickens also offered articles and essays on every • Periodicals offered
imaginable subject, “from Arctic exploration to pinmaking,” as one scholar nonfiction articles on all
put it. Victorians were generalists, curious about all aspects of their changing manner of subjects.
world, and they read for pleasure the sort of nonfiction that today might • England’s thinkers clashed
over issues of the day.
appeal only to specialists in a particular academic field.
A great deal of this nonfiction was not merely informational but conveyed • Uncertainty permeated
literature of the late
strong opinions. In carefully worded prose that was at once impassioned
Victorian period.
and a model of restraint, England’s greatest thinkers clashed over the issues
• Naturalist writers saw the
of the day. While some, like Thomas Babington Macaulay, defended the universe as an uncaring
status quo, most found much to criticize in Victorian society—though few force, indifferent to
went as far as Thomas Carlyle, who in his book Past and Present predicted human suffering.
bloody revolution as the inevitable result of the social breakdown caused by • Readers turned to
unregulated, profit-driven industry. escapist fare.
Whatever their viewpoint, these critics’ authoritative tone must have been
reassuring to a readership no longer sure what to think about anything.
Could science and religious belief coexist, or would one destroy the other?
Did British imperialism benefit both conqueror and conquered, or was
it a disastrous mistake? Would the Industrial Revolution prove to be the
dawning of a great new age or the end of civilization? Increasingly, the
optimism of the early years of the era turned to uneasiness in the face of
what Tennyson called “the thoughts that shake mankind.”
This uneasiness permeated the literature written during the last years
of Victoria’s reign. Poets no longer contemplated life at a romantic distance (Left) An 1889 edition
of Puck, a popular
periodical; (right) an
1866 caricature of poet
Matthew Arnold titled
“Sweetness and Light”

922
 The Victorian period
saw a boom in children’s
literature, including Robert
Louis Stevenson’s Treasure
Island, illustrated in 1911 by
N. C. Wyeth.

but instead expressed their sense of loss and pain at living in a world in
which order had been replaced by chaos and confusion. In his poem “Dover
Beach,” Matthew Arnold describes a bright “sea of faith” retreating to the
edges of the earth, leaving humanity stranded in darkness. Pessimistic
themes also permeated the poetry and fiction of Thomas Hardy,
who wrote in a new style called naturalism. An offshoot of realism, A Voice from the Times
naturalism saw the universe as an uncaring force, indifferent to human Pessimism is, in brief, playing the
suffering. Naturalist writers packed their novels with the harsh details sure game. You cannot lose at it;
of industrialized life, unrelieved by humor or a happy ending. you may gain. It is the only view
Not surprisingly, late Victorian readers began to avoid serious of life in which you can never be
literature, finding it depressingly bleak. Instead, they turned to the disappointed. Having reckoned
adventure tales of Rudyard Kipling, who set his tales in India; the what to do in the worst possible
witty drawing-room comedies of Oscar Wilde; the science fiction of circumstances, when better arise, as
H. G. Wells; or the detective stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, whose they may, life becomes child’s play.
Sherlock Holmes was England’s first fictional detective. Along with —Thomas Hardy
children’s literature that included Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, such
wonderfully written escapist fare rounded out the great diversity of
Victorian literary voices.
In the end, the pessimism of Hardy and Arnold came the closest to
anticipating what lay just around the bend: the catastrophe of World War I.
In the next century, modernist writers would pick up the torch from their
Victorian predecessors and grapple with issues the Victorians could not
have imagined.

unit introduction 923

 Connecting Literature, History, and Culture
Use this timeline and the questions on the next page to gain insight into
developments during this period, both in Britain and in the world as a whole.

american literary
british literary milestones
milestones
tab
1830
year tab
1845
year tab
1860
year
1833 Alfred, Lord Tennyson, begins 1846 Poets Robert Browning and 1860 Dickens publishes first
writing his long poem In Elizabeth Barrett elope and magazine installment of Great
Memoriam. move to Italy. Expectations.
1843 Charles Dickens publishes his 1847 Charlotte Brontë publishes 1861 George Eliot (pen name of
short novel A Christmas Jane Eyre; sister Emily Mary Ann Evans) publishes
Carol. publishes Wuthering Heights. Silas Marner.
1850 Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1865 Gerard Manley Hopkins enters
publishes love poems Sonnets Jesuit religious order and stops
from the Portuguese. writing poetry.

historical context
1830 1845 1860
1833 Factory Act bans factory work 1845 The Irish potato famine begins, 1861 Prince Albert dies.
for children under nine; slavery eventually killing more than a 1867 Reform Bill doubles
is abolished in British Empire. million people (to 1851). the number of
1837 William IV dies and is 1854 The Crimean War—in which voters by including
succeeded by 18-year-old niece Britain, Turkey, France, and working-class men.
Victoria, ushering in Britain’s Austria fight Russia—begins. 1870 Local governments
age of greatest prosperity. 1859 Charles Darwin publishes On establish public
1842 The Opium War with China is the Origin of Species. schools; the
settled, with Britain claiming Married Women’s
Hong Kong. Act gives women
economic rights.
world culture and events
1830
tab year 1845
tab year 1860
tab year
1839 American Charles Goodyear 1848 Ethnic uprisings erupt 1861 Civil War erupts in the United
invents process for making throughout Europe; Karl Marx States (to 1865); Alexander II
rubber strong and elastic. and Friedrich Engels publish frees serfs in Russia.
1844 Samuel F. B. Morse sends the Communist Manifesto. 1869 The Suez Canal opens.
first long-distance telegraph 1851 Widespread hunger and 1874 Alexander Graham Bell
message. corruption lead to China’s develops the telephone.
Taiping Rebellion (to 1864).
1853 U.S. Commodore Matthew
Perry sails four ships into
Tokyo harbor, ending Japan’s
self-imposed isolation.

924 unit 5: the victorians

making connections
• Which invention of the time do you think most changed people’s lives?
• What events show Britain’s commitment to imperialism? READING 11B Evaluate the
structures of text for their clarity
• What evidence do you see of social progress and reform in Great Britain and organizational coherence and
and elsewhere? for the effectiveness of their
graphic representations.
• What contributions did women make to British literature of the period?

1875 1890 1900

1875 Hopkins resumes writing. 1891 Thomas Hardy publishes Tess 1900 Oxford Book of English Verse
1883 Robert Louis Stevenson of the D’Urbervilles; Oscar is first published.
dventure novel
publishes adventure Wilde’s novel The Picture of 1901 Rudyard Kipling publishes
and.
Treasure Island. Dorian Gray shocks Victorian his novel Kim, detailing life
England with its theme of the in India.
1887 Sir Arthur corruption of wealth.
Conan Doyle e
publishes A 1895 H. G. Wells publishes the
Study in landmark science fiction novel
Scarlet, The Time Machine.
introducing 1896 Reaction to Thomas Hardy’s
detective novel Jude the Obscure is so
olmes.
Sherlock Holmes. negative that thereafter he
writes only poetry.

1875 1890 1900

1876 Disraeli secures the title 1897 British-Sudanese War begins. 1900 Nigeria becomes a British
“Empress of India” for Victoria; 1899 The Boer War against Dutch protectorate.
collective bargaining by trade South African settlers 1901 Britain establishes the
unions is legalized. begins (to 1902). Commonwealth of Australia;
1879 Ireland presses for home rule. Queen Victoria dies after nearly
1884 Reform Bill gives vote to 64 years of rule.
almost all adult males.

1875 1890 1900

1876 Korea becomes an 1893 Henry Ford develops gasoline- 1900 Austrian psychiatrist
independent nation. powered automobile; New Sigmund Freud publishes The
1879 Thomas Edison Zealand becomes the first Interpretation of Dreams; in
invents the first country to grant women China, the Boxer Rebellion
light bulb. suffrage. against foreign influence
1895 Italian Guglielmo Marconi breaks out.
1884 The Berlin
Conference of invents the first radio. 1901 Theodore Roosevelt becomes
14 European 1896 The first modern Olympic president of the United States
nations sets Games are held in Athens, after William McKinley is
rules for dividing Greece. assassinated.
Africa into colonies.

timeline 925
 unit

5 The Legacy of the Era

Remnants of an Empire
The British Empire was the most extensive empire in world
history. At the height of its power, it held sway over a quarter of the
earth’s people and land. Though it has since crumbled, the empire’s
influence remains strong. All over the world, British-style legal and
governmental systems, economic practices, sports, and fashions—
even the English language itself—are evidence of England’s far-
flung reach.
RESEARCH Choose one country in the Commonwealth of Nations (an
association of 54 former British territories) and find out what aspects
of British culture remain in that country today. Report your findings
to the class, using visual aids to enhance your presentation.

The former British colony

of Hong Kong continued its
common law system after
reverting to Chinese rule
in 1997. Shown here are
Supreme Court judges in
2002.

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Made By Hand
Mass production is even more the norm today than it was in Victorian times.
Despite the profusion of factory-produced goods, however, many people
have come to appreciate handmade items, from quilts to furniture to cookies.
These modern consumers value the same qualities once touted by William
Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement: fine craftsmanship that combines
usefulness and aesthetic appeal with the personal touch.
DISCUSS Bring in something handmade by you or someone else and share
it with the class. How is it different from a similar mass-produced item?
Discuss the value of handmade items versus the value of inexpensive and
accessible goods.

Truly Dickensian
Glass blower at work
The next time you hear someone referred to as a Scrooge, or a bleak situation
described as Dickensian, you will know who to thank—Dickens himself. The
influence of Dickens is widespread in today’s world. There are Dickens societies and
Dickens book clubs, Dickens museums and Dickens festivals, Dickens satires and
even a Dickens theme park! In addition, there have been countless stage, film, and
television versions of Dickens’s works, including A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist,
Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol (even Disney gave us Scrooge McDuck).
CREATE As a class, create a multimedia Dickens center to showcase Dickens’s legacy.
Include a variety of texts, visuals, film clips, and memorabilia related to Dickens in
today’s world.

A scene from the 2005

film Oliver Twist, directed by
Roman Polanski

legacy 927