ENGL 4640 - British Literature: Victorian

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This historical survey follows the long span of Queen Victoria’s life: from about 1837 when she came to the throne to 1901 when her funeral widely symbolized the passing of the age. Not merely a placid time of Victorian propriety, this era was marked by such philosophical upheavals as that which followed Darwin’s Origin of Species. Some of the notable writers are Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Matthew Arnold, and Thomas Carlyle. This era is marked by the Industrial Revolution, Utilitarianism (Mill), the rise of science and evolution theory (Darwin), socialism (Marx and Engels); Psychology (Freud), resurgence of art (the Pre-Raphaelites), and imperialism (Kipling). Notable writers include: Carlyle, Tennyson, the Brownings, Arnold, Wilde, Dickens, the Brontes, Eliot, and Hardy. Prerequisite: ENGL 3080.