Page 157 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature

Notes 19.3 Summary

The Romantic Age in the real sense of the term ended in 1820, the Victorian Age started
from 1832 with the passing of the first Reform Act, 1832.
The Victorian Age is so long and complicated and the great writers who flourished in it are
so many, that for the sake of convenience it is often divided into two periods—Early
Victorian Period and Later Victorian Period.
The three Bronte sisters-Anne, Charlotte, and Emily-collectively known often as the “stormy
sisterhood,” who took the England of their time by storm, were in actual life shy and
isolated girls with rather uneventful lives.
With George Eliot we come to the most philosophical of all the major Victorian novelists,
both female and male.

19.4 Keywords

Emily Bronte : Emily was a poet as well as a novelist, and her only novel withering
Heights is a poem as well as a- novel “There is no other book.”
Mrs. Gaskell : Mrs. Gaskell had nothing of this passion and frustration of the Bronte
sisters. She was the wife of a quiet Unitarian clergyman in Manchester-
one of the buzzing centres of English industry. She was mother of seven
children.

19.5 Review Questions
1. What is the Social, Economic, Political and Cultural Conditions in Victorian Age? Explain.
2. Who was charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte?
3. What is the difference between Mrs. Gaskell and George Eliot?

Answers : Self Assessment

1. Victorian Age 2. George Eliot 3. Romanticism
4. Classicism 5. Aesthetic movements

19.6 Further Readings

Books A Critical History of English Literature, IV Vol, 2nd ed. Ronald, New York,
1970: Daiches, David.
History of English Literature, Cambridge University press, London, 1968: Legouis
and Cazamian.
An Outline of History of English Literature, G. Bell and sons, London, 1930:
Hudson, W.H.

Online links classiclit.about.com/od/victorianliteratu/
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090514140117AAGxPFh
www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=6505&pc=9

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