Name______________________________________ Date________ Class ______
Victorian Literature 1837-1901
Literary History: Victorian Notes
Essential
Questions
I.
Romanticism
 The Romantics ______________ Victorian writing.
 Many Early Victorian novels blend ____________ and
______________.
II.
Realism
 Realism sought to capture ________________ life as it really was
lived.
 Realism focused on the effects of the __________________
Revolution, which often brought _______________
_____________.
 ________________ ___________ focused on the inner realities of
the mind.
III.
Naturalism
 Viewed nature and society as forces _____________ to human
suffering.
 Naturalism created characters who are _____________ of their
environment and internal drives beyond their control.
 It is an extreme and _________________ offshoot of realism that
believes everything is explainable by natural and physical causes.
IV.
Storytellers
 ____________ ___________ was the era’s most popular
storyteller. He wrote entertaining novels with farfetched plots that
nevertheless exposed real __________ problems.
 The Bronte sisters wrote __________________ plots with Byronic
heroes set against real and wild British landscapes.
 Popular writers created a pleasing sense of ___________ and
worked to inspire change or _____________ behavior.
Summary
Essential
Questions
Summary
Essential
Questions
V.
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VI.
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Novels
Novels were VERY ____________ and often published as a series
in magazines for the growing ______________ class.
Victorian emphasis on family life created a popularity in
_________ literature like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass.
Sir Author Doyle created detective Sherlock Holmes.
Rudyard Kipling made the __________ story popular with his tales
of British Imperialism in India.
Poetry
Poetry ____________ during the Victorian age.
Lord Alfred Tennyson became poet laureate with musical public
verse.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning produced a bestseller with a volume
________ poems to her husband.
Pre-Raphaelite poets such as Dante Rossetti and his sister
Christina wrote against Victorian _________ and worked to bring
back the clarity of medieval __________ style.
Later in the era, Thomas Hardy and A.E. Houseman wrote with
___________ while Gerald Manley Hopkins experimented with
rhythm.
VII. Drama
 The Victorian Era is not known for its drama.
 Oscar Wilde wrote ________________ in the late 1890’s often
associated with the time and its middle class.
 Most popular stage works of the period are really _________
_________ that ridicule social pretense.
Summary of Victorian Literature
Victorian Reading Extension: Use the information about “The Growth and Development of
Fiction on pages 868-869 of your purple literature textbook to fill in the following
information. Be sure to read carefully and completely fill in each statement.
1. The ___________ was compared to the Internet as a new medium of ________________ that could benefit
society.
2. English writers began to see the novel as a form of ______________________ that had the ability to affect
the lives of people from all works of life.
3. At one time, the novel was viewed primarily as a form of _______________.
4. In the mid-18th century, the novel saw the development of both ______________ and
____________________.
5. The Victorian period is also called “ the _____________________”.
6. Victorians wanted to document the lives and the _______________________.
7. The novel became a tool for exposing ____________________.
8. ______________________ works detailed the troubling state of England’s lower classes.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------19th Century’s sub-genres
1. Historical Novels: combined historical facts with __________________ to re-create the spirit of a past age.
2. _________________________ was based on historical accounts of the _______________.
3. Gothic Novels: horror tales became ______________ in England near the turn of the 19th century.
4. ____________________ represents the best example of _______________.
5. Detective Novels: mystery is a major ingredient of __________________.
6. __________________ was the world’s most famous detective.
7. Newgate Novels: stories that focused on ____________ and their motives.
8. These novels explored the nature of crime and _________________.
9. _________________ was about the effects of ________ unrest and riot on the lives of a host of characters.
10. Naturalism replaced _______________ in or around 1880.
11. Naturalistic writing attempted to depict the human condition as objectively as ____________________
depicted the process of nature.
12. Thomas Hardy portrayed a hostile world in which only the “________________________”.
A Victorian Glossary
Directions: After reading about the British Victorian Period, use a dictionary and your
textbook to define all of the bold faced terms for your notes. Looking for a challenge?
Take it to the next level by creating a research paper about one of them.