Victorian Era Literary Giants Quiz

The Victorian Era

• The Victorian era occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Literary Genre

• The novel became the leading genre in English during the Victorian era.

Famous Novelists

• Famous novelists during the Victorian era included Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and the Brontë sisters.

Transformations in English Life

• During the Victorian era, English life underwent major transformations, including the Industrial Revolution.

Thomas Carlyle's View

• Thomas Carlyle viewed the Industrial Revolution with skepticism, citing its dehumanizing effects.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Works

• Elizabeth Barrett Browning addressed social issues, such as slavery and the treatment of the poor, in her works.

Thomas Hardy's Focus

• Thomas Hardy's novels focused on the lives of rural people, exploring the complexities of human relationships.

Late-Publishing Poet

• A.E. Housman wrote poetry throughout his life but did not publish a collection until 1898.

Rural Novelists

• Thomas Hardy is renowned for his cynical yet idyllic portrayal of pastoral life in the English countryside.
• Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) wrote about rural life, depicting a more middle-class society than Charles Dickens.

Influences on Poetry

• Christina Rossetti drew inspiration from verse forms of Old English poetry, such as Beowulf.
• Algernon Charles Swinburne is known for his poems and critical writings, and is considered an important literary figure of the period.

Notable Works

• Thomas Hardy wrote Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
• Oscar Wilde's notable works include The Importance of Being Earnest.
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'.

Most Popular Author

• Charles Dickens is considered the most popular and read author of the Victorian era.

Brontë Sisters

• Emily Brontë's novel, Wuthering Heights, is an example of Gothic Romanticism from a woman's point of view, examining class, myth, and gender.
• Christina Rossetti is now regarded by scholars as the stronger poet among the Rossetti siblings.

Theatre and Music

• Musical theatre began to elevate in Britain in 1855, with the introduction of new types of entertainment.
• Charley's Aunt, a London comedy, achieved a record of 1,362 performances in 1892.
• Arthur Wing Pinero became the leading poet and dramatist of the late Victorian period after W.S. Gilbert.
• Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is considered his comic masterpiece and has remained extremely popular.

Social Reforms

• The Victorians are credited with 'inventing' childhood, partly through their efforts to stop child labor and the introduction of compulsory education.

Children's Literature

• Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a classic of children's literature.
• Robert Louis Stevenson wrote mainly for adults, but their adventure novels are now generally classified as for children.
• The genre of school stories, with classics such as Tom Brown's Schooldays and Stalky & Co., flourished during the Victorian period.