Literary Movements: The Beginner’s Guide to the Victorian Period

Victorian Period

Victorian literature is literature written in England during the reign of Queen Victoria, or roughly from 1837 -1901.

Characteristics of Victorian Literature

1. It is largely characterized by the struggle of working people and the triumph of right over wrong.
2. The novel replaced the poem as the most fashionable vehicle for the transmission of literature.
3.  The novel as a genre rose to entertain the rising middle class and to depict the contemporary life in a changing society.
4. The novels have a stress on realism and an attempt to describe the daily struggles of ordinary men that the middle class reader could associate with
5. On the Origin of Species is published on 24 November 1859 and this becomes the foundation of evolutionary biology.

Authors and Literary Works

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) dominated the first part of Victoria’s reign: his first novel, Pickwick Papers, was published in 1836. He also wrote a christmas carol and the Adventures of Oliver Twist

William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist and author of the 19th century. He is known for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.  His most famous work Vanity Fair appeared in 1848.

Charlotte Brontë  was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels have become classics of English literature. She first published her works (including her best known novel, Jane Eyre)

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson  was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and A Child’s Garden of Verses.

Other Literary Movements and Periods

If you want to learn more about literary periods and movements, consider visiting some of these posts:

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