George Eliot “Count That Day Lost” – Background information

Background   Information

George Eliot, an English female writer and poet lived in England during the Victorian Age in Queen Victoria‟s times, with religious background. That time was characterized by peace and prosperity. There were huge gaps between the rich and the poor. The lower classes lived in poverty. Poor children had to work hard in order to support their families instead of going to school. 

The  Victorian Age in England was from 1837 till 1901.

At that time Britain was the world’s superpower. During the reign of Queen Victoria Britain was one of the most powerful trading nations in the world, provoking a social and economic revolution whose effects are still being felt today. The first  steamship, the railway and the electric telegraph were invented by Britain’s engineers at that time. Urban transport systems such as buses and underground railways were also created by the Victorians.

Families were large. Generally in one household there lived three generations :parents and grandparents  who helped with young children. Very often the wages of males was not enough to support the big family. Women and juveniles started to work, mostly part-time. It involved  home-working,in a family-run business, or outside the home doing simple jobs. It was a cheap labour, but it was a real help.

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans (1819- 1880). She was a leading English writer and poet of the Victorian era. In those days, women writers wrote mostly romantic novels. Mary Anne was a very intelligent woman, and studied Greek literature and languages (very rare for women at the time). She became a writer and chose a male pen name, George Eliot, to make sure her work would be taken seriously. She wrote for magazines and also a few long realistic novels. Eliot cared about people and wanted readers to become sympathetic towards other people. Eliot wrote about the differences between rich landowners and poor country people and often criticized the behavior of the upper classes. She believed that people should take responsibility in their everyday lives and make moral choices. Eliot preferred a good heart to cleverness or social status. She felt people could change each other‟s lives for the better through good deeds and help. The poem “Count That Day Lost” describes two possible outcomes