The Virtual Coffeehouse

Throughout this semester a lot of things that I thought about Victorians and the period stood out and did not surprise me much. However, like Cherilyn said, the Victorian view of sexuality was shocking to me! In a discrete and very creative way many of the Victorian writers were able to define and express their views on sexuality and the opposite sex, something that I was not expecting! I also didn't realize how many Victorian writers talk about and write about death...I never knew it was such a common theme of the time to write about!

After taking this class, I feel that my knowledge regarding Victorians has increased considerably. Before, I thought mostly of morality and religion. While those were major themes in the Victorian Era, I know realize that there were so many more. The Victorians were actually quite inquisitive, thinking outside of the box. Also, much like Amanda Browning and Cherilyn said, I was surprised to see the Victorian views on sexuality! I had thought that all Victorians were sort of stuck up prudes, yet after completing our readings, I realize just how central sex (as well as death) can be in Victorian literature.

I agree with what Amanda said in the first post to this topic about how the Victorian Era was a time of change and progression. Prior to taking this course I did not envision this time period to be one of that nature, but rather I envisioned it as a stiff, stuffy, age where people were to conform and basically be so proper they were dull and almost lifeless. What I've learned through this course has been the life, passion and diversity that existed amongst the people of this era, and it helped me get a more well rounded view of the individuals in society during this time. It tears away at the stereotype I held previously in my mind. I also was surprised to find the sexuality in so many of these works, as it was one of the last things I thought would be discussed on a class of Victorian literature. And I agree with my classmates as well about the interesting yet very creepy connections that have been made throughout some of the works between sexuality and death.

Going into this class I had a rough idea of what the Victorian Era was, but I didnt have any idea on specific details like their morals, values and controversial issues. I like the analogy someone had of having a fuzzy picture and then getting a clear picture.

One thing that this class made me realize was how dominant the British Empire was during this period. Its something I guess I technically knew, but it wasnt something that really clicked until after I took this class.

I also didnt realize how the Victorian Era would lay the foundations for al ot of our contemporary issues, originating in the clash between science and religion, something that started during the Victorian Era. Then there was also the issue of race, gender and class which blossomed during the Victorian Era today.

The way I see it, the Victorian Era was a forerunner to our contemporary society, it laid the foundations and ideas that would lead to today.

When i first was asked that question what does the word Victorian mean to me i didn't really have much of a response. I always thought of these beautiful women in these fancy hoop skirts and big fancy hats. I did know a little about England at that time and Queen Victoria but not enough to make it a novel..hahaha....anyways most of all i was obsolete when it came to knowing of the victorian values, ways, ideas, meanings of life, etc. I learned a lot through Dickens, Carlyle, Mill, and many of the other authors we studied this semester about these things that i didn't once know of just about three months ago. It's amazing what you can learn in only a few months you once knew nothing about. I was happy to learn about views of different social classes, ideas of identity and the struggles that came with the idea, what men's views were of women during the victorian era, and many other things those are only a minor few. I was also pretty impressed with the learning that took place dealing with the morals of the victorians. I was thrown back and surprised at some of the issues and ideas that were raised in class that i had never thought about. It is always interesting to see at the end of the semester if you can put everything together and start tying the pieces to the puzzle. I think what we have learned this semester helped to do just that. It seems to all be tying together and after tomorrow the puzzle should be complete. CHEERS.....oh wait we still have the final but anyways my views of the victorians has changed completely for the better. See ya all in class tomorrow

I'll fully admit that I knew virtually nothing about Victorians in the beginning of the semester. I had thought Marie Antoinette was part of this era... boy oh boy i was wrong! I had no real concept of how close the Victorian's were to what I consider a modern era. I remember Professor Schacht talking about how there were photographs during this time and how other pieces of fairly advanced technology existed. These new images associated with Victorians were a far cry from what I had initially pictured. This close relation to the Victorians was a theme that emerged again and again within this class. So many of the topics that we talked about (the quest for ones identity, and the question of the importance of human interaction within society, to name a few), are things that we grapple with a lot in today's society as well. The Victorian's no longer hold an association with the distant past, but rather are now figures and images to which I can relate.

The term 'Victorian' originally made me think of more social aspects or a label for a particular time period. However, this course has made me realize that the term 'Victorian' is far more complex than a label. It involves a unique concept of repression that is expressed in more than one piece of literature, the discovery of one's identity-as well as many other ideas that were just beginning to become public. This was also a time of changing morality, a switch from the religion based facts to the scientific theories.

At the beginning of the semester, I thought of the Victorians as generally proper acting individuals. Now my definition has been revised to acknowledge all the complexities of Victorian life, such as their religious views, how they treated women, how they thought of the empire they amassed, and struggled to identify themselves, etc. Before I thought that all of society denied sexuality publicly, but our study of Amy Levy and some Victorian poets changed my mind on that.

Also, I always pictured Browning as a quintessential Victorian poet, but I didn't realize his style of writing (dramatic monologues) was against the grain of many other writers and poets.

I didn't realize the deep connection between art and literature that's apparent in Victorian times. When I think of European literature and culture, I think of the Renaissance and how art was promoted then. Studying Dante Rossetti really exposed how closely the two were linked, along with hearing poems set to music and paintings by other artists.

I think overall I've come to have a great understanding of the complexities of Victorian life and literature and I'm thankful to have took this course!

I think what has changed the most for me in my thought about the Victorain Era is realizing that it was not as long ago or as old and irrelevant as I had originally thought it was. I learned not only that it's not as far chronologically as I thought but also that their works and writings are still ones that are impacting our generation today, I mean who doesn't know Alice in Wonderland? But not only that, also the way they provided a transition into a more free style of writing with more forms, (ie the novel) and more subject matter, (i.e. power of women, sexuality) and they way they weren't afraid to look at themselves (idenity crisis), they paved the way in several areas for other great writers and changed not only the world in Britain but the world everywhere.

My view of the Victorians has definitely changed after taking this course. It's easy to clump history into arbitrarily assigned eras and assume everything in each clump was exactly the same. What I've learned in this class is that the Victorians were an incredibly diverse group; not at all the stuffy, close-minded gossips I had them pegged for. Of course I knew there would be exceptions to this misguided stereotype, but I had no idea how many exceptions there actually were. I think the mots interesting part of this course for me was contextualizing the issues written about by Victorians in a modern way. Indeed, many things they face are still prevalent societal arguments.