Victorian Literature Context Flashcards
Rossetti’s father:
Italian political exile
Rossetti’s brother:
Dante was a painter in the pre-Raphaelite movement, and she even sat for a painting of the Virgin Mary
Rossetti’s sister:
Nun for ‘Society of all-saints,’ they both volunteered at an institution for ‘fallen women’
Rossetti’s religion:
Converted from Anglicanism to the Oxford movement, becoming Tractarian. The Oxford movement believed that there should be a separation of government and religion. Her religious mania developed, and had an affect on her personal relationships as well as her world view
Early Victorian Society:
- very orthodox, still strict to tradition and religion
- Darwinism began to surface, but was largely ignored
- Opening of rail roads for travel and economic opportunities; trade with China for tea, India for cotton and Australia for beef
Romanticism:
An artistic movement that focused on nature, imagination and emotion
Pre-Raphaelite movement:
Underground artistic movement that opposed the teaching of Raphael
James Collinson:
Ex-lover of Rossetti that left due to being Roman Catholic; he was a Pre-Raphalite
Wilde politics:
Feminist, aesthete, socialist, Irish national
Wilde socialism:
‘Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things.’ - Wilde
Wilde’s other editorials:
The Woman’s World and Punch
The Woman’s World:
Wilde edited this magazine, and allowed topics to shift from the domestic, typically feminine discussions of fashion, household management and the private sphere to education, literature, politics, etc..
Wilde ‘The Woman’s World’ quotes:
‘Deal not merely with what women wear, but with what they think, and what they feel’
‘First social magazine for women’
Punch magazine:
Magazine that focused on satirical humour based on British Victorian Society
Wilde’s other inspirations:
Keynotes by George Egerton (Mary Dunne), Hannson states ‘it is a liberal book, indiscreet in respect of the intimacies of married life, and entirely without respect for the husband.’
