I guess it had been a while since I had had a history class, but I had forgotten that the London fire of 1666 had been the possible beginning of the Victorian age. The near destruction of the largest city in The Empire would be a devastation and would have to initiate a change an age of history.
Starting the Industrial Revolution was an inevitable response to this tragedy as the technology was available to make everything from weapons to textiles more efficient and automated. Unfortunately the nearly immediate effects of the Victorian Age are sometimes overlooked. The institution of child labor, poor wages for difficult work, and the rise of middle management are often frowned upon, but the age demanded these difficult effects. Had it not been for child labor and the poor conditions, many of the labor laws we have today would not be in place. The same is true for wages and the institution of unions and competition for wages and placement in companies in general.
The Victorian Age gave us much more than great literature and rhetoric. It began the proverbial snowball that has escalated to many of today's largest debates about wages, age, and appropriate placement for employees within a structure.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I thought your comments about the effects of disasters on the course of history were both interesting and timely. It's amazing to think about what a profound impact the London fire had on the entire 17th century Western world, even in the absence of mass media. In our globalized world, we are that much more deeply influenced by the tragedies of other countries, such as the recent earthquake in Haiti.
ReplyDeleteI think that when people in the future look back at our age, they'll see that September 11th caused a shift in culture much like the London fire did 350 years ago. It seems that new ages begin in the aftermath of terrible disasters. It may seem cruel for me to say, but I think tragedy is a necessary part of humanity simply because, as you mentioned, it forces us to re-evaluate our belief systems and helps us to develop new philosophies more fitting to modern times.
ReplyDeleteThe Age of Enlightenment emerged during the time of the great London fire and gathered momentum in the 18th century. Perhaps the effects can be viewed as Phoenix rising from the ashes. The impact on the scientific, political, and educational communities continue to influence contemporary discourse. Interestingly, while England was still promoting an elitist attitude toward educating her citizens, Scotland was far more democratic in her approach providing basic education and singling out talented students for further instruction. Horner's essay, "The Roots of modern Writing Instruction" devoted several pages to the pedagogy of Scottish universities. For example, the economist Adam Smith attended Glasgow University and his principles still guide contemporary thinking. And, as the Victorian Era emerged, the impact of Scottish composition was profound. Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Margaret Oliphant were all products of this educational system. Personally, I found Horner's essay one of the most "enlightening" in the series.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost depressing that we have to learn from tragedy. However, when the world gets bad enough we as a race somehow manage to adapt and make the (read OUR) world better.
ReplyDeleteThe fire was not something that I remembered and it was very interesting to contemplate it having such a powerful effect on the course of western civilization. I too was very struck by the role of Scotland in the evolution of the teaching of "English studies" or even in promoting it's existence as a recognized course of study.
ReplyDeleteI think that might be the horrible cycle of history. Everything good we can point to now, can be traced at some point in its development to some tragedy. But if we didn't have the "bad" things we wouldn't need the "good" counter actions to them. So maybe in their own way the "good" laws, since we need them, are further signs of human shortcomings.
ReplyDeleteThis cycle of tradegy leading to enlightment is also true ater WWII when new criticism helped a generation learn how to read literature again. Their practice of close reading led to the ability for this post-war generation to be able to look at English studies in ways that they hadn't learned before and in many ways were lacking.
ReplyDelete