Victorian Poetry (Week 1) PDF

INTRODUCTION TO VICTORIAN POETRY WEEK I Dr. Zübeyir SAVAŞ  QUEEN VICTORIA 1819 - 1901   “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...

INTRODUCTION TO VICTORIAN POETRY WEEK I Dr. Zübeyir SAVAŞ  QUEEN VICTORIA 1819 - 1901   “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, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, THE BEST OF we were all going direct to Heaven, we TIMES were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the AND present period, that some of its THE WORST noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in OF TIMES the superlative degree of comparison only.” CHARLES DICKENS A TALE OF TWO CITIES (1859)   In the Victorian Age, England changed a lot. Between 1837 and 1901, the population of London grew from about 2 million to over 6 million. This was a big change that affected VICTORIAN how people lived and worked. The Industrial Revolution brought prosperity to some but ENGLAND caused suffering for many. Victorian novelists and poets had different reactions to these changes. Some were optimistic about the progress, while others were concerned about the negative effects on people’s lives.  During the Victorian age, the prevailing morals and principles mirrored Queen Victoria's values, emphasising moral responsibility and domestic propriety. Despite the appearance of proper behaviour, there were clear indications of QUEEN societal decay and ethical misconduct at VICTORIA various levels of the state and society. AND THE Queen Victoria’s influence was particularly VICTORIAN impactful as she was the first monarch to experience the age of photography, TEMPER shaping the way her reign was visually documented and remembered. Writers of the Victorian period were notably candid in their observations, capturing the era's profound and rapid societal transitions more explicitly than their predecessors had done in earlier ages.  QUEEN VICTORIA  The Victorian period is often divided into three distinct phases: early (1830-1848), AND mid (1848-1870), and late (1870-1901). The final decade of the nineteenth century (the 1890s) is also recognized as an important THE transitional period between the Victorian era and Modernism, adding to the VICTORIAN intellectual stimulation of studying this period. TEMPER  The early Victorian The 1832 Reform Bill The 1830s and 1840s, a period is marked by two marked, for many period known as the major events: first, Victorians, the beginning ‘Time of Troubles’, were public railways of a new age of political largely shaped by the THE EARLY expanded on an unprecedented scale, power unlike they had ever experienced. profound and rapid changes brought about PERIOD and second, the British parliament passed a by industrialization. This period of sudden change (1830-1848): reform bill in 1832 that (at least to some had a significant effect, leading to many other A TIME OF degree) redistributed voting rights to reflect social 'troubles’. TROUBLES the growing population in newly industrialising centres like Manchester and Liverpool. Working conditions were apalling and deplorable for the majority of people, including women and children, who worked in mines and factories. DEVELOPME Queen Victoria overtook a Britain already in motion, and though she was sometimes NT reluctant to change, means of public and private transportation completely changed OF during her tenure. TRANSPORT Queen Victoria’s reign witnessed coaches, omnibuses, motor buses, railways, ATION underground railways, steamships and even cars and aeroplanes. Therefore, IN THE “transformation”, “innovation” and “entrepreneurship” are three important aspects of the era. VICTORIAN ERA  Railways shaped the suburbs and urban landscape; accessibility of transportation RAILWAYS meant that for the first time, people’s homes and workplaces could be entirely separate.  The concept of an underground railway was prevalent as early as the 1830s. Charles Pearson proposed schemes for a “Metropolitan Railway” in 1845, which the Parliament approved. The capital was raised during the 1850s. UNDERGRO The project began in 1860. UND The service was introduced on 10 January 1863. On the first day, 32,000 people used the underground. The underground trains also provided three classes of carriages: the first and second classes had leather seats lit by gas, while the third class had wooden seats.  Steamships, first introduced in the 1830s, were primarily used to cross the Atlantic. They were conceived as an extension of railways, and Isambard Brunel was the man behind this “systemic connection.” STEAMSHIP Brunel conceived three steam projects that revolutionised British commerce: S The Great Western (1837) She was the first ship built in Britain to cross the Atlantic. The largest vessel of her time. Built of oak with an iron-reinforced hull She made her maiden voyage to New York In 1838.  A group called the Chartists organised to fight for workers’ rights. The organisation fell apart by 1848, but its efforts set the stage for real and meaningful reform. One of the most significant reforms during the early Victorian period A TIME OF came with the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. These laws imposed TROUBLES high tariffs on imported wheat and grains. While the tariffs brought good profits to England’s agricultural producers, they also meant prohibitively high prices, especially on essential food items like bread, for most of the population. Literature of this period often focused on the plight of the poor and the new urban reality of endustrial England. Many writers commented on what had emerged as the two Englands: that of the wealhty (buy far the minority) and that of the poor (by far the majority.  THE MID-VICTORIAN PERIOD (1848-1870): ECONOMIC PROSPERITY, THE GROWTH OF EMPIRE, AND RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY  During the mid-Victorian era, England experienced both prosperity and hardship. While the relationship between industry and government improved, many people still faced poverty and challenges. Acts of Parliament were passed to address issues such as child labour and unsafe working conditions. The 1850s were a hopeful time, with industry promising prosperity. England also took pride in its advancements in science and technology, as demonstrated by the Crystal Palace, the centrepiece of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace symbolised the progress made possible by science and industry, serving as an inspiration to the nation.  The mid-Victorian period was also a time when the British Empire truly expanded around the globe (Australia, Canada, and India, for example)―all part and parcel of the prosperity made possible by the Industrial Revolution. The mid-Victorian period saw a rich tapestry of religious beliefs in England, each with its own unique perspective. The Church of England, in particular, had evolved into three distinct factions: the Low (or Evangelical) Church, the THE MID- Broad Church, and the High Church. This diversity sparked VICTORIAN PERIOD intense debates, with each faction having its own set of (1848-1870): supporters and critics. ECONOMIC PROSPERITY, THE As a primary driver behind the Industrial Revolution, GROWTH OF rationalist thought destabilised religious beliefs. Groups EMPIRE, AND like the utilitarian "Benthamites" saw traditional religion as RELIGIOUS little more than old-fashioned superstition. CONTROVERSY Discoveries in the sciences also led to a new mode of reading the Bible: Higher Criticism approached the Bible not as a divine and infallible text but rather as a historically produced set of documents that reflected the prejudices and limitations of their human writers.  Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871) were among other scientific works of the time. They seemed to challenge all previous thinking about creation and man’s special role in the world. As popular readers understood Darwin, man was just one among many creatures who existed as a product of a long THE MID- evolutionary history. VICTORIAN PERIOD (1848-1870): ECONOMIC PROSPERITY, THE The mid-Victorian period would GROWTH OF ultimately see often contrary forces―like EMPIRE, AND the promise of progress yet the RELIGIOUS emptiness of long-held beliefs―that CONTROVERSY would come to a head during the final decades of the Victorian era, which would eventually be its undoing.  For many, the late Victorian period was merely an extension, at least on the surface, of the affluence of the preceding years. During the late Victorian period, a significant shift occurred as many individuals began to deeply question and challenge the underlying beliefs and practices that had facilitated the accumulation of substantial affluence. This period marked a time of heightened scrutiny and a call for England to acknowledge the repercussions of its wealth generation, which had disproportionately benefited a select few while imposing THE LATE hardships on the broader population, both within its borders and across its far-reaching empire. PERIOD (1870-1901): Home rule for Ireland became an increasingly controversial DECAY OF topic of debate. VICTORIAN VALUES 1867, a second Reform Bill was passed, extending voting rights even further to some working-class citizens. Influential figures like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's political writings were crucial in empowering the working class. These writings allowed the working class to envision a future where they controlled the industries they had built. THE NINETIES  The final decade of the Victorian period marked a high point in terms of English industry and imperial control and of challenges to that industry and imperialism.  Even while British empire-building continued with great energy in Africa and India, in England, many were starting to see the beginning of the end of the era.  The trust in Victorian etiquette and morality had disappeared. Instead, many writers adopted a ‘fin de siècle’ (or end-of-century) pose, reflecting a weary sophistication and a lack of optimism for progress as the limits of that progress seemed all too near. With the benefit of retrospect, we can see the 1890s as a transitional phase between the optimism and promise of the Victorian period and the Modernist movement. During this phase, artists began to challenge just how genuine that optimism and commitment had been in the first place.   Although the Reform Bills of 1832 and 1867 changed voting rights by granting a political voice to many working class who had not enjoyed any such voice before, women were not included in these reforms.  Despite the Victorian period being a time of significant social change, particularly in its early and middle periods, it's important to acknowledge that it THE ROLE saw scant progress for women’s rights. The weight of historical inequality is palpable in the limited access to education, lack of voting rights, inability to OF WOMEN hold public office, and the late recognition of property ownership (until 1870).  Debates about women's rights were referred to generally as ‘The Woman Question’ (one of many issues in an age of issues).  The first women’s college was established in 1848; women were otherwise excluded from England’s three universities.  It should be remembered that while the ‘Woman Question’ often sought, at least in principle, rights for all women, it was primarily addressed to women of the middle class. In other words, while women argued for access to employment and bemoaned the stereotypical fate of the middle-class wife, who had to while away at home with insignificant, trivial pursuits, hundreds of thousands of lower-class women worked in demanding industrial conditions in mines and mills. Related to the larger ‘Woman Question’, the problem of prostitution gained increasing visibility. Prostitution itself grew, in part to fill demand, of course, but also because it THE ROLE was a better choice for many women relative to the working conditions they would face in the factories. OF WOMEN Significantly, debates about gender did not necessarily fall gendered lines: many men argued adamantly for women's rights, and many women (like Queen Victoria herself) were not convinced that women should enjoy equality with men. SOME RULES OF VICTORIAN COURTING A woman could not There was A single woman never No impure conversations receive a man at home contact be addressed a gentleman were held in front of alone. Another family woman without an introduction. single women. member had to be present gentleman un in the room. Victorian etiquette for men courting dictated An unmarried girl would However, women were that a man could offer the never date a man at allowed some liberties. Even if the girl his hand if the road night. A man could not They could flirt with their the courtshi was uneven. That was the stay for long in a girl’s fans, as this behaviour could never w only touch, which was home. This was was within the protocol of gentle accepted between a man considered extremely accepted behaviour. and a woman, who was impolite. not engaged to him. Women were restrained to Even a ride alone in the closed If engaged, the gentleman Any gentleman should not engagement carriage with a man, could not turn back to see invite the girl to his place. was not allo expect for a close any other girl. sexual be relative.  A woman could not There was no physical A single woman never No impure receive a man at home contact between the addressed a conversations were alone. Another family woman and the gentleman without an held in front of single member had to be gentleman until introduction. women. present in the room. marriage. Victorian etiquette for men courting dictated However, women were An unmarried girl that a man could offer allowed some liberties. would never date a the girl his hand if the Even if the girl entered They could flirt with man at night. A man road was uneven. That the courtship stage, their fans, as could not stay for long was the only touch, she could never walk this behaviour was in a girl’s home. This which was accepted with the gentleman. within the protocol of was considered between a man and a accepted behaviour. extremely impolite. woman, who was not engaged to him. Women were Even after an restrained to ride If engaged, the Any gentleman should engagement, the alone in the closed gentleman could not not invite the girl to couple was not carriage with a man, turn back to see any his place. allowed to have expect for a close other girl. sexual behaviour. relative.  ECONOMIC CHANGES Expansion of world trade Factory system Mass production of goods Industrial capitalism Increased standard of living Unemployment WHAT THE POLITICAL CHANGES Decline of landed aristocracy VICTORIANS Growth and expansion of democracy DID FOR Increased government involvement in society The increased power of industrialised nations ALL? Nationalism and imperialism stimulated Rise to power of businesspeople SOCIAL CHANGES Development and growth of cities Improved status and earning power of women Increase in leisure time Population increases Problems – economic insecurity, increased deadliness of war, urban slums, etc. Science and research stimulated  THANK YOU See you next week! Dr. Zübeyir SAVAŞ