Romantic Age_Victorian Age

The Romantic Age (1798-1832)

When you think of the word “romantic,” you may think candles and chocolates, but this isn’t the kind of romance that you should think about when you study the literature of The Romantic Period. The writing of this period is marked by powerful emotions, but they weren’t exclusively linked to hearts and flowers. The feelings were intense, but not only loving and kind. The literature of the period consists of powerful moods and sentiments that you haven’t seen in selections prior to this period.

William Wordsworth’s poetry is both intensely tranquil and extremely moving. But Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was intense in the other direction. She strove to shock and bewilder her readers with the fantastic and the grotesque. Both works represent the variety of emotions that exist within The Romantic Period.

Two great Romantic writers are Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, two of my personal favorites. We’ll read a few of their works, and I’ll also share with you their unique stories.

Many of you are familiar with Jane Austen. She fits in this period, too. I think several of you have read Pride and Prejudice, and if you haven’t, you should because it’s the pinnacle of success. I also recommend Emma and Sense and Sensibility – but only if you liked Pride and Prejudice.

Romantic Authors	Mary Shelley	Lord Byron
Byron and Shelley Friendship	Percy Bysshe Shelley	Jane Austen

Victorian Age (1833-1901)

The Victorian Age brought factories and industrialization to England; it also brought realities of modern life -- industrial slums and factory slums. Literature changed, too. A literary movement known as Realism was born, and an off-shoot of that was Naturalism.

Realism aims to portray life as it really is without any romanticized alterations. Naturalism deals more with the human character and human nature. These works are more intense and darker than works of Realism.

Authors of this period include Alfred, Lord Tennyson, famous for his poetry and musical language. We'll listen to the poetry of the Brownings -- Robert and Elizabeth Barrett, a lovely husband and and wife couple in the literary world. We may also read something by A. E. Housman.

Charles Dickens is another great from this period; you may be familiar with him. His fiction and the works of the Bronte sisters (Charlotte and Emily) fall into Realism. I think you'll remember reading Jane Eyre last year.

Victorian Age	Summary	Victorian Web
Tennyson	Brownings	Housman

20th Century (1901-Present)

Science and technology changed a lot more than the way we handled our day-to-day activities, it also changed our literary world. There's suddenly experimentation with form, subject matter, order -- everything. Images are inserted into text. It seems that nothing is as orderly as it once was, and there are no rules. Poets include Dylan Thomas and T. S. Eliot. Novelists include D. H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, and James Joyce. Dramatists include George Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward.