Every era is a response to the events and thoughts of the previous time period; it ignites ideas that propel society into a new way of living. Under the reign of Queen Victoria, society flourished and was able to reach new heights because of the change in life styles and customs.
The most apparent way to view the changes that were cause by the Romantic era is through comparing the literature, both novels and poetry, which demonstrates how society evolved. Like the Romantic era that was highly centered on literature, the Victorian Era appreciated the importance and quality of literature. Because of the wide spread wealth in society, people could embrace their desires to read. As literary works evolved and became focused on realism and evaluating morality, they retained some romantic aspects such as high emotion and use of strong imagination. One Victorian author, who depicted the struggles of the working class’ survival, was Charles Dickens in his novel Hard Times is an example of the realism that writers began to use. Because of the Romantic era’s reliance on fantasy and supernatural, it opened the gate for the Victorian era to change the style of writing and focus on the harsh realities of everyday common life. For example, the romantic piece of work Misanthrope focuses on the life of high society, even if it is satirical and criticizing of it, while books that arose during the Victorian age such as A Tale of Two Cities revolves around power shifting to the lower or middle class workers. The Victorian era, known for its tone of propriety and prudery, changed the way people thought and acted based on the influence of the Romantic era and a reaction to it.
Your synthesis answer is well written and thoughtful, but you lacked examples. One criticism would be that you did not explain how Queen Victoria influenced the Victorian era. Possible ways to do this could have included the way she ruled, any laws she put in place, or even the fashion. Also, how did the wealth spread, in what way do you mean this phrase? Was it literature that reflected the change in zeitgeist or was it something else? What support do you have that demonstrates the importance of literature in that era?
ReplyDeleteOverall, the main idea is there but you need to explain why were certain aspects of the Victorian era clearly reactions to the previous era.
You definitely need more examples, but the literature that Charles Dickens produced is a solid one. You should definitely include individuals such as Queen Victoria who had an immense amount of influence over society at the time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you should include the similarities and differences that were prevalent at the turn of the romantic era and victorian era. You will notice that many aspects of literature shifted, but many remained the same (such as the focus on the social pyramid).