Long before the advent of technology made way for the television and the radio receiver, keeping yourself entertained meant looking towards both the arts as well as literature. When talking about the Modern Era, while some will think that this means within the last 10 years, this is not true. The Modern Era is said to have started after the industrial revolution which means that it occurred at the end of the Georgian Period and throughout the length of the Victorian era. What this means is that the Modern Era was in fact from January 1801 until January 1901.
Keeping entertained varied between the number of social and economical classes that could be found during the Modern Era. During this time period, people were often interested in things like the theatre as well as the arts like music, opera and drama. This was also the time period in which the brass bands grew in popularity. Since recorded music in this time period was considered to be a novelty left only to the extremely wealthy, it was not uncommon to hear a small brass band playing in the park as you took a stroll.
While not really considered arts and literature, another very common event of the time was The Spectacle. These so-called Spectacles were paranormal events that included things like mediumship or channelling with the dead, hypnotism or ghost conjuring. All of this was done to delight the crowds. Furthermore, another popular event along the lines of the Spectacles which one could constitute as an art is the growth of magic and the illusionists of the time period. Anyone who is into magic knows that some of the most famous magicians were prominent during this time period.
When it comes to literature though, this is a whole new level. The most famous era of literature is that of the Victorian Era novelists in what has since become known as the romantic period of literature. During the Modern Era you will find some great novels written by names like Jane Austen as well as Walter Scott. While the two of these were considered to be pre-Victorian that does not mean that their novels were less important to the times.
Novels and poetry became the biggest and most popular things of the time as well as political critiques. A great number of magazines and newsletters appeared all throughout Europe during the Modern Era and while only a handful is still around today, that does not make the rest less important. Novelists and Poets of the Modern Era include names like the Brontë sisters, Christina Rossetti, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Wilkie Collins, George Meredith, Benjamin Disraeli, George Gissing, Oscar Wilde, George MacDonald, Beatrix Potter, A. E. Housman, Robert Louis Stevenson, Elizabeth Gaskell, Bram Stoker, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, William Thackeray, Philip Meadows Taylor, Anthony Trollope as well as G.M. Hopkins.
While not many people may know of all these names many do stand out among the rest. One of the most noteworthy novelists has got to be Charles Dickens who started his career at the age of 25 when he wrote The Pickwick Papers. In general though, Charles Dickens novels seemed to grow darker and darker in plot as he went along. Most of them included ghosts and other apparitions.
Names like Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling as well as Lewis Carroll bring back many memories of our childhood. Most of the books we have read as children like Alice in Wonderland were written back in the Modern Era.
By the end of the Modern Era though, the plots of the late Victorian Era novelists began to turn towards more grim and factual or realistic in nature. Many people insist this has to do with the 1870’s death of Charles Dickens. Some say that when Charles Dickens died; so did the concept of happy endings which also is stated that since he was one of the greatest literary figures of the time, it was his writing style that led the way through the vast number of novels that had happy endings.
Within only a few decades, the turn of the Modern Era literature became so grim that it was not uncommon for a novel to be censored due to its plot. It was not until Thomas Hardy wrote “Jude the Obscure” that the masses would turn from novels in disgust. The work was regarded as disgustful, so much that a bishop actually was reported as burning a printing of the book.
It was of course through the novelists of the time that child labour was put to an end. Many people even credit the Victorian Era novelists as the inventors of the childhood thanks to the many great books of child literature that were written throughout the Modern Era. It was during this time period that children started to read books and their imaginations were allowed to become free. Books like “A Child's History of England” which was written by Charles Dickens, “Tom Brown's Schooldays” which was written by Thomas Hughes, “Stalky and Co.” written by Rudyard Kipling as well as “Through the Looking Glass” which was written by Lewis Carroll are now the classics in childhood literature.
Since this time period was known as the Romantic Period, the one form of literature that of course was very popular was none other than that of poetry. Poetry seemed to tie and connect the gaps between generations and was not only read, but enjoyed by both adults and children alike.
The arts and literature of the time influenced an empire thanks to the translation of books from other languages including German, Arabic as well as Sanskrit into English. During the time period, many tales, stories and poems from all over the world started to appear in English translations by various novelist and poets of the time. These translated writings seemed to bring the rest of the world a little closer and allow people to step out from Europe into a completely new country through the imagination and the reading of translated literature.
During the Modern Era there were a great number of advancements in science which often led to a number of books being written on various aspects of science like “On the Origin of Species” which was written by Charles Darwin. These even went on into philosophy, economics and logical reasoning works that made their way into people’s libraries.
Some of the most popular forms of literature of the time and still today is that of the Supernatural literature of the time. This time saw books like Bram Stroker’s Dracula among many other great tales of fiction and the supernatural. Some of the most popular characters of the time are people like Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll and Hyde, the Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn as well as Frankenstein.
Leading the way for generations to come, the times of the Modern Era are filled with the arts and literature that paved the way for people’s love for books, poetry, magicians and music.
Original Authors: Nick (Globel Team)
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 16/07/2008
