Step Three- The Victorian Period

The first historical event I will look at is the industrial revolution. Though the industrial revolution started in the romantic period it was still going in the victorian era and the effects were being shown. The industrial revolution caused for a rapid change in the way people thought and lived. I think because of this rapid change forward people began to think more highly of life and take things more seriously. 

Imperialism is the next historical event I would like to discuss. I feel like imperialism played a role in the victorian thought because just like the industrial revolution it was this big system of greatness that man (the british in the case) created.  Because of all this sense of greatness and fullness I believe people during this time felt much more importance to life and felt the need to improve their lives.

I think the normal people of the victorian era were a more serious and focused group of people than in any other time before. Because of all the rapid changes around them and the expansion of everyday life people had to become more serious and work harder at things. This being a direct cause of the industrial revolution.

I believe the difference between the romantic period and the victorian period is the same as the difference in a young man and an old man. The romantic period is more rebellious and free flowing. The victorian period is more serious and obvious. The romantic period was at the start of the industrial revolution and right after the enlightenment making a mix of new ideas and a lot of new stuff. The victorian period was more during the time of the industrial revolution when people were feeling the effects (e.g. child labor).I really like the romantic period more because I more rebellious. Maybe if I was an old man I might like the Victorian period more, but until then I would rather read romantic literature.

I think that victorian poets were expressing seriousness and the obvious in their poems, but like to cheer them up using rhyme. You can see the seriousness when you look at Lord Tennyson's poem All Things Will Die. This is obviously a touchy subject but in his poem he \ talks about it cheerfully and uses rhymes to make it seem not that bad. You can see how they commonly stated the obvious when looking at Matthew Arnold's Growing Old. This poem just talks about getting old. It gets really poetic and rhymes well, but really it's just states the obvious and makes it look poetic. I really didn't like the victorian poetry that much because it was kind of boring. The only thing I really liked about it was the use of good rhyming. Other than that I can't really get into it.