Difference Between The Era Of Queen Victoria And The Victorian Period

Literature of the Victorian Era was written for the upper class, with their values in mind, because it was the upper class who had the money to buy books and the time to read them.

William Shakespeare, arguably the greatest language in the English language and England’s national poet, has written numerous histories, tragedies, comedies and poems. Throughout his plays, his use of dramatic irony, immaculate word choice and wording, and his vast imagination has made him a successful playwright even in his time. Shakespeare’s scripts for his theatrical company, needed to pertain to the needs and fascinations of the Elizabethan audience. It is safe to assume that all his sonnets, poetic speeches, electrifying action and soliloquies in his play were created for the delicate and quickly appreciative of language Elizabethans of his time. A particular example out of the many soliloquies

Victorian literature is a literature written in England during the reign of Queen Victoria, or roughly from 1837 -1901. It is largely characterized by the struggle of working people and the success; of right over wrong. It happened to be in the Victorian era (1837–1901) that the novel became the leading classification in English. Women played an important part in this rising popularity both as authors as well as readers.

The Victorian Age, ruled by Queen Victoria in 1837 through 1901, was a time of great change in Britain. Becoming one of the most powerful nations in the world, Britain was well on its way to success. In addition to this achievement, writers also accomplished their own feats. The short story genre flourished, and authors such as Charles Dickens became well-known for their work. Tom Tiddler’s Ground by Charles Dickens embodies life during the Victorian era through genre, setting, characterization, and style.

Poets and authors alike evoke emotion and pictures from one single word. The imagery and thoughts put into the readers’ heads by these different writers are the base of one’s creativity and imagination while reading the author’s work of art. William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known poets of all time that is able to elicit these emotions from the reader to allow the reader to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to accomplish with his poems. Shakespeare keeps his audience entertained with a whopping 154 sonnets, each having a different meaning and imagery associated with it. Sonnet 18, “[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day]”, and Sonnet 55, “[Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments]”, are both one of Shakespeare’s most famous works. Shakespeare uses these sonnets to explore the powerful relationship between humanity, art, and time.

The Romantic Period was a literary movement that occurred within the late 18th century and early 19th century and is associated with most works that promote more power to women at the time as well as book that spoke on social issues. Within the period, poetry is hailed as the most important style of writing found in the movement seeing many forms of poetry growing in popularity within all classes of the world. The novel, as a genre, grew in standing throughout the Romantic period and saw growing efforts on the part of authors to test with style, form, and content. New modes of manufacture increased the amount of books that could be printed. In this way, the creation of novels were affected just as much as agriculture and manufacturing were during the Industrial Revolution in England. This dramatically expanded the market for books as well as boosted education due to the increase of those who wished to read. This soon made writers aware of their position and allowed the pieces of art to influence societal norms. Novels which followed this style usually preferred to be comedic in nature as well as provide satirical criticism towards the different social classes. Because of this, the British state attempted to govern what could and could not be published and read not as much by censorship, but by charging publishers or authors with sedition or blasphemy. The state also tried to control printing by implementing prohibitive taxes. This only expanded the market

Shakespeare’s sonnets are considered to be some of the greatest and most eloquent poems in all of English literature. So by analyzing his genius in poetry and style, scholars and ordinary readers alike, try to understand the genius in the poet. There is very little known of Shakespeare’s personal life or feelings he had about himself. This being so a lot of scholars focus on his style and way of saying things to try and get a better understanding of Shakespeare the person. Many scholars have tried to get an insight into shakespeare by analyzing how and what he wrote. Many poets use poetry as a way to express their feelings and emotions, so readers of Shakespeare should be able to start to grasp a picture of who he was by reading his poetry and paying attention to the similarities and unique differences of his work to the norm of the day.

The novel became a source of great enjoyment for people during the Victorian era. Prior to its popularity, reading novels were considered a luxury, one only the elite could afford – if they were literate. Many Victorians were illiterate. The Victorian period was known for its “desire for improvement” (Potter 1987: 244), which was displayed not only in the moral code, but also in education. The literacy increase resulted in a mass reading public.

sets the tone of what became one of Matthew Arnold’s most notable works. The poem is based 1

Shakespeares’ tone in the poem“ All The World’s A Stage “ gave me a very negative image of how his attitude is like. I sensed dullness and a sad tone from him. Him saying “ For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, turning again toward childish treble, “ proves that he is having a pessimistic tone. A tone very much different from the other poets and their

The Victorian Period was a great influence to the authors who composed novels at that time where distinctions between social classes as well as between men and women were strongly marked. During this period, it was precisely a woman who ruled. Alexandrina Victoria who was born on May 24, 1819 became Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 20, 1837 until her death on January 22, 1901. Victoria’s reign was one of the longest of a female in history. At only the age of 18, after her uncle William Henry IV died, she began a span of 63 years of reign. In spite of her independence and power, Victoria fell into a deep depression when her husband died in 1861 and ever since she wore black every day for the rest of her

The Victorian Era saw a huge growth in literacy and literature. This is due largely to everyone receiving mandated education, though it was a miniscule amount, and also because the printing press made printed works more accessible (Reid Notes #5). One author who was published during this time and became very popular was Lord Alfred Tennyson. For the first twenty or so years of Tennyson’s career he was not very successful and was very poor. After some time, his wealth and fame began to increase (Reid Notes #6). A popular poem of Tennyson’s that is still well-known today is “The Lady of Shalott.” The poem is about a young woman who is locked away and will be cursed if she even looks out a window. She decides that death by the curse is better

The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death, on 22 January 1901. While in the preceding Romantic period poetry had been the dominant genre, it was the novel that was most important in the Victorian period. The old Gothic novels that came out of the late 19th century are the first examples of the genre of fantastic fiction (Victorian literature). John Bowen, Professor of 19th century literature at the University of York, describes the Gothic genre as a “particularly strange and perverse family of texts which themselves are full of strange families, irrigated with scenes of rape and incest, and surrounded by marginal, uncertain and illegitimate members” (Bowen). Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture

Veering from the egocentric poems of the Romantic era, Victorian poets began to write poetry not only to express the feelings of an “I,” but also to inspire change in the collective “we.” Being from a historical period with a dramatic class divide, Victorian poets wrote with the intention of crafting beautiful lasting poetry as well as articulating a need for cultural reform in their now. One of the most renowned Victorian poets, Elizabeth Barrett Browning possessed the expert skill of integrating not only imagery and precise rhyme scheme into her poetry, but afflicting her readers with a sense of pity so paramount they had no choice but to make a change.

  The span of time from the Victorian age of Literature to the Modernism of the 20th century wrought many changes in poetry style and literary thinking. While both eras contained elements of self-scrutiny, the various forms and reasoning behind such thinking were vastly different. The Victorian age, with it's new industrialization of society, brought to poetry and literature the fictional character, seeing the world from another's eyes.  It was also a time in which "Victorian authors and intellectuals found a way to reassert religious ideas" (Longman, p. 1790). Society was questioning the ideals of religion, yet people wanted to