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There are a few different years that are accepted as the start date to the Victorian Period. Some believe the period started in 1832 with the First Reform Bill. Others believe the period started in 1837 when Victoria becomes Queen. The Victorian Period ended in 1901.

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The Victorian Period was split into three phases. The phases are, early Victorian (1830-1848), mid-Victorian (1848-1870), and late Victorian (1870-1901).

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The Early Victorian Phase (The Time of Troubles)

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The Early Victorian Phase (The Time of Troubles)

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The first phase of the Victorian Era was about the working class people trying to create a better life for themselves. There were protests about labor laws, but also about earning the right to vote. Millions of working class citizens were denied the right to vote, meaning they had no representation in Parliament.

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The First Reform Bill was an act that was created in response to rising tensions in England. Due to the revolutions happening in Europe, England tried to avoid problems at home by allowing men who own property that is worth at least $10 annually to vote. This meant that the lower middle class could vote, but the men in the working class were still not given the right.

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Tennyson began publishing work in the early period of the Victorian Era, but he had an extensive career that spanned nearly the entire era. Becoming Poet Laureate in 1850 after William Wordsworth, Tennyson married his long time partner and lived a comfortable life. He became well known for his blank verse, but he talks about the troubles he would sometimes have in using blank verse. Perhaps his most popular style is one that focuses on past times sometimes related to a medieval revival; this is demonstrated best in The Lady of Shallott, a story about a cursed woman who can not look out of her window. This work uses medieval themes such as a curse on the Lady of Shallott which forces her to stay in the castle. It also portrays Sir Lancelot, a popular medieval figure.

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The mid-Victorian phase is characterized by a shift in religious beliefs, and contains some works that appear to counter preconceived notions of the world. By this time, the Church of England had transformed into three divisions; Evangelical (Low Church), Broad Church, and High Church. The Evangelical Church focused on, "...a strictly moral Christian life. Zealously dedicated to good causes..." (The Norton Anthology, volume E, 1026). The High Church was, "...the 'Catholic' side of the Church, emphasizing the importance of tradition, ritual, and authority."(The Norton Anthology, volume E, 1026). The Broad Church has an emphasis on the, "...broadly inclusive nature of the Church." (The Norton Anthology, volume E, 1026).
Aside from changes in religious beliefs, social problems were also a theme for the Mid-Victorian Phase. Author's would write about all sorts of things ranging from child labor to the value of women in society.

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Elizabeth and Robert Browning were a married couple who became popular for their seemingly contrasting works. Elizabeth was more popular than her husband at the time of their publications, but they both contributed significantly to the Mid-Victorian Era. These two did not get married until Elizabeth was 40 years old, as she lived with her father who forbid any of his children to marry. After their elopement they went to Italy where they had a son named Pen.

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Elizabeth became popular for writing about social problems of the day. She believed that literature should be about the here and now and focused on modern society instead of borrowing from the past. An example of her work that we read in class contains a female protagonist who not only is well educated, but also is a skilled poet. This character turns down a marriage proposal from her condescending cousin which touches on all sorts of social problems and assumptions of the time. Of these issues it brings to light the treatment of women, the assumption that women are not as smart as men (even if they've been well educated), and the assumption that a woman's role is to marry, which Aurora Leigh shatters.

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While Robert was not very popular during the time his work was written, his style became more widely appreciated in the 1860's when he was compared to Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Contrary to his wife's work of focusing on present times, Robert wrote dramatic monologues that seemed inspired by times past, "Just as Browning's character is hard to identify so also are his poems difficult to relate to the age in which they were written. Bishops and painters of the Renaissance, an inmate of a Spanish monastery, Shakespeare's 'man-monster' on a distant isle--as we explore this gallery of talking portraits we seem to be in remote times or places, far from the world of steam engines and disputes about human beings' descent from the ape." (The Norton Anthology, volume E, 1277)
Robert's works differed from his wife's in other ways as well. While Elizabeth's works portrayed women as having a bigger role in society, some of Robert's work seemed to dismiss women's place in society. An example of this comes from My Last Duchess, a dramatic monologue that explains why the speaker's last duchess was killed for being too friendly with other men. This work exemplifies the trend at the time of believing women were replaceable because there were so many of them.

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Darwin's Place in the Literary Anthology 

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Darwin's Place in the Literary Anthology 

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Charles Darwin was the famed scientist who wrote The Origin of Species (1859). There has been controversy about his spot in a literary anthology, as his discoveries were science based. It was discussed in class that Darwin used certain language to portray the struggle for existence, making his writing more than just a list of discoveries, but now a thrilling work about survival. The topic of his works were also controversial at the time because they led to the questioning of religion.

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The Late Period was perhaps that most complex of the three phases. It can be broken up into two periods itself, with the first part being 1870-1889, and the second part being the 90's. Literacy rates were steadily increasing thanks to publications becoming easier to access and the Compulsory Education Act that was passed in 1880. This act required children to attend school until the age of 10.
The art in the 90's took on a different sense, "Artists of the nineties, representing the aesthetic movement, were very much aware of living at the end of a great century and often cultivated a deliberately fin de siecle ("end-of-century") pose."(The Norton Anthology, volume E, 1030).

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The Victorian Period was one of the most influential and the term now embodies a specific meaning. According to our anthology, Victorian now connotes, "...earnestness, moral responsibility, domestic propriety." (The Norton Anthology, volume E, 1019). Looking at this period from an outside lens, one might say that the period is "prudish", but we've made the argument that sex is actually an underlying feature of many Victorian works

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How is sex portrayed in Victorian works?

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How is sex portrayed in Victorian works?

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The best example of sex in a Victorian work is Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market. Rosetti herself was a religious woman who was known for leaving three potential husbands because they did not love God enough. This fact makes it interesting to realize that such a religious woman is capable of creating a dirty piece of writing. We discussed whether or not this work was deliberately dirty, as the language could be interpreted in many ways and the author did say that this story was written to be a children's tale. Regardless of our final interpretations, it is clear by our twitter reactions that this work felt really sexual.

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In the Victorian Period women outnumber men significantly, leading to the question: What do we do with all these women? Because a women's value was based on who she married, an unmarried woman in this time had to suffer through terrible working and living conditions. Women were seen as indispensable which was a cause for the unfair treatment they received. Some women were even sold by their families as mail order brides.

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The New Woman, popularized towards the end of the Victorian Period, was one who was independent, smart, somewhat masculine, and not concerned with pleasing society. She would wear pants instead of skirts, be college educated, and even be able to exercise or drink alcohol.