CR

Submitted By: Muhammad Adnan Khan Class: BBA Second Semester Roll Number: 1044 Section: A

The Victorian Period

The Victorian period formally begins in 1837 (the year Victoria became Queen) and ends in 1901 (the year of her death). As a matter of expediency, these dates are sometimes modified slightly. 1830 is usually considered the end of the Romantic period in Britain, and thus makes a convenient starting date for Victorianism. Similarly, since Queen Victorias death occurred so soon in the beginning of a new century, the end of the previous century provides a useful closing date for the period. The common perception of the period is the Victorians are prudish, hypocritical, stuffy, [and] narrowminded (Murfin 496). This perception is (as most periodic generalizations are) not universally accurate, and it is thus a grievous error to jump to the conclusion that a writer or artist fits that description merely because he or she wrote during Queen Victoria the mid to late 19th century. However, it is also true that this description applies to some large segments of Victorian English society, particularly amongst the middle-class, which at the time was increasing both in number and power. Many members of this middle-class aspired to join the ranks of the nobles, and felt that acting properly, according to the conventions and values of the time, was an important step in that direction. Another important aspect of this period is the large-scale expansion of British imperial power. By 1830, the British Empire had, of course, existed for centuries, and had already experienced many boons and setbacks. Perhaps the most significant blow to its power occurred in the late 18th century with the successful revolt of its 13 American colonies, an event which would eventually result in the formation of the United States as we now know it. During the 19th century, the British empire extensively expanded its colonial presence in many parts of Africa, in India, in the middle-east and in other parts of Asia. This process has had many long-term effects,

including the increased use of the English language outside of Europe and increased trade between Europe and distant regions. It also, of course, produced some longstanding animosity in colonized regions. Literature of the Victorian Period: It is important to realize from the outset that the Victorian period is quite long. Victorias reign lasted over 63 years, longer than any other British monarch. The Victorian era lasted roughly twice as long as the Romantic period. Keeping in mind that even the relatively short Romantic period saw a wide variety of distinguishing characteristics, it is logical that much longer Victorian period includes even more variety. Below are a few of the noteworthy characteristics which appear often enough to be worth mentioning, but certainly do not encompass the entirety of the period.

The drive for social advancement frequently appears in literature. This drive may take many forms. It may be primarily financial, as in Charles Dickenss Great Expectations. It may involve marrying above ones station, as in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre. It may also be intellectual or educationbased. Typically, any such attempt to improve ones social standing must be accompanied by proper behavior (thus helping to provide the period with its stereotype). The period saw the rise of a highly idealized notion of what is English or what constitutes an Englishman. This notion is obviously tied very closely to the periods models for proper behavior, and is also tied very closely to Englands imperial enterprises. Many colonists and politicians saw it as their political (and sometimes religious) duty to help or civilize native populations in colonized regions. It was thus important to have a model which provides a set of standards and codes of conduct, and the idealized notion of what is English often provided this model. Later Victorian writing saw the seeds of rebellion against such idealized notions and stereotypical codes of conduct. These proper behaviors often served as subjects of satire; Oscar Wildes plays are an excellent example. The later years of the Victorian period also saw the rise of aestheticism, the art for arts sake movement, which directly contradicted the social and political goals of much earlier Victorian literature. One of the fascinating ways of approaching the Victorian period is to examine the influence of these later developments on the Modernist period which follows.

Modernism
What is Modernism? Modernism is notoriously difficult to define clearly because the term encompasses a variety of specific artistic and philosophical movements including symbolism, futurism, surrealism, expressionism, imagism, vorticism, dada, and others. To further complicate matters, many Modernists (including some of the most successful and most famous), are not affiliated with any of these groups.

However, there are some basic tenets of the Modernist period that apply, in one way or another, to all these movements and those writers and artists not associated with them: Modernist literature is characterized chiefly by a rejection of 19th-century traditions and of their consensus between author and reader (Baldick 159). Specifically, Statue of James Joyce in Dublin Modernists deliberately tried to break away from the conventions of the Victorian era. This separation from 19th century literary and artistic principles is a major part of a broader goal. Modernists wished to distinguish themselves from virtually the entire history of art and literature. Ezra Pound captured the essence of Modernism with his famous dictum, Make it new! Many Modernist writers felt that every story that could possibly be told had, in one way or another, been told already. Therefore, in order to create something new, they often had to try using new forms of writing. The period thus produced many experimental and avant-garde styles. Perhaps best known for such experimentation are fiction writers James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, and poets T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, just to name a few.
When Was Modernism?

The dates of the Modernist movement (itself a problematic term, as there was in no sense a singular, consolidated, movement) are sometimes difficult to determine. The beginning of the 20th century is an extremely convenient starting

point. It saw the end of Queen Victorias reign, marking a symbolic break from the preceding century. The turn of the century also roughly coincided with the publication of several groundbreaking theories, such as Freuds Interpretation of Dreams and Einsteins theory of special relativity. As such, there were real shifts (not merely symbolic changes) in the natural sciences, social sciences, and liberal arts occurring at this time as well. However, using the year 1900 as a starting point for Modernism is also problematic, as it would exclude some writers or texts from the late 1800s which definitively display Modernist tendencies. Many scholars thus use the year 1890 as a starting point; it is close to the end of Queen Victorias reign and the end of the century, but still fairly inclusive. It is important to remember, however, that while 1890 is an entirely appropriate starting date, it is also an artificial one. By convention and convenience, most scholars use 1945 as the endpoint for Modernism. The date marks the end of WWII, and a momentous shift in world politics as well as in the most prominent social, cultural, and literary values. Personally, I prefer to use the year 1939 as a demarcation point. It is the beginning of WWII, and symbolically represents the same political and cultural changes brought about by the war as 1945 would represent. There is, however, a specific literary reason to use 1939 rather than 1945: it is the publication year of James Joyces Finnegans Wake. Insofar as Modernism is characterized chiefly by experimentation in structure, form, and technique, Finnegans Wake is the ultimate work of Modernism. It is truly the pinnacle of this experimentation and novelty. After the Wake, it is no longer possible for a writer to attempt to supersede his or her predecessors in the way Modernists often strove to do. As such, the Modernist movement had reached its natural teleological conclusion, and anything which came after must be part of a different part of literary history.
More on the Modernist Aesthetic:

The goal of Marcel Duchamp accomplishing Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c. 1525 - 1569) Nude Descending a something Staircase, No. Landscape with the Fall of Icarus which, 2(1912) artistically speaking, had never been done before was often accompanied by a sense of despair due to the inherent difficulty (and sometimes the apparent impossibility) of accomplishing that goal. This despair coincided with a changing worldview that filtered throughout British and much of European and American society. While the pre-Modernist world is characterized by sense of order and stability rooted in the meaningful nature of faith, collective social values, and a clear sense of identity (both personal and cultural), the Modernist period is characterized by a sense of chaotic instability rooted in the revelation that collective social values are not particularly meaningful, leading to faithlessness, skepticism, and a confused sense of identity. This worldview is prominent in much (though certainly not all) Modernist literature, perhaps most famously in the fragmented verse of T. S. Eliots The Waste Land. An excellent visual depiction of this distinction between the pre-Modernist and Modernist ideology appears to the right. The painting at left is Brueghels Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (the inspiration for W. H. Auden's poem "Muse des Beaux Arts"). Notice the clear imagery: the coastline with the seaside town; the shepherd with his dog and his flock; the plowman working his field; the ships, the sunset, and the flailing legs of the fallen Icarus. The images are clear, as is the classical allusion, and likely the message. Compare that to the painting at the right, Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase. Notice the fragmented imagery, the multiple perspective coalescing into a single view. If not for the title, many people would have no idea what the painting is supposed to depict. The clarity and order which characterize Brueghels painting are entirely absent, replaced by a sense of chaos, confusion, and futility of meaning.