The Victorian Age in Literature

Name: The Victorian Age in Literature
Author: G.K. Chesterton

The Victorian Age in Literature is a non-fiction book written by G.K. Chesterton that provides an overview of the literary landscape during the Victorian era. The book covers various genres, including poetry, fiction, and drama, and discusses the works of prominent authors such as Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Alfred Tennyson. It also explores the social and cultural context in which these writers lived and worked.

By G.K. Chesterton · First published 1932 · Genre: Literary Criticism, Non-Fiction, History · 4 chapters · 55,719 words

First lines

The previous literary life of this country had left vigorous many old forces in the Victorian time, as in our time. Roman Britain and Mediaeval England are still not only alive but lively; for real development is not leaving things behind, as on a road, but drawing life from them, as from a root. Even when we improve we never progress. For progress, the metaphor from the road, implies a man leaving his home behind him: but improvement means a man exalting the towers or extending the gardens of his home. The ancient English literature was like all the several literatures of Christendom, alike in its likeness, alike in its very unlikeness. Like all European cultures, it was European; like all European cultures, it was something more than European. A most marked and unmanageable national temperament is plain in Chaucer and the ballads of Robin Hood; in spite of deep and sometimes disastrous changes of national policy, that note is still unmistakable in Shakespeare, in Johnson and his friends, in Cobbett, in Dickens. It is vain to dream of defining such vivid things; a national soul is as indefinable as a smell, and as unmistakable. I remember a friend who tried impatiently to explain the word "mistletoe" to a German, and cried at last, despairing, "Well, you know holly -- mistletoe's the opposite! " I do not commend this logical method in the comparison of plants or nations. But if he had said to the Teuton, "Well, you know Germany -- England's the opposite" -- the definition, though fallacious, would not have been wholly false.

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The Victorian Age in Literature is listed on Textopian as an essay by G.K. Chesterton, dated 1932 CE.

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Work type: Essay
Author: G.K. Chesterton
Date: 1932 CE
Language: English
Genres: Literary Criticism, Non-Fiction, History, Essay
Length: 55,719 words
Structure: 4 chapters, 208 paragraphs
Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

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Discussion starters

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Similar titles

Genres

Literary Criticism — The book analyzes and critiques the literature of the Victorian era, focusing on its themes, styles, and cultural impact.
Non-Fiction — The work is a factual exploration of literary history and does not contain fictional elements.
History — It provides historical context and insights into the Victorian period, discussing its influence on literature.
Essay — The book is structured as a series of essays, each addressing different aspects of Victorian literature.