The Victorian Age 1832-1901 Victorian Age

The main historical events of this epoch are

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  1839-1842 Opium War against China; 1853-1856 Crimean War;
  
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  1857 Indian Mutiny;
  
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  1877 Queen Victoria was named “Empress of India”;
  
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  1882 occupation of Egypt;
  
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  1884 invasion of Sudan;
  
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  1899-1902 Boers’ War.
  

The social problems common for this era are

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  urbanization, overcrowding, poverty – appalling living conditions in slums (squalor, disease, bad sanitation, crime, high death rate), terrible working conditions.
  
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  Invention of steam engine pushed forward the industrial development but it brought the environmental problems like polluted atmosphere, disatrous effects on health, especially on children.
  

Literary trends:

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  In literature realism becomes a leading trend. Realism is a the faithful portrayal of actual way of life avoiding unreal, fantastic, improbable, supernatural and mysticism.
  
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  This Era is also known as a Golden Age of Novel because it turns into the principle genre in Victorian literature.
  
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  Representatives:
  
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  The novel writers - Ch. Dickens, W.P. Thackeray, Th. Hardy, Sisters Bronte, George Meredith, A. Trollope, Thomas Carlyle, Matthew Arnold J. Conrad, and etc.
  
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  Victorian Poetry - A. Tennyson, E. Browning and R. Browning
  
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Specific features of Victorian literature:

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  The main character is a middle class representative, whose development and formation is the key theme of the novel.
  
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  Literature instructs how to live though the life experience of protagonist.
  
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  The description of Victorian traditions, values and morality.
  
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  The development of education novel, social novel, detective novel, sensation novel, fantastic novel, adventures novel.