Reimagining Human-Nature Relationships in Victorian Literature of the Industrial Age

Author(s): Rishabh Mishra

Abstract:

The Industrial Revolution dramatically reshaped 19th-century England, altering landscapes and rupturing human relationships with nature. Victorian authors, writing amid these environmental and cultural transitions, documented the consequences and interrogated the morality of industrial progress. This paper explores how Victorian literature-through the voices of Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, and Thomas Hardy-engaged with themes of environmental degradation, urban transformation, and alienation from the natural world. Using ecocritical and historical approaches, the study examines how literary representations of nature shifted in response to the industrial economy, scientific discoveries, and declining religious faith, offering early literary articulations of what modern critics now recognize as environmental consciousness. Victorian works not only anticipated present-day ecological concerns but also illustrated the psychological and spiritual costs of estrangement from nature. In detailing these concerns, authors created literary modes that continue to inform ecocritical readings and pave the way for current environmental literature.

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Pages: 71-74     |    3 View     |    0 Download