THE VICTORIAN AGE
Blamires
M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—
Approaches--Unit III
Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar
Syllabus for Unit III
The Romantic Age (Blamires, pp 217-380)
The Victorian Age
The Twentieth Century I: The Early Decades
The Twentieth Century II: Post-war Developments
Introduction
The
Victorian Age was a period of consolidation in terms of peace and prosperity,
in terms of wealth and power and in terms of artistic productivity. The rule of
Queen Victoria began with the stage coach and ended with a network of railways.
It was comparatively an age of peace though the Crimean War (1853-56) and the
Indian Mutiny (1857-58) can be cited as exceptions. On the Origin of Species by Darwin opened up debate in the intellectual
circles. The Oxford movement by Newman created much confusion in religion.
Though there were many doubts and uncertainties in the Victorian Age, these can
never be compared to the tumultuous and catastrophic events of the twentieth
century. Thus the twentieth century looks back at the Victorian Period as a
stable era.
