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Introduction


Charlotte Bronte

Charles Dickens
Victorian literature was produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Often considered a bridge between the romantic-era works of the previous century and what would become the literature of the newly industrialized world of the twentieth century, Victorian literature is characterized by a strong sense of morality, and it frequently champions the downtrodden. It is also often equated with prudishness and oppression, and while this is sometimes true, Victorian literature is also known for its attempts to combine imagination and emotion with the neoclassical ideal of the accessibility of art for the common person. Some of the best-known authors of this period are Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre), Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), and Charles Dickens (Great Expectations).

Essential Facts

  1. One of the enduring authors of the Victorian era is George Eliot (a pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans). Virginia Woolf called Eliot’s novel Middlemarch “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people.”
  2. Charles Dickens was a self-made man. He published his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, in 1836. It made him an overnight success, and he was popular all his life. Dickens is still the most widely read novelist of the Victorian era.
  3. All three Bronte sisters—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—were writers. For a number of years, however, they all published under the male pen names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.
  4. Literature for children, often with a strong moralistic tone, became wildly popular during the Victorian era. Authors like Lewis Carrol (Alice in Wonderland) and Rudyard Kipling (The Jungle Book) were especially favored.
  5. Edward Bulwer-Lytton is widely regard as the worst writer of the Victorians (although he was immensely popular in his day). Bulwer-Lytton is responsible for this infamous sentence: “it was a dark and stormy night.”
 

Recommended Resources

  1. David Copperfield Study Guide (eNotes) - Charles Dickens
  2. George Eliot (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
  3. Victorian Autobiography
  4. Victorian Fantasy Literature
  5. Wuthering Heights Study Guide (eNotes) - Emily Bronte

All Resources

Display as: Categories, List
  1. A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide (eNotes) - Charles Dickens
  2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Study Guide (eNotes) - Lewis Carroll
  3. Charles Dickens
  4. Charles Dickens (Critical Survey of Short Fiction)
  5. Charles Dickens (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
  6. Charles Dickens (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
  7. Charles Dickens (Magill’s Choice: Notable British Novelists)
  8. Charlotte Brontë (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
  9. Charlotte Brontë (Magill’s Choice: Notable British Novelists)
  10. Charlotte Bronte
  11. Colonialism in Victorian English Literature (Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism)
  12. David Copperfield Study Guide (eNotes) - Charles Dickens
  13. Emily Brontë (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
  14. Emily Bronte
  15. George Eliot
  16. George Eliot (Critical Survey of Short Fiction)
  17. George Eliot (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
  18. George Eliot (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
  19. Incest in Victorian Literature
  20. Jane Eyre (The Oxford Companion to English Literature)
  21. Jane Eyre Lesson Plans
  22. Jane Eyre Study Guide (eNotes) - Charlotte Bronte
  23. Lewis Carroll
  24. Lewis Carroll (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
  25. Lewis Carroll (Magill’s Choice: Notable British Novelists)
  26. Middlemarch Study Guide (eNotes) - George Eliot
  27. Oscar Wilde
  28. Oscar Wilde (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
  29. Rudyard Kipling
  30. Rudyard Kipling (Critical Survey of Poetry)
  31. Rudyard Kipling (Critical Survey of Short Fiction)
  32. Rudyard Kipling (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
  33. Silas Marner Study Guide (eNotes) - George Eliot
  34. The Importance of Being Earnest Study Guide (eNotes) - Oscar Wilde
  35. The Jungle Book eText
  36. The Jungle Book Study Guide (quickNotes) - Rudyard Kipling
  37. The Mill on the Floss Study Guide (eNotes) - George Eliot
  38. Victorian Autobiography
  39. Victorian Critical Theory (Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism)
  40. Victorian Fantasy Literature
  41. Victorian Hellenism
  42. Victorian Illustrated Fiction
  43. Wuthering Heights eText
  44. Wuthering Heights Study Guide (eNotes) - Emily Bronte