Victorian Period Literature – English – UGC NET – Notes

Major Writers and their Works

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) – Social & Historical Critic:

• Sartor Resartus (1834)

• The French Revolution (1837)

• Chartism (1840)

• Heroes and Hero-Worship (1841)

• Past and Present (1843)

• Frederick the Great (1858–65)

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859):

• Lays of Ancient Rome (1842)

• History of England (1849)

• Essays (1843)

John Henry Newman (1801–1890) – Oxford Movement:

• Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864)

• The Dream of Gerontius (1865)

• The Idea of a University

• Lead, Kindly Light

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) – Novelist & Statesman:

• Vivian Grey (1827)

• Coningsby (1844)

• Sybil (1845)

• Tancred (1847)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861):

• Sonnets from the Portuguese (1847)

• Aurora Leigh (1857)

• The Cry of the Children

H. W. Longfellow (1807–1882):

• Voices of the Night (1839)

• Evangeline (1847)

• The Song of Hiawatha (1855)

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865):

• Mary Barton (1848)

• Cranford (1853)

• North and South (1855)

• Wives and Daughters (1866)

• Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857)

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) – Poet Laureate of the Victorian Age:

• The Lady of Shalott (1833)

• Ulysses

• The Lotus-Eaters

• In Memoriam (1850)

• Maud (1855)

• Idylls of the King (1859)

• Enoch Arden (1864)

• Crossing the Bar

Edward FitzGerald (1809–1883):

• Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863):

• Vanity Fair (1847–48)

• Henry Esmond (1852)

• The Newcomes (1853–55)

• The Book of Snobs (1849)

Anthony Trollope (1815–1882):

• The Warden (1855)

• Barchester Towers (1857)

• The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867)

• The Way We Live Now (1874)

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) – Major Victorian Novelist:

• Pickwick Papers (1836)

• Oliver Twist (1837)

• Nicholas Nickleby (1838)

• A Christmas Carol (1843)

• David Copperfield (1849)

• Bleak House (1852)

• Hard Times (1854)

• A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

• Great Expectations (1860)

• Our Mutual Friend (1864)

Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855):

• Jane Eyre (1847)

• Shirley (1849)

• Villette (1853)

Emily Brontë (1818–1848):

• Wuthering Heights (1847)

Philip James Bailey (1816–1902):

• Festus

Robert Browning (1812–1889) – Master of the Dramatic Monologue:

• Paracelsus (1835)

• Pippa Passes (1841)

• Dramatic Lyrics (1842)

• Men and Women (1855)

• Rabbi Ben Ezra

• Fra Lippo Lippi

• Andrea del Sarto

• The Ring and the Book (1869)

• My Last Duchess

• Porphyria’s Lover

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861):

• The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich (1848)

• Amours de Voyage (1849)

• Dipsychus (1850)

• Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) (1819–1880) – Major Victorian Novelist:

• Scenes of Clerical Life (1857)

• Adam Bede (1859)

• The Mill on the Floss (1860)

• Silas Marner (1861)

• Romola (1863)

• Felix Holt (1866)

• Middlemarch (1872)

• Daniel Deronda (1876)

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875):

• Alton Locke (1850)

• Hypatia (1853)

• Westward Ho! (1855)

John Ruskin (1819–1900) – Art & Social Critic:

• Modern Painters (1843)

• The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849)

• The Stones of Venice (1851–53)

• Unto This Last (1860)

• Sesame and Lilies (1865)

Anne Brontë (1820–1849):

• Agnes Grey (1847)

• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) – Poet & Cultural Critic:

Poetry:

• Dover Beach

• Sohrab and Rustum

• The Scholar-Gipsy

• Thyrsis

Prose:

• Culture and Anarchy (1869)

• Essays in Criticism (1865)

• On Translating Homer (1861)

George Meredith (1828–1909):

• The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859)

• The Egoist (1879)

• Diana of the Crossways (1885)

• Modern Love (1862)

Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) – Sensation Novel:

• The Woman in White (1860)

• The Moonstone (1868)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) – Pre-Raphaelite Movement:

• The Blessed Damozel

• The House of Life

• Ballads and Sonnets (1881)

Christina Rossetti (1830–1894):

• Goblin Market (1862)

• The Prince’s Progress (1866)

William Morris (1834–1896) – Arts & Crafts Movement:

• The Earthly Paradise (1870)

• News from Nowhere (1891)

• The Life and Death of Jason (1867)

A. C. Swinburne (1837–1909):

• Poems and Ballads (1866)

• Atalanta in Calydon (1865)

• Songs before Sunrise (1871)

Walter Pater (1839–1894) – Aesthetic Movement:

• Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873)

• Marius the Epicurean (1885)

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) – Transitional to Modern Age

Major Novels:

• Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)

• The Return of the Native (1878)

• The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)

• Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)

• Jude the Obscure (1896)

Poetry:

• Wessex Poems (1898)

• The Darkling Thrush

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894):

• Treasure Island (1883)

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)

• Kidnapped (1886)

Other Important Victorian Works:

• Charles Darwin — On the Origin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man

• J. S. Mill — On Liberty (1859), The Subjection of Women (1869)

• Lewis Carroll — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Through the Looking-Glass (1872)

• Mary Elizabeth Braddon — Lady Audley’s Secret (1862)

• T. W. Robertson — Society (1865)

Transition to Modern Age:

• Samuel Butler (1835–1902)

• Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)

• Robert Bridges (1844–1930)

• W. E. Henley (1849–1903)

Features of Victorian Literature (1837–1901)

• Literature of the Victorian era corresponds to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), a period marked by industrial expansion, urbanization, scientific advancement, and strict social codes in Britain.

• Strong emphasis on realism: detailed depiction of everyday life, especially middle- and working-class experiences; focus on plausible plots and psychologically complex characters.

• Prominent use of the omniscient third-person narrator, often intrusive, providing moral commentary and guiding readers’ judgments.

• Deep concern with social problems: poverty, child labor, class inequality, industrial exploitation, crime, and public health were central subjects in novels and poetry.

• Reflection of industrialization and urbanization: portrayal of factory life, overcrowded cities, and the contrast between rural and urban environments.

• Exploration of class structure and mobility: attention to tensions between aristocracy, middle class, and working class; rise of the self-made individual.

• Strong moral and didactic tone: literature frequently aimed to instruct readers in proper conduct, responsibility, and ethical values.

• Influence of religious doubt and scientific discovery, especially after the publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin; themes of faith, skepticism, and existential questioning became common.

• Interest in the condition of women: exploration of women’s education, marriage, independence, and limited legal rights; emergence of the “New Woman” concept toward the end of the period.

• Expansion of the novel as the dominant literary form, including:

  • Social problem novels

  • Sensation novels

  • Historical novels

  • Bildungsroman (coming-of-age novels)

• Frequent serialization of novels in magazines and periodicals, influencing plot structure through cliffhangers and episodic development.

• Use of detailed descriptive passages, particularly of settings, domestic interiors, and landscapes.

• Growth of psychological depth in characterization, moving beyond stock characters toward complex inner lives.

• Persistence of Romantic influences (emotion, nature, imagination) blended with realist technique.

• Development of dramatic monologue in poetry, notably practiced by Robert Browning, focusing on a single speaker revealing character indirectly.

• Prominence of major poets such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, whose poetry often addressed doubt, loss, and national identity.

• Popularity of socially engaged novelists such as Charles Dickens, who depicted urban poverty and institutional injustice.

• Engagement with imperialism and colonial expansion, reflecting Britain’s status as a global empire.

• Recurring themes of respectability, reputation, and social conformity, especially within middle-class domestic settings.

• Tension between appearance and reality, often explored through secrets, dual identities, and hidden moral corruption.

• Expansion of children’s literature and fantasy, including works such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

• Emergence of Gothic revival elements: mystery, supernatural suggestion, psychological horror, and decaying settings.

• Increasing literary experimentation toward the late Victorian period, anticipating Modernism in themes of fragmentation and alienation.