Difference Between Romantic Age and Victorian Age

Romantic Age (1800-1850)

The period from 1800 to 1850 is considered as Romantic age and also triumph over Democracy in Government. According to W.J. Long this era is also called…

• Age of Wordsworth
• The Second Creative period in History of English Literature
• An Age of Revolution or Revival

The age brought intense change in the production of poetry. The close of the 18th century is characterised by Dramatic Change in the history of Europe. This change is marked because of French Revolution and Industrial and Scientific advancement. The word "Revival" suggests writing something which existed in some previous age and literature. Romantic Revival is a return to those Romantic qualities which were found during Elizabethan Age.

"Romanticism is the Opposite not of Classical but of Realism in Literature."

Victorian Age (1850-1900)

"It was the best of times

It was the worst of times

It was the age of Wisdom

It was the age of Foolishness."

The duration of Queen Victoria's reign is known as the Victorian age. It is also known as an 'Age of Tennyson' or some critic also believes as an 'Age of Charles Dickens' It was the age of Peace and Prosperity and also an Age of Prose and Novel. The literature of the Victorian age is influenced by three different factors…

• Industrial Revolution
• Scientific Invention
• Political Freedom

Romanticism	Victorian Age
The French Revolution Declaration of Independence and English Reform Bill, between the turmoil of these two events, French Revolution emerged with three ideality...Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.  French Revolution proclaimed the Natural rights of man(People) and the abolishment of Class Distinction.	Industrial and Mechanical progress During this period the discovery of machines also played an important role in the history of England. The industrial revolution changed production but on the other hand thousands of people became unemployed because of the discovery of machines. Earlier there were only two classes but the industrial revolution gave birth to the third class…. Upper Class Middle Class(Business man) Lower Class
Economic Condition The cause of French Revolution was not political but more of Economic. By invention in steel and Machinery, the monopoly of the trade market is going to flourish. England became the "Workshop of World '' The wealth of England had increased but the unequal distribution of wealth is also responsible for chaos during the Victorian era.	Social Unrest The Victorian age can be characterised as an age of progress, stability and social reform but at the same time it is an age of Poverty, Injustice and Social Unrest. Rich people can afford expensive telephones, fancy clothes and every new invention. While poor people had to work hard in factories and their children also did not get a chance of Education.
Romantic Enthusiasm Romantic Enthusiasm is the very first characteristics of the age. A wonderful group of writers especially poets like..Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron or Prose Writers like Jane Austen, Walter Scott,  Charles Dickens etc. Coleridge's works like.. The Kubla khan The Ancient Mariners  Wordsworth poem "Prelude" is also full of Romantic Enthusiasm... "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven"	An Ideal of Peace "Because it is an age of democracy and education, it is an age of Comparative peace." With the growth of trade and friendly foreign relationships, England became home where the whole race of man and Brotherhood is universal. Tennyson expresses the ideal of liberal of his days, who intended to spread peace. "Till the war-drum throbbed no longer,  and the battle-flags were furled  In the parliament of man,  the freedom of the world."
An Age of Poetry Previous Neoclassical age of the post Victorian age was largely the age of Prose while the Romantic age is basically An age of poetry. Young writers turn towards poetry as happy men singing a song. The Romantic poets are gifted with a strong "Organic Sensibility" Wordsworth also gave definition for poetry… Romantic Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, recollected in tranquility."	An Age of Prose and Novel "The Novel in this age fills a place which the drama held in the day of Elizabeth" The Victorian age was essentially the age of Prose and Novel. We found rapid development of Prose and Novel and it became the most successful method of presenting modern problems and modern ideals. The Novels were looking like the bright stars in the sky of England. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist Charlotte Bronte - The Professor Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights George Eliot - Middlemarch
Women as Novelist For the first time women took an important role in contributing to English literature. And the major reason behind women's contribution is for giving a slight chance to women to study.. And as usual women achieved a chance she emerged as magnificently and responded to this opportunity very fairly. Women novelists are… Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility Emma Mrs. Ann Radcliffe	An Age of Compromise The Victorian age is also called the age of Compromise. Victorian Compromise was particularly found in three different branches… Compromise between 1) Democracy and Aristocracy 2) Religion and Science 3) New Machineries and Old system of working. The advancement by Science was acceptable but the claim of religion could not be ignored. The main compromise between Science and faith in Religion can be seen in the following lines by Tennyson ( In Memoriam)... "There lives more faith in honest doubt believe me, than in half the creeds."
Sympathy for Poor Romantic age was marked by intense human sympathy and by understanding of the human heart. Romantic poets unlocked their emotions and feelings which reflected their sympathetic nature towards Beggar, Country girl, Farmer, Shepherd	Moral Purpose and Idealism Moral purpose and kind of Idealism is the keynote of Victorian literature. Both Prose and Poetry seem to Depart from the purely Artistic Standard from 'Art for Art's Sake.' Tennyson, Browning and Carlyle not only the masters of Literature but also teachers of England. The writers of the age are interested in spreading their message and Moral Philosophy to their countrymen.
Sensibility and Imagination Reason and Rationality are replaced by Imagination and sensibility. Emotions and feelings matter more than mind power. Romantic poets believe that Going beyond reality to catch the essence of life is true knowledge. For the Romantic age we can say that.. "The knowledge of heart is greater than the knowledge of the head."	Intellectual Development There was a great revolution in scientific thought during this period. The well known scientist Darvin published his Evolution Theory in his famous work "The Origin of Species" Tennyson responded to this new thought in his famous poem.. In Memoriam The Eagle Matthew Arnold also showed science as new Intellectual Development in his Prose and Poetry.
Interest in Ordinary People and Supernatural SImple things acquire deeper meaning and value. Romantic poets choose Humble Life, Humble people who are not corrupted by society or closer to nature and God with pure and simple Mindset.  Coleridge uses the theme of magic, an invisible level of universe with vision, mystery and exotic places.	Realism The Literature of the Victorian age is Literature of Realism. The literature of the age is related with the social and political life of this age. The writer tried to represent the problems of their own age. Oliver Twist is a Realistic character in the Victorian age. So there is no Imaginative or Romantic character. "Literature during Victorian age became an instrument of Social Reform and Social Propaganda and it was marked with purposeful and propagandic and didactic aims."
Individualism Romantic poetry is subjective in its nature which portrayed the individual beauty, experience. Romantic poet see individualism as solitary state with Negative Capability	Patriotism The works of Victorian writers are full of National Pride and Sense of greatness in their nation. Tennyson strikes the patriotic note in the following lines… "It is the land that freeman feel that sober-suited freedom chose A land of settled government A land of just and old renown where freedom slowly broadens down.."

Romantic Poetry and Victorian Poetry

Poetry is one of the ways which is used by writers to express their feelings and ideas and opinions to the rest of the world. Poetry is always at the top in every test of time. Let's have a look at two different periods which experienced extremely different kinds of poems.

Romantic Poetry	Victorian Poetry
Romantic poetry was produced during the approximate period during 1800 to 1850.	Victorian poetry flourished during the reign of Queen Victoria
Romantic Poetry used themes such as nature, pastoral life, medievalism, Hellenism and supernaturalism.	Victorian poetry used medieval myth and legends, as well as realistic issues such as struggle between religion and science.
During the Romantic period most of the poems focus on the beauty of nature. Along with nature, extreme emotional scenes and moods are also characterised poems of the age. For example Wordsworth in his poem "Tintern Abbey" celebrated nature. The poet described that seasons had passed before he reached the Abbey, and he experienced nature and the beauty provided by Nature. "Five Years had passed, Five summers, With the Length"	The Victorian poet abandoned the greeny and inspirational model of nature which is idealized by Romanticism. We can say that Nature is reinvented in Victorian poetry. No longer nature remains only the environment but nature becomes an autonomous person who has control over Human beings. This new pessimistic model of nature can be seen in Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "In Memoriam" which presents the blood thirsty concept of nature... "Nature, red in tooth and claw"
The poem of Romantic age is also centered around the poet. Poet himself is at the center. In "Tintern Abbey" poet recalling his past days, and admiring the beauty of nature. But the focus is on himself not any other. In the following line 'me' indicates that poem is all about the poet himself… "And this green pastoral landscape, Were to me."	Victorian poetry is not poet-centric. Poems are not only based on the views and experience of poets. But poetry portrayed the scenario of "Man in the world" . The Narrator of the poem is a person who experienced harshness and happiness in the world. The poet displays human misery, something which is not manifested in the Romantic era. The themes which are touched upon are Battle, Murder, Suffering and Social Injustice experienced by people.
One of the other interesting aspects of Romantic poetry is it is expressive and Dramatic in its nature. The Meaning Language which is used by poets is full of feelings and expression. In the poem "Ode on Grecian Urn" by John Keats, Some of the verses which are full of expression… "Ah, happy, happy bough! "That cannot shed" "O Mysterious Priest" "Mountain built with peaceful Citadel"	The language which is used by poets is modern and not even influenced by Shakespeare and other writers. Poems are written in very simple language which is easy to understand. The following lines from Tennyson's Ulysses which is very simple in nature with a deep message… "Made weak by time and fate,  but strong in will,  To strive, to seek,  to find, and not to yield”
The poems of the Romantic era are structured in a very interesting manner which helps the audience to feel connection between physical and emotional passions. For example Wordsworth's poem 'Tintern Abbey'... "My former pleasures in shooting light, Of thy wild eyes! Oh! Yet a little while,  May I behold in thee What I was once." Following lines are full of physical descriptions that trigger readers' emotional passions.	The most important characteristic of Victorian poetry is that the poems revolved around the "Culture of People", showing how people worship God and winning battles. There is also some sense of Aristocracy manifested in poem. Sophistication shows how some people are with power and position indicating authority and social status. “Worked busily a day,  and there she stands.  Will’t please you sit and look at her?” Above lines from "The Last Duchess" indicate the position of women in Male dominant society.
Romantic poetry gives more importance to emotions, Imagination and Spontaneity.	Victorian Poetry gives more Importance to realism and intellect.

Difference Between Charles Dickens and George Eliot

Charles Dickens

Have a heart that never hardens,

And a temper that never tires

and a touch that never hurts.

-From 'Hard Times'

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian Era. He was the second of eight children. His mother had been in service to Lord Crew, and his father worked as clerk for the Naval Pay Office. Dickens loved to read. His favorite books like...Don Quixote-Miguel De Cervantes, Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, Arabian Nights etc....Some of his Notable works are….

• A Tale of Two Cities
• Oliver Twist
• Hard Times
• Great Expectations
• David Copperfield
• Bleak House
• A Christmas Carol

He expresses realism from the picture of Poverty and he seems to have built his Hopes for improvement on the spread of the spirit of benevolence. About Dickens G.K.Chesterton used to say….

"There is a great man who makes everyone feel small but the real great man is the man who makes everyone feel great."

George Eliot

Mary Ann Evans, known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She is great at Fiction writing. Her interest in detailed Psychological analysis of the realms of the inner consciousness. Her best works are…

• Adam Bede
• The Mill on the Floss
• Silas Marner
• Middlemarch
• Denial Deronda

George Eliot	Charles Dickens
She is a realist writer who uses the regular lives of regular people to reflect on the stage.	His books are brilliant in his character construction, plot and settings and Mood which he creates.
Usually used to portray the Human life which is revolving around Marriage, Money and and Relationship.	Highlighting the Darkside of London with Harsh realities and also portrayed the class conflict between Poor and Rich
George Eliot’s novels are organic wholes, the characters, the setting and the social environment are well integrated.	Dickens was an astonishing observer of Society and external qualities of people. So his novels are defined as Social or Humanitarian.
The organic or living form of her novels, within the expected framework, is different from anything that had gone before.	He Wrote fiction as he is a novelist by Profession by His novels explore the prevailing vices and evils of his era.
Most of her novels are in the form of Entertainment but it also creates curiosity and suspension from the very Beginning.	Use of Humour which is always present in Dickens Novel
Logical unfolding of character with message for society that it is constantly developing and changing with time.	Pathos with the combination of Humour
She used to write in traditional form like beginning, middle and end, but with the modification of the intense reality.	Use of Satire and Irony to show the opposite side of society.

Thank You.....