1. Historical Context
   1. Named after Queen Victoria
      1. ruled for 60 years
   2. Beginning
      1. Either in 1832 with the First Reform Bill
      2. or 1837 with the coronation of Victoria
   3. Ending
      1. 1901 with Victoria's death
      2. definitely by WWI
   4. Authors
      1. Tennyson
         1. Poet Laureate
         2. Said to embody the Victorian
         3. borrowing from Homer to describe the ideal Victorian gentleman
         4. "In Memorium"
            1. written on the death of best friend, Athur Hallum, who died in his 20s
2. Issues
   1. Great Change
      1. "[So completely transformed were] the mind and habits of the ordinary Englishman. . . that he would not, could he see him, recognize his own grandfather." - Walter Besant
   2. Political Turmoil
      1. Napoleonic Wars were not over until 1815
      2. Years of Revolution and potantial revoltuion followed
      3. The Crimean War
   3. The Woman Question
      1. The Upper & Middle Class
         1. being refined meant a woman worked hard to do nothing
         2. focus on social visits, needlework, reading, charity work, or no work
         3. education: art and dance
      2. The Lower Class
         1. part of the working force
      3. The "New Woman"
         1. 1880's-1890's
         2. sought equal moral/sexual standards
         3. more sensible clothes
            1. Topic
         4. sought professions
            1. civil service
            2. nursing
            3. shops
            4. offices
   4. Urbanization
      1. Causes
         1. 1800 England still largely agrarian
         2. Enclosure Act
         3. Industrialism
         4. Expansion
         5. Transportation
      2. Con's
         1. crowding
         2. pollution
         3. fog
         4. typhoid
         5. cholera
      3. Pro's
         1. indoor plumbing
         2. telegraph
         3. telephone
3. Other Names
   1. Age of Earnestness
   2. Age of Respectabliity
   3. Age of Evangelicals
   4. Age of Expansion