Novel of the Victorian Period. [P236]

　　Novel became the most widely read and the most vital and challenging expression of progressive thought. A harvest in novel

　　Critical realists：

　　Charles Dickens

　　William Makepeace Thackeray

　　Charlotte Bronte

　　Emily Bronte

　　Mrs. Gaskell Anthony Trollope

　　They were angry at the inhuman social institutions， the decaying social morality as represented by the money-worship and Utilitarianism， and the widespread misery， poverty and injustice. Their truthful picture of people's life and bitter and strong criticism of the society had done much in awakening the public consciousness to the social problems and in the actual improvement of the society.

　　George Eliot， the pioneering woman， was the first novelist that "started putting all the actions inside"

　　Thomas Hardy， the Wessex man who not only continued to expose and criticize all sorts of social iniquities， but finally came to question and attack the Victorian conventions and morals.

　　Prose of the Victorian Period [P236]

　　Poetry of the Victorian Period [P236-237]

　　The poetry of this period was mainly characterized by experiments with new styles and new ways of expression. Robert Browning who created the verse novel by adopting the novelistic presentation of characters. This transferred the thematic 主題的interest from mere narration of the story to revelation 新發現，提示 and study of character's inner world and brought to the Victorian poetry some psycho-analytical element.

　　Charles Dickens （1812-1870）

　　The definition of Critical Realist：

　　（1） A number of novelists who are strongly critical of the social reality of their day.

　　（2） They don't want to overthrow the existing social order and so they can't see a way out of the terrible situation.