The Victorian period that was around like 1837 to 1901. This era has like a classical feel to it! During this time queen Victoria ruled. Britain, was the most powerful nation.
Charles Lyell and Charles Darwn began examining the man and the world, about science and history, finally about religion and philosophy. The reason i say finally about religion, because i was wondering when that topic would come about in their lives.
Alot of legal changes in women's right to their own property like marriage, the right to divorce, and the right to fight for custody of their children if they got seperated. On the internet they say that this era was " a period of peace & economic way of life". But i also read that it was wars all the time so it makes me think where's the peace at?
After reviewing this time period i really can't say what went on. From what notes I have i think it was a period when people wanted money, also happiness, to find what the earth has to offer. Over all i think that this era was a time for discovery! For normal people doing this time i think that they had to be very wealthy to get by or to have a good time.
Porphyria's Lover
The rain set early in to-night,The sullen wind was soon awake,It tore the elm-tops down for spite,And did its worst to vex the lake:I listened with heart fit to break.When glided in Porphyria; straightShe shut the cold out and the storm,And kneeled and made the cheerless grateBlaze up, and all the cottage warm;Which done, she rose, and from her formWithdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,And laid her soiled gloves by, untiedHer hat and let the damp hair fall,And, last, she sat down by my sideAnd called me. When no voice replied,She put my arm about her waist,And made her smooth white shoulder bare,And all her yellow hair displaced,And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,Murmuring how she loved me---sheToo weak, for all her heart's endeavour,To set its struggling passion freeFrom pride, and vainer ties dissever,And give herself to me for ever.But passion sometimes would prevail,Nor could to-night's gay feast restrainA sudden thought of one so paleFor love of her, and all in vain:So, she was come through wind and rain.Be sure I looked up at her eyesHappy and proud; at last I knewPorphyria worshipped me; surpriseMade my heart swell, and still it grewWhile I debated what to do.That moment she was mine, mine, fair,Perfectly pure and good: I foundA thing to do, and all her hairIn one long yellow string I woundThree times her little throat around,And strangled her. No pain felt she;I am quite sure she felt no pain.As a shut bud that holds a bee,I warily oped her lids: againLaughed the blue eyes without a stain.And I untightened next the tressAbout her neck; her cheek once moreBlushed bright beneath my burning kiss:I propped her head up as before,Only, this time my shoulder boreHer head, which droops upon it still:The smiling rosy little head,So glad it has its utmost will,That all it scorned at once is fled,And I, its love, am gained instead!Porphyria's love: she guessed not howHer darling one wish would be heard.And thus we sit together now,And all night long we have not stirred,And yet God has not said a word! Robert Browning
* Before reading i was warned that he was crazy! and now after reading i see that he really is. I think if i didnt know that i would have picked it up. The thing that i got from this poem is that this woman who he's in love with come to visit or something and he's happy to see her, but then next thing you know he's talking about killing her! I think it kind of strange i really wished i knew what he was getting at.
"I Said to Love"
I said to Love, "It is not now as in old days When men adored thee and thy ways All else above; Named thee the Boy, the Bright, the One Who spread a heaven beneath the sun," I said to Love. I said to him, "We now know more of thee than then; We were but weak in judgment when, With hearts abrim, We clamoured thee that thou would'st please Inflict on us thine agonies," I said to him. I said to Love, "Thou art not young, thou art not fair, No faery darts, no cherub air, Nor swan, nor dove Are thine; but features pitiless, And iron daggers of distress," I said to Love. "Depart then, Love! . . . - Man's race shall end, dost threaten thou? The age to come the man of now Know nothing of? - We fear not such a threat from thee; We are too old in apathy! Mankind shall cease.--So let it be," I said to Love. Thomas Hardy
* To me in this poem i think Thomas Hardy is talking to God about leaving the earth to go to heaven, because he keeps going on about age and how we get old. It also seems as if he has a fear of death or getting old. The poem makes my min wonders but it's ok.
Growing Old
What is it to grow old?Is it to lose the glory of the form,The lustre of the eye?Is it for beauty to forego her wreath?Yes, but not for this alone.Is it to feel our strength -Not our bloom only, but our strength -decay?Is it to feel each limbGrow stiffer, every function less exact,Each nerve more weakly strung?Yes, this, and more! but not,Ah, 'tis not what in youth we dreamed 'twould be!'Tis not to have our lifeMellowed and softened as with sunset-glow,A golden day's decline!'Tis not to see the worldAs from a height, with rapt prophetic eyes,And heart profoundly stirred;And weep, and feel the fulness of the past,The years that are no more!It is to spend long daysAnd not once feel that we were ever young.It is to add, immuredIn the hot prison of the present, monthTo month with weary pain.It is to suffer this,And feel but half, and feebly, what we feel:Deep in our hidden heartFesters the dull remembrance of a change,But no emotion -none.It is -last stage of all -When we are frozen up within, and quiteThe phantom of ourselves,To hear the world applaud the hollow ghostWhich blamed the living man. Matthew Arnold
* Like wow i really needed to see this poem! To be honest i had a fear of being old or getting old. The main things i didn't want to leave was my beauty, & strenght you know like stupid simple; things. You can say that i used to be affraid of change!, but now i love change, change is good!
The big difference between Victorian and the Romantic era is the way of life. During the Victorian era , some people were happy and others were about money or trying to figure out why things happen. During the Romantic era; wow i really loved it!!! Almost everyone was into art and expressing what they felt in a positive way. Like i said i really think they were some what like hippies. Even if i did my project at the last moment i really liked it!
