Victorian England (1837 – 1901): The Golden Age

1837: First Telegraph

1838: First modern railroad line
1859: Gas engine invented by Etienne Lenoir
1858-59: Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’
1861: Machine/Gatling Gun invented.
1876: Alexander G. Bell invents the telephone
1877-79: Thomas Edison invents phonograph,
microphone & incandescent lamp
1896: Wireless telegraph invented by Marconi
Tremendous economic and technological growth, along
with a growing poverty, uncertainty and economic class
consciousness.
Religion Vs Science:
Christian belief: God created the Earth and everything in it.
Science: Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Fossils proved the evolution of plants and animals, with changing climate.
An enduring image of the
uncertainty in people’s minds:

The study of fossils, the use of

medicines to cure diseases, the
scientific inventions – made
people question religion.
Hence, there was loss of faith,
leading to a sense of
insecurity.
The Darkling Thrush
by Thomas Hardy

1840-1928
Hardy’s long career spanned
the Victorian and the modern
eras. He lived through too
many upheavals—including
World War I—to be optimistic.
He was not, by nature,
cheerful. His prose works were
criticised for their existentially
bleak outlook. Soon he took to
writing poetry.

Hardy wrote this poem at the very end of the nineteenth century, looking hopefully at the
new twentieth century. It was first printed as ‘By the Century’s Deathbed’ in The Graphic
on 29th December 1900.
Form of poem: Ode - a lyric poem addressed to a particular subject, written in an elevated
style with a formal tone. Odes can be also be written in a more personal vein, as reflection
– like this poem.
 tangled bine stems

coppice gate
 A broken lyre presents a
picture of disharmony and
hopelessness.

A lyre
 Household hearth fires

The weakening eye of day

 Vesper service -
evening
song/prayer, one of
the canonical hours

carolings of
unlimited joy
Words/expressions that create images of dullness:
-the action of leaning (the poet leaning on the
coppice Images of death/lifelessness:
gate, the image of a corpse leaning) -spectre-grey (as grey as a ghost)
-Winter’s dregs made desolate -haunted
-tangled bine stems -corpse
-broken lyres -death lament (dirge)
-sharp features of the landscape
-the seeds of life have dried and frozen

Images of life/hope/religious symbols:

-voice – rising above the bleak landscape
-full-hearted/coming from its soul
-fervourless
-evensong/carolings/ecstatic sound
-joy illimited (unlimited)
-good night air (tune/melody)
-blessed Hope