Victorians and Symbolists 5 authors 6 poems Manageable!

Queen Victoria 1837-1901 Height of the Industrial Revolution and British Empire Longest reigning monarch Made the wearing of white wedding dresses popular Husband: Prince Albert

Time of Contradictions A plethora of social movements concerned with morals (everyone was expected to act and dress primly) co-existed with a class system that permitted harsh living conditions for many. There’s that hypocrisy again!

Contradictions The apparent contradiction between the widespread cultivation of an outward appearance of dignity and restraint and the prevalence of social phenomena that included prostitution and child labour were two sides of the same coin: various social reform movements and high principles arose from attempts to improve the harsh conditions

Technological Advancements Sewer system in London! Photography (By 1900, hand-held cameras were available) Gas lighting widespread; In 1882, incandescent electric lights were introduced, but it was many years before they were installed everywhere

Big Problems in the City Poverty, slums, tenements Child Labor Particularly in mines, factories or in households In 1840 only about 20 percent of the children in London had any schooling Working hours were long for kids: builders worked 64 hours a week in summer and 52 in winter, while domestic servants worked 80 hour weeks. A high number of children worked as prostitutes (the majority of prostitutes in London were between 15 and 22 years of age).

Prostitution known as "The Great Social Evil." the police estimated there were 8,600 in London alone in 1857 shift from a moral/religious cause to a socio-economic one. 4% more women than men! What to do with all those “redundant” or “superfluous” women? Laws passed to help curb the spread of STDs (though they are biased against women and contribute to Victorian double standards)

The Great Irish Potato Famine between 1845 and 1852 the population of Ireland was reduced by 20 to 25 percent. Approximately one million of the population died and a million more emigrated from Ireland's shores. The proximate cause of famine was a potato disease commonly known as late blight. the impact and human cost in Ireland—where a third of the population was entirely dependent on the potato for food—was exacerbated by a host of political, social and economic factors which remain the subject of historical debate (some call it a genocide perpetrated by the English)

Our Authors Alfred, Lord Tennyson Poet Laureate of England Another author with a dysfunctional family! Personal fave of Victoria and Albert Wore a monocle, which is cool; why don’t people wear those anymore??? He is the second most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare. "better to have loved and lost"

Robert Browning Master of Dramatic Monologues Married to Elizabeth Barrett Browning (a famous poet); Believed in equal rights for women Y’all are going to love him! His poems are Unforgettable!!

Thomas Hardy Most famous for novels set in the fictional town of Wessex (Tess of the d’Ubervilles and Jude the Obscure are the two most famous---Bishops burned them for being scandalous) His heart was supposed to be buried in a different place than his body, but a cat snatched it off the kitchen table (No, I don’t know what it was doing there) and took off with it!

Symbolism Movement During the Victorian era in France, there was a wave of Symbolism in art, which used symbols to represent heavier, less moral subjects. Prostitution, Sex, Drugs, mysticism, religion and morality were all prevalent themes throughout the symbolist/Victorian era in both art and society. While Artists would want to point out social flaws, it was looked down upon to do so. (Rhetoric was banned at this time.) To still be able to have artistic liberty, they subtly presented ideas and hinted at them, rather than state them outright. They suggested meaning through imagery. In Music, a lot of symbolist poems and stories were put into song by such artists as Claude Debussy, who turned some of Verlaine and Poe’s poems into musical literature.

Symbolist Art

Paul Verlaine Poet; Imprisoned for shooting the poet Arthur Rimbaud, in the wrist while in a drunken rage!

Arthur Rimbaud He produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and gave up creative writing altogether before he reached 21.