The Age of Reform 1832 – c.1950

The Victorian Period The reign of Queen Victoria 1832 – 1914 The reign of Queen Victoria Longest-reigning monarch in British history Prosperity and expansion Economic prosperity: with the Industrial Revolution, England became the “workshop of the world”

Faith in Decline Wesley and Whitefield’s stirring of revival led to England’s greatness Reputation for honesty and quality in the commercial world Wanted to help other nations to prosper Missionaries were sent to all corners of the earth But by the end of the 19th century, faith was in decline People turned to agnosticism, transcendentalism, traditionalism, and aestheticism

Political Events No wars of threatening significance Mostly uprisings in the growing empire The expansion of the empire lost its appeal People were fed up with the “white man’s burden” Second and Third Reform bills gave the vote to the lower classes Followed by the development of the Independent Labour Party, which fought for worker’s rights The Parliament Act of 1911 stripped power from the House of Lords and gave it to the prime minister

Social and Economic Conditions Coal and iron production was critical built railroads, canals, bridges, and mines all over the world Population more than doubled Resulted in emigration to the United States, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand Parliament improved conditions in factories, businesses, prisons, and asylums

Religion Christians fought for the abolition of the slave trade Christians also fought against severe child labour conditions Social gospel began to take over the actual gospel—more about human rights than spiritual work

Religion Missionaries abroad William Carey (India) Hudson Taylor (China) David Livingstone (Africa) Most of our hymns today were written during the Victorian era “Praise to the Lord the Almighty,” “Take My Life and Let it Be,” “Just as I am, Without One Plea”

Culture Language Obsession with rules of correctness (similar to neoclassicism) Euphemisms—the need to express something socially offensive in a respectable way (“She passed away” instead of “She died”) National school system reduced the number of dialects Scientists and their discoveries nearly doubled the English vocabulary

Culture Learning Meliorism—belief that a society moves inherently towards improvement, which can be furthered by human effort (“ameliorate”=to improve) Utilitarianism reinforced by Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by the Means of Natural Selection Marx’s Communist Manifesto urged the working class to rise up and take over the monarchy

Culture Literature Concerned with two major issues: the validity of Christianity and the certainty of human progress All of the “higher arguments” that the Victorian Period brought forward in their literature would be completely shattered by the horrors of World War I

The Modern Period

Political, Social, and Economic Changes World War I resulted in nearly 2.5 million casualties and 750 000 dead in England alone The war left England in debt

Political, Social, and Economic Changes World War I followed by the Great Depression in 1929

Political, Social, and Economic Changes In 1939, Edward VIII became the first monarch to abdicate the throne Did this to marry a divorced American woman Rule went to his brother, George VI

Political, Social, and Economic Changes Hitler rose to power and World War II began in 1939 By the end of the war, people were craving security, and numerous social programs—as well as increased taxes—were put into place (such as health care)

Political, Social, and Economic Changes Britain also granted independence to many of the nations formerly under its empire

Religion Anglican church is still mostly ceremonial in function Disillusioned with ideas of progress and hope, spiritual apathy became a struggle in the nation Ideas of pluralism—no one view point is universal Now Britain is herself a mission field

Culture Pluralism has actually affected our language We accept nearly all vocabulary from all languages without discrimination We resist the neoclassical and Victorian sets of rules, as we observe with slang and short forms in Twitter and text Even our “formal” writing is much more casual than the essays of writers prior to the Modern era.

Culture Learning Rationalism: elevation of science above all other types of thinking Existentialism: man can be certain only of his own existence and can be sure of that only by asserting his will Nihilism: denial of all meaning and values (including those generated by the self) Freud stressed the priority of the unconscious over the conscious and of the need to express emotional urges

Culture Literature Modern poetry relies more on rhythm rather than meter or rhyme Deliberately ambiguous, communicating meaning indirectly Beauty in complexity Modern fiction is driven less by chronological plots and more by the irrational thoughts of the characters Literature emphasizes the separation of the writer from his work Highly pessimistic and cynical