Philosophy and Values of the Victorians

Philosophy and Values of the Victorians/

Characteristics of Victorian Literature 

Values	Major Ideas	Literary Form/ Structure	Literary Content/ Themes	Literary Genres/ Styles	Key Authors
Earnestness	Expansion of Empire	Narrative over Lyric	Isolation/ Alienation	Dramatic Monologue	Lord Tennyson
Respectability	Glorification of War	Meter and Rhythm over Imagery	Lack of communication	Novel Elegy magazines	The Brontes Oscar Wilde
Evangelism	Industrialism	Objective; reflective	Pessimism and despair	Drama: Comedy of Manners	Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning
Evolution and Progress	Economic Prosperity	Melancholy or meditative, even in love poems	Loss of faith	Rigid standards of personal behavior	Charles Dickens
Hypocrisy?	Reform	Moral issues, didactic	Didactic	High moral tone	Thomas Carlyle
Protestant work ethic		Contemporary subjects			Charles Darwin
Restraint		Longer over shorter forms			Matthew Arnold
Utilitarianism Strong emphasis on duty		More common expressions			Dante Gabriel and Christina Rosetti
		Medieval subjects and forms			Rudyard Kipling