The Industrial Revolution ushered in a period of rapid societal transformation in the nineteenth century. The literary heavyweights of the time captured the turbulent century from a variety of perspectives. These writers provided a broad and interesting portrayal of a world in change through poetry, novels, short stories, and other genres.
One of these writers was Charles Dickens, the most well-known Victorian author. Dickens acquired work habits that enabled him to create long and engaging works, despite his rough upbringing. Most of Dickens's novels were published in serial form over weeks or months in newspapers.
Dickens used his writings to analyze and criticize the social structure of England at the time. He chronicled Victorian England's socioeconomic realities in famous novels such as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations. His writings frequently discussed class differences, poverty, and ambition that existed during the Industrial Revolution in London.
Edgar Allan Poe is another notable writer of the 19th century. Despite not living a very long life, his work positioned him as one of the most significant writers in history. Poe was the father of the short story form, a poet, and a critic.
His gloomy literary style was characterized by a fascination with the macabre and the mysterious. He influenced the development of genres, including horror and detective fiction. Poe's tumultuous background has hinted as to how he came up with the dark stories and poems for which he is most known today.
2. The Industrial Revolution ushered in a period of rapid societal
transformation in the nineteenth century. The literary heavyweights of the
time captured the turbulent century from a variety of perspectives. These
writers provided a broad and interesting portrayal of a world in change
through poetry, novels, short stories, and other genres.
3. One of these writers was Charles Dickens, the most well-known Victorian
author. Dickens acquired work habits that enabled him to create long and
engaging works, despite his rough upbringing. Most of Dickens's novels
were published in serial form over weeks or months in newspapers.
4. Dickens used his writings to analyze and criticize the social structure of
England at the time. He chronicled Victorian England's socioeconomic
realities in famous novels such as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and
Great Expectations. His writings frequently discussed class differences,
poverty, and ambition that existed during the Industrial Revolution in
London.
5. Edgar Allan Poe is another notable writer of the 19th century. Despite not
living a very long life, his work positioned him as one of the most
significant writers in history. Poe was the father of the short story form, a
poet, and a critic.
6. His gloomy literary style was characterized by a fascination with the
macabre and the mysterious. He influenced the development of genres,
including horror and detective fiction. Poe's tumultuous background has
hinted as to how he came up with the dark stories and poems for which
he is most known today.
7. When mentioning important writers of the 19th century, one should not
forget Herman Melville. He is most known for his masterwork Moby Dick,
which was largely misunderstood and overlooked for decades. The novel
is based on Melville's actual experience on a whaling ship as well as
published stories of a genuine white whale, and it follows a ship captain's
search for vengeance against the gigantic white whale.
8. The novel largely perplexed readers and critics in the mid-nineteenth
century. Melville had already had widespread popularity with his writings
prior to Moby Dick, particularly Typee, which was based on his time
stranded in the South Pacific. Melville's greatest literary fame, however,
came much later, in the early twentieth century, and long after his death.
9. A notable female writer of the 19th century was Margaret Fuller. She was
a pioneering female activist, novelist, and editor who rose to fame as the
editor of The Dial, the New England Transcendentalists' journal. Working
for Horace Greeley at the New York Tribune, she became the first female
newspaper writer in New York City.
10. Fuller went to Europe, married an Italian revolutionary, and had a child,
only to perish in a shipwreck while returning to America with her husband
and child. Despite the fact that she died young, her writings were
influential in the nineteenth century.
11. Ida B. Wells is another important writer of the 19th century. She was born
into slavery in the deep South and rose to prominence in the 1890s as an
investigative journalist and activist for her work exposing the atrocities of
lynching. She not only gathered crucial data on the number of lynchings
in the United States, but wrote movingly about the situation. She was
also one of the NAACP's (National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People) founders.
12. Rabindranath Tagore was an Asian writer who had a significant impact in
the 19th century. He was a polymath from India who made important
contributions to literature, art, and philosophy. Tagore is recognized for
altering Bengali literature and music and is known as the Bard of Bengal.
He is also known for writing the national anthems of India and
Bangladesh. His brilliance earned him a Nobel Prize in Literature, the
first non-European to win this prestigious award.