In my examination
of the periodicals, I found myself giggling quite a bit as I flipped through a
few volumes of Household Words.
Reading the various articles that were published back then as someone part of
this generation of computer drooling kids was very interesting.
Before I even came
to the giggling phase of my examination, I first was caught off guard by the
physical periodicals themselves. Something drew me more towards the Household Words’ volumes over All the Year Round, so I stuck with it.
The paper seemed rather discolored and stiff from age, and the binding appeared
worn and old as well. Flipping through these volumes proved to rack up an
anxious feeling in me as it constantly felt as if I would rip a page. Something
that immediately drew me in was the Shakespearean quote at the top of each
edition of Household Words. I’m not
sure I can exactly explain why that made me smile, but it did.
As I moved onto
the actual content of these periodicals, I first examined the table of
contents. It seemed weird that it went in alphabetical order rather than by
page number as it normally does in today’s world, but it seemed much more useful
for such a large volume of works. That being said, I found I had a more
interesting time flipping through pages rather than looking for things with the
table of contents. I found the amount of fiction in these to be kind of
fascinating. Reading for these people seems to be comparable to television and
movies for us. There were things in installments, short stories, and poems.
There were articles about traveling and other places in the world. There were
plenty of articles about tea. There were very long letters that seemed to be
sent into the paper and then published. Once such was called “Address From An
Undertaker to the Trade.” It didn’t list an author, but it went on to talk
about how bury the dead was important, even though it was pricey. I found this
to be a strange topic to publish, but I don’t think I necessarily have enough
context of the times to understand why this would have been published.
Another article
that I found particularly interesting was called “Pictures of Life in
Australia.” This was rather entertaining. The author was almost shocked to find
that life in Australia wasn’t as underdeveloped as they may have previously
thought. Oh my goodness…these people have manners similar to the people living
in England. One particular quote made me cock my eyebrow and laugh a bit. The
writer explains, “To think that to England should belong the right to own them,
the old fashioned Sunday scene and manners of England, seen in her younger
colonies being this revived” (Volume 1 p. 307). This quote just strikes me
because of the different views of the people back them. “Right to own them”? I
just find it entertaining.
From my
examination of this periodical, I find the Victorian’s love to
read…obviously…but they want to read about things that concern there country.
Their curiosity seems to stretch even beyond that out into unfamiliar places.
It’s fascinating. On top of this, I would just like to note the vocabulary of
these people and their ability to write and make what their writing sound
beautiful. Their wording sounds so much more intelligent than what we have to
say in today’s world. It’s not just intelligent. It’s almost elegant. I like
it.
All in all, this was interesting a kind of
exciting to flip through and find out more about the Victorian way of life.
They are a culture of people that seemed to put forth an air curiosity and
well-read intelligence. Also…it’s pretty funny when an article about opium is
found in the daily paper.
Stephanie Austin-Reed
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