Brit Lit Victorian Era

Front 1

According to Arnold, why is English literature inferior to German and French literature?

Back 1

It lacked critical tradition

Front 2

What is a touchstone?

Back 2

small piece of text that speaks to the broader themes of the whole work and issues

Front 3

Study of poetry needs to be evaluated in one of two ways

Back 3

personal estimation and historical estimation

Front 4

What does social protest literature do?

Back 4

protest against something that is legal in hopes of raising awareness and reform

Front 5

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's views and contributions

Back 5

She was unconventional, sexually explicit. Her poems addressed the idea that women were not capable of creating art, passion or expressing sex. She gives voice to women writers.

Front 6

Christina Rossetti views and contributions

Back 6

helps gives voice to women and issues, uses traditions and then goes against them, used sonnets to become a part of literary scene

Front 7

What are the components of a Victorian Epic?

Back 7

*Fragments
*Epic hero full of self doubt
*Not necessarily a linear narrative
*Not episodic

EX: In Memorium, Alfred Lord Tennyson

Front 8

What is an epigram?

Back 8

short witty saying and usually ironic

ex: "That's not pleasure that's business!" From Importance of being Earnest

Front 9

What is the definition of satire?

Back 9

to make fun of something to raise society's awareness of it

Front 10

Characteristics of a comedy of manners?

Back 10

*Urban setting
*Witty couples
*Misunderstanding
*Characters that are wealthy
*Deals with what is proper
*Revolves around marriage

Front 11

What does Oscar Wilde want to ridicule in his play "The Importance of Being Earnest?"

Back 11

*Manner
*Marriage
*Money

Front 12

What are the three parts of the Victorian Period?

Back 12

Time of Troubles
Age of Improvement
and
The Late Victorian Period

Front 13

What happened in the time of troubles?

Back 13

Poverty, child labor, exploitation of workers

Front 14

What happened in the age of improvement?

Back 14

Prosperity, factory acts of parliament, technological progress, Charles Darwin, Utilitarians, explode of sciences

Front 15

What happened in the late Victorian period?

Back 15

economy stable, colonization of africa and asia, science and technology continues, end of century: anxiety

Front 16

Characteristics of Victorian Literature

Back 16

Don't experiment, form conscious, rise in prose (cheaper printing, literacy), rise in women writers

Front 17

Arnold "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time"

Back 17

Should focus on criticism before creativity, England does not have criticism so it's not as good, ideas should meet the needs of society, personal estimation criticism and historical estimation.

Front 18

Arnold "Study of Poetry"

Back 18

Touchstones small piece of text that speak tot he broader themes of the whole work and issues

Front 19

Elizabeth Barrett Browning "To George Sand"

Back 19

social protest literature, against the idea that women could not create art, Wants recognition for George Sands

Front 20

Christina Rossetti "Song"

Back 20

Sonnets, there is no point to dwell on death or to mourn because the dead will not remember or miss you and perhaps they don't want to.

Front 21

Christina Rossetti "After Death"

Back 21

Funeral flowers on the bed, body on bed, death, man has sympathy now and before he didn't, now he cares but she is dead so it doesn't matter, she doesn't have to deal with them

Front 22

Christina Rossetti "In an Artist's Studio"

Back 22

Women have one meaning, the painting has the same model in it, he needs this "perfect" woman, women are ornaments, aesthetics, she doesn't have a name, doesn't matter, she isn't real in the painting but the painter wants her to be

Front 23

Alfred Lord Tennyson "In Memoriam"

Back 23

he was unable to cope, elegy (prompted by death, mourning, and celebration). Memories of past don't help because his friend is dead. Words can't explain it. The exercise of writing helps him because it forces him to focus on that and hide his feelings of sadness.

Front 24

Oscar Wilde "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Back 24

First page he completely makes fun of marriage, money, and manners. Marriage: "I have little experience, I have only been married once" -Lane. Lane to Jack about Gwendolen "I thought you had come for pleasure, I call that business" Gwendolen: Only wants to marry man named Earnest. (Superficial, shallow, stupid.) Lady Bracknell: Questioning Jack-like a business, tells him to get a family, Point: Who cares? Stop judging! Just go do what you wanna do

Front 25

Alfred Lord Tennyson "In Memoriam" Part 2

Back 25

But it is a lie, he is still suffering. His life feels like its ended without him in it. Death may be frequent but it isn't normal. This is different because its HIS friend. They say: But it will all be okay, somehow. Every death has purpose. But Arnold says there's no way to really know that. He doesn't have faith. He can't keep it. Nature only cares about the whole not the individual. He questions God because of this. Nature doesn't care. This may mean there is no plan. But he feels like there is still something else. This may ALL be a part of god's plan. ultimately faith will overcome all. Must accept the plan.