English 10: DATA SHEET



English 10: DATA SHEET

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|TIME PERIOD: THE VICTORIAN ERA |

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|DATES: 1832 —1901 (p. 830) |

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|LITERARY HISTORY EVENTS/POLITICAL SITUATION |

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|CULTURE |

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|● A new movement in literature took hold, called REALISM. It sought |

|to capture everyday life as it was really lived (p. 835). |

|● As education spread and people entering the middle class attempted to speak |

|“proper” English, the English language became more homogenous. Increased |

|literacy also STABALIZED English, since the written language tends to |

|change more SLOWLY than the spoken (p. 833). |

|● During the Victorian era, the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION |

|brought increased productivity and ECONOMIC growth to much of |

|England. However, it also brought POVERTY, OVERCROWDING, and |

|appalling work conditions to the many people who had flocked to the cities from |

|the RURAL areas, hoping for a better life. As the world became a confusing |

|and often brutal place, personal RELATIONSHIPS—love, marriage, |

|friendship—became especially important |

|to the Victorians (p. 838). |

|● Industrial GROWTH, social UPHEAVAL, and a new interest |

|in SCIENCE changed the direction of Victorian life. A prosperous |

|middle class emerged even as the problems of the poor increased, and scientific |

|THEORIES challenged traditional RELIGIOUS beliefs. Some |

|poets, reflecting on the loss of old certainties, wrote thoughtful poems about |

|humankind’s ISOLATION and the fleeting nature of |

|YOUTH, beauty, and fame (p. 940). |

|● New ideas took hold during this period. The writings of the scientist |

|CHARLES DARWIN put forth a theory of evolution that |

|caused a rift between liberal Christians and fundamentalist Christians. One of |

|his ideas became known as survival of the FITTEST (p. 837). |

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|The Growth and Development of Fiction (p. 868-869)—write down the definition |

|and an example for each form listed below. |

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|● Historical Novels: COMBINES HISTORICAL FACTS WITH IMAGINATION TO CREATE |

|THE SPIRIT OF A PAST AGE |

|EXAMPLE – A TALE OF TWO CITIES BY CHARLES DICKENS |

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|● Gothic Novel: DARK AND BROODING, HORROR STORIES |

|EXAMPLE – FRANKENSTEIN BY MARY SHELLEY |

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|● Detective Novel: MYSTERIES |

|EXAMPLE – SHERLOCK HOLMES SERIES BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE |

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|● Newgate Novel (we think of this as a crime novel): FOCUS ON CRIMINALS AND THEIR |

|MOTIVES (WE CALL THEM “TRUE CRIME NOVELS” NOW) |

|EXAMPLE – BARNABY RUDGE BY CHARLES DICKENS |

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● 1833 (red line): FACTORY ACT – BANNED CHILD LABOR (UNDER AGE 9)

SLAVERY WAS ABOLISHED IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE

● 1845: IRISH POTATO FAMINE KILLED MORE THAN 1 MILLION PEOPLE

● 1861 (green line):CIVIL WAR ERUPTS IN US

ALEXANDER II FREES SERFS IN RUSSIA

● 1862: ABRAHAM LINCOLN EMANCIPATES (FREE FROM SLAVERY) SLAVES IN THE UNITED STATES

● 1870: Local governments establish PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

● 1875 (red line):PUBLIC HEALTH ACTS – EXPANDS SANITARY LAWS AND NEW SEWER SYSTEMS WERE INSTALLED

● 1879: IRELAND pressures for home rule; Thomas Edison invents first practical LIGHT BULB

● 1893: Henry Ford develops GASOLINE POWERED AUTOMOBILE

● 1896 (green line): FIRST MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES HELD IN ATHENS, GREECE

● 1901 (red line): QUEEN VICTORIA DIES AFTER A 64-YEAR RULE

● CHARLES DICKENS was the era’s most popular storyteller. His novels were entertaining stories with far-fetched plots that exposed social problems.

● There was also a growing number of women writers, notably Emily BRONTE and her sister Charlotte, who wrote Jane Eyre.

● Novels were often SERIALIZED in magazines aimed at the growing middle class.

● The SHORT STORY also grew popular, in the hands of Rudyard Kipling and SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, creator of the detective Sherlock Holmes.

● The Victorian emphasis on family life also spurred a boom in children’s literature, including LEWIS CARROLL’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

● POETRY also thrived during Victorian times. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (the poet laureate in 1850); Elizabeth Barrett Browning (“How Do I Love Thee”) and her husband, Robert Browning; also, Christina Rosetti, A.E. Housman, Thomas Hardy, and Gerard Manly Hopkins.

● The Victorian Era was not an age of great DRAMA, although Oscar Wilde wrote some fine comedies in the 1890s.

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