Victorian Era: Society, Politics, and Poetry

The Victorian Age

Social and Historical Context

The Victorian age covers a wide period and was very productive, literarily speaking. We find the so-called professional writing: writers devoted their lives to writing. Literature became a profession. It constituted an outstanding moment for the development of non-fictional works. Poetry was cultivated, but the novel was the preferred genre.

Queen Victoria ruled Britain from 1837 to 1901. She brought important political and economic development to her country. It was the age of Colonialism, and a new philosophy was introduced. We are speaking about expansion and development. Queen Victoria was very young when she became queen. She was born in 1819 and died in 1901. She was in her teens when she became queen, married quite young, and had many children. In her expansionist policy, she worked in a double way: she ruled the country, establishing many relations with other countries and places, and she reinforced the idea of colonialism. She focused on adopting the idea of Civis Britannicus. From Gibraltar to Australia, Africa, and Subasian countries, all the world was under British control.

In her country, she wanted to control Scotland and Ireland, the latter with the Irish Home Rule. But she did not succeed, since the Irish did not want to be ruled by the British Parliament. It caused several problems over the years, so one of the biggest problems for the queen in her country was the Irish question.

In terms of industry, there was a huge development: new factories were created, and new economic theories arose. One of them was the theory of Utilitarianism and the idea of laissez-faire, i.e., improving production without any kind of restrictions. This caused the appearance of the Trade Unions, which favored the elaboration of the Factory Act in 1847: manual labor was restricted. It was a social conquest in the 19th century and is quite related to the middle-class revolutions in the rest of Europe.

From a political point of view, Queen Victoria was helped by two main prime ministers: Disraeli, who was conservative, and Gladstone, who was liberal. They helped the Queen, despite having different political orientations. Especially relevant was Disraeli, who was also a writer. In his novel The Two Nations, he pinpointed the situation of his country, according to the rich society and the poor one.

The last years of Queen Victoria's government were difficult ones. We can mention the creation of the Factory Act in 1847, a New Electoral Bill in 1867, and a new Electoral Reform in 1885. Some colonies started their process of independence. South Africa, Canada, and Australia obtained the so-called Dominion Status. It was the beginning of the end of the British Empire.

The Victorian Poetry

Alfred Tennyson represents the essence of Victorianism. The poetry we find in his works is that of a man very much concerned with Victorian values. He believes in the role of the poet as a teacher, as someone very much concerned with the reality of his age.

He expresses his own self-confidence within Victorian society; he addresses himself as a kind of guide for his society.

His vision was very close to that offered by the Romantics. For this reason, his poetry is considered to be an extension of Romanticism. The poets of this age are romantically alienated, in the sense that they are a consequence of an age of revolutions and independence. The difference is that Tennyson, like the rest of the Victorian writers, was rather autonomous, and they added to poetry interesting elements, especially in terms of versification and genres.

Tennyson experimented with new forms of writing, and he innovated new ways of rhyme. However, he was rather conventional in terms of meter, adopting the conventions of the 18th century. His poetry is regular and ordered, in an attempt to portray the age. The poetic genres he used are: epic, elegy, and the dramatic monologue. Tennyson was also very much interested in the past, since he used the Middle Ages to depict his own society. He represents women and men from a given historical period, adding a kind of parallel to his own age. His most important poetic composition was In Memoriam A. H. H, published in 1850.