Final Project + Elizabeth An Era And Victorian Age

Universidad Nacional Chorotega Head Office Campus Liberia

Bachelor in Teaching English

Diacrony of English Language

Research Paper

Professor David Villalobos Betancourt

Student Randall Alvarado Navarro

II Semester 2009

The Elizabethan Era and the Victorian Age

As we know, English has faced different steps in order to be in the way we know and talk it. It has passed different ages, epochs and centuries to become one of the most important languages around the world. Some centuries ago, English was not considered as important as we consider right now. Actually, it was spoken by the minority of the people, though. The plebeians were the ones who spoke this language. On the other hand, the royalty was the unique that talked French, considering this language more pure and finer than English. Moreover, English has influenced many eras and stages of the world. It has introduced some new words to the lexicon of the people. Consequently, we can say that English is an important part of the history of the Earth. This language has introduced new meanings. Also, there are some important people that have helped in the process of understanding and learning words worldwide. We can mention plenty of important events that have happened in the history of English language, but the idea of this paper is just to mention tow of them. Moreover, it can be shown a timeline in which represents some events that have happened.

source: benortiz.com It was chosen the Elizabethan Age because it is considered so important to talk about an incredible woman that did many important things in England. It is amazing because it was a hard era in which men governed everything. So, it is kind of awesome that the “weak sex” could do things in favor of a country. This event is relevant in a patriarchal era. Before writing about the Elizabethan Age, it is important to mention who Elizabeth was. Elizabeth was a popular Queen, and considered one of the best loved monarchs, and one of the most admired rulers of all time. She became a legend in her own existence. She had remarkable abilities and achievements. Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. She

was

born

on

7

September

1533

at

Greenwich

Palace.

(From:

http://www.elizabethi.org/us/biography.html). Elizabeth did finally succeed to the throne on November, 17th 1558. Furthermore, she was crowned Queen on Sunday

15th January 1559. In the months that followed, the new Queen re-established the Protestant Church in England and restored the debased coinage. This is a picture of Elizabeth I, the Queen.

Picture borrowed from www.elizabethi.org

As it was mentioned before, Elizabethan Age was so important because, first of all, it was considered and called the Golden Age in English history. By this age, the Renaissance was the most relevant of the events that were happening. In addition, this era was important because in this era, many of the poetry, music and literature came out. Musicians were called Waitz, which played instruments like fiddles, lutes, recorders, and small percussion instruments. On the other hand, this era gave to the world one of the most important and well-known writers: William Shakespeare.

During the period of the Elizabethan Age, it existed a long period of peace among the countries, mainly the battles between Protestant and Catholics and the battles between the parliament and the monarchy, too. Additionally, this age brought to English new words that started using since that time. Some of these new words were: Word gardens

Appearing This awakening took especially firm root in Elizabethan England, which notably developed the idea that gardens were

theatre

for enjoyment and delight These conditions

improved

considerably during Elizabeth’s reign, when,

in

1574,

performances

were

regular

weekday

legitimized

and

when, in 1576, the first playhouse was soliloquy

built, by James Burbage. ...convention, especially in the theatre of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries Source: www.britannica.com

These are some words and characteristics of the language by the Elizabethan Age:



‘gong’. The Elizabethan word ‘gong’ meant dung. The men whose job was to

empty and dispose of the waste from the privies (toilets) were called ‘Gong Farmers’! 

The Elizabethan alphabet contained 24 letters, as opposed to the present

day alphabet of 26 letters



In the Elizabethan alphabet the letters “u” and “v” were the same letter as

were and “i” and “j” 

The “j” was usually used as the capital form of the letter “i” in the

Elizabethan alphabet 

The letter “u” was used only in the middle of a word, and the “v” was used at

the beginning! 

Another letter which resembled a “y” was used to represent the “th” sound.

The word “the” was therefore written in a similar way as “ye” would in the modern day 

The written form of Elizabethan Numbers also cause confusion in translation



Numbers were frequently written in lower case Roman numerals, with the

last “i” in a number written as a “j”. For example – viij March Source: www.elizabethan-era.org. On the other hand, we have Victorian Literature. This happening was so relevant in the English development. It brought new points of view, new writing genres and also, new artists. Novels became popular by this era. Victorian Literature was produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (18371901). In this era, most writers were now more concerned to meet the tastes of a large middle class reading public than to please aristocratic patrons. In here, we can mention some of the most significant writers: The Bronte sisters, Thomas Hardy, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Matthew Arnold, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Christina Rossetti.

Victorian literature is characterized by a strong sense of morality, and it frequently champions the broken.

Queen Victoria Picture borrowed from victorian.fortunecity.com

The following is the timeline of this epoch. 19th Century English Timeline 1800 Battle of Hohenlinden (end of French Revolutionary Wars) 1804 Napoleon crowned Emporer 1805 Battle of Trafalgar 1812 Napoleon's retreat from Russia 1815 Battle of Waterloo 1819 Peterloo Massacre 1820 Death of George III 1830 Death of George IV 1832 British votes extend to middle-class males 1837 Accession of Queen Victoria 1844 First Factory Act limits working hours

1848 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood forms 1854 Crimean War begins 1856 End of Crimean War 1859 On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is published 1861 Consort to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, dies 1867 Vote extends to working-class males 1876 Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India 1880-1 First Boer War 1887 Golden Jubilee 1897 Diamond Jubilee 1899-1902 Second Boer War 1901 Death of Queen Victoria Source: http: victorian.fortunecity.com

In this era, most of the novels and poems have a special characteristic. They were written in a kind of dark side. They author mentioned the death constantly. They referred to spiritual things too. They also referred to some experiences and some of the events that were happening at this time. There is an example of a poem written by Robert Buchanan called The Bookworm. The Bookworm With spectacles upon his nose, He shuffles up and down; Of antique fashion are his clothes, His napless hat is brown. A mighty watch, of silver wrought,

Keeps time in sun or rain To the dull ticking of the thought Within his dusty brain.

To see him at the bookstall stand And bargain for the prize, With the odd sixpence in his hand And greed in his gray eyes! Then, conquering, grasp the book half blind, And take the homeward track, For fear the man should change his mind, And want the bargain back! The waves of life about him beat, He scarcely lifts his gaze, He hears within the crowded street The wash of ancient days. If ever his short-sighted eyes Look forward, he can see Vistas of dusty Libraries Prolonged eternally. But think not as he walks along His brain is dead and cold; His soul is thinking in the tongue Which Plato spake of old; And while some grinning cabman sees His quaint shape with a jeer, He smiles, — for Aristophanes Is joking in his ear. Around him stretch Athenian walks, And strange shapes under trees; He pauses in a dream and talks Great speech, with Socrates. Then, as the fancy fails — still mesh'd

In thoughts that go and come — Feels in his pouch, and is refresh'd At touch of some old tome. The mighty world of humankind Is as a shadow dim, He walks through life like one half blind, And all looks dark to him; But put his nose to leaves antique, And hold before his sight Some press'd and withered flowers of Greek, And all is life and light. A blessing on his hair so gray, And coat of dingy brown! May bargains bless him every day, As he goes up and down; Long may the bookstall-keeper's face, In dull times, smile again, To see him round with shuffling pace The corner of the lane! A good old Ragpicker is he, Who, following morn and eve The quick feet of Humanity, Searches the dust they leave. He pokes the dust, he sifts with care, He searches close and deep; Proud to discover, here and there, A treasure in the heap! (From London Poems, 1866-70) Source: www.victorianweb.org

As we can see, this poem has a dark point of view, with some black metaphors that can confuse the readers. Even though, Victorian Literature is so interesting and exciting because some of them have fantastic features that can transport the reader to an inexistence world, full of werewolves, vampires and death people. Also, this kind of literature is a good representation of the culture that people had in the period and it also showed all the problematic they had to face. Consequently, if we see at the past, we can notice that English language has changed a lot. Thanks to the eras or ages mentioned before, English has increased because both ages have given to the language new words, meanings, word order and some grammatical features that we are using now. Probably, if we study deeply the structure of these ages, it is going to be a huge work because there are many information about everything: religion, politics, people, customs, food, and so on.