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from SECTION FOUR - THE VICTORIAN AGE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
PROSE
Non-fiction
Features of Victorian Non-fiction
Didactic essays and social commentaries on environment, politics and society
Historical tracts were common
Polemical writings on issues like problems of the working class
A great deal of critical thinking and writing on art and architecture, which influenced subsequent generations.
The Romantic period marked the rise of the personal essay. During the Victorian period, the essay turned towards social criticism. Some of the most trenchant commentaries and analyses of Victorian society and culture came from figures like Thomas Carlyle. Education, women's conditions, religion and science, the rise and spread of industrial capitalism and the empire were all subjects of essays.
John Henry Newman (1801–90), popularly known as Cardinal Newman, was one of the most influential figures of the age. As a preacher and writer, Newman attracted controversy for his views. He played an important role in the Oxford Movement (see the box Oxford Movement) and published his opinions in Tracts for the Times. In 1845, Newman became a Roman Catholic. His 1852 publication The Idea of a University continues to be read to this day. Newman is also the author of one of the most widely-read spiritual autobiographies, the Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864). He was ordained as a Cardinal in 1879.
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