How did scientific and industrial progress affect the literature of the Victorian age?

[Matt]

If at all possible please provide examples from any writings. Thanks!

[bravelace158]

Just a couple of thoughts off the top of my blonde head:

Classical liberalism developed in the 19th century, a philosophy committed to the ideal of limited gov't, free markets, right to own property and freedoms of speech, religion, press and assembly. That plus the Industrial Revolution created a specific kind of society, public policy and government. Therefore whatever people felt like doing in their own best interest was fair game. Enormous wealth could and was created.

There was a great divide between the poor and the rich, and many Victorian writers wrote social commentary. In fiction, Charles Dickens wrote mostly about the poor and the oppressed. Thackaray wrote about the middle class, Trollope about the landowning class. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) wrote about politics, disillusionment with the church, and observations between the rich and the poor.

Charles Darwin's "On the Origin Of Species" a scientific novel about evolutionary bioloigy was an attempt to classify the world and really stirred things up in Victorian society and had a lasting effect on literature and thought.

There are lots of Victorian authors you could research: The Bronte sisters, Oscar Wilde, John Stuart Mill, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll and Thomas Hardy to name a few.

Hope I helped a little!