History of English Literature - Paper- II
The Victorian age
he Victorian age started when the niece of William IV Victoria became the Queen of England in 1837. The age started with her becoming the Queen of England. The Victorian age ended a quarter of a century before the queen died. It ended in 1875. But the new literary tendencies could be seen before Victoria became the Queen of England. The most significant was the year 1832. It was the same here in which the first reform bill was introduced. Political ,social and economical changes of the age were also reflected in the literature produced during the period. The Victorian age is also called the age of Tennyson. Tennyson was a great poet. His first two volumes of poems were published two year before the reform bill was passed. From the beginning to 1875 the rule of Queen Victoria in England was known for its prosperity. Nation was enjoying peace and stability. After 1875 however, inner peace was shaken.
Chartism
Chartism is a famous movement in England. It rose in 1830 for electoral and social reform. The 1832 reform well gave power in the hands of middle classes in England but the poor labour classes got no benefit from the bill. About four year later for the Poor Law. It was a law in 1834 to suppress unsatisfied working classes. The Working classes on the other hand wanted more rights than given to them by the reform bill of 1832. They drafted a document. It was called the People's Charter.The Document was drafted in 1838. It demanded the following : Manhood suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, annual parliament, evolution of a property qualification in parliamentary representation and payment of members of parliament. The bill was put before the house of commons in 1839. It was signed by 1,280,000 persons. But it was rejected. So much agitation was caused among the country. The anger was silenced after 1840 but the movement became more socialistic and revolutionary. Strikes were made in industrial centres. With the betterment of economic conditions and trade, the movement died. The Chartist movement is important in England because it made the people of England for the first time in their history class conscious.
The Victorian Compromise
The victorian age is known for contradictory and conflicting ideas. There was a fight or conflict between religion and science. There was a fight or conflict between faith and spirit of enquiry. There was also a fight between art for art's sake and art that is to serve some purpose. But the Victorian mindset was very unique. It did not let these conflicting ideas disturb the peace of the age. They were always looking for some solution or compromise in almost every walk of life. The Oxford Movement with the Pre-Raphaelite Movement attacked heavily on the Victorian mindset. The Pre-Raphaelite Movement teaches that there is an intellectual world and aesthetic world. The Oxford Movement openly opposed reason and authority. All the great men in that age were thus divided. But writers like Carlyle wanted art not to ignore intellectual problems. All wanted a union of intellectual and spiritual life. They said that it was impossible to hold the intellectual life without spiritual life or spiritual life without intellectual life. They wanted both religion and science. This is the famous Victorian compromise.
The Oxford Movement started in the Church of England in 1833. It wanted to revive faith, doctrines and practices of the earlier period. It was aimed at relocating the lost tradition which the English Church had lost with the coming of reformation in England. The movement opposed religious liberal attitudes and wanted to restore the practices of the early church. Activists of the movement wrote a large number of tracts and so they were sometimes called Tractarian. The movement was also sometimes called the Tractarian Movement.
In 1833 Keble wrote a famous sermon. It was called " National Apostasy ". Later John Henry Newman became the leader of the movement. Newman , Keble and E. B. Pusey wrote about ninety pamphlets called " Tracts for the times" . They were against the reformation in the church. They were opposing the liberal ideas in the church that came with the reformation. The moment created a lot of commotion and spiritual conflict in England. Moment also produced interest in medieval art. Some poets and painters begin to follow it. The moment also brought symbolism.
Pre-Raphaelite means Italian painters before Raphael. Term was first used for German artists who came together to restore art to medieval security and simplicity. In the middle of the 19th century three poets D. G. Rossetti, William Morris and A. C. Swinburne followed the example of these German artists. They also turned to the middle ages . They thought they could create magic and romance with inspiration from the middle ages. They formed a brotherhood which is called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 in England . D. G. Rosetti was the leader of the movement. The movement believed in the philosophy of art for art's sake. This poet wrote against the type of Victorian poetry written by Tennyson. In their poetry they always talked about medievalism and hellenism. The discovered wonder, reverence and awe which were commonly seen in medieval art and literature. They took inspiration from medieval sagas and legends. They followed the classical writers.
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