Few people in history actually define an era or period in time. Napoleon did briefly with his Napoleonic period. But the regnal eras, those dynastic periods defined by the reign of a king or queen, are the ones that stick. Eras defined as Tudor, Elizabethan, Jacobean, Caroline, Georgian, Regency, and Edwardian, all have things about them that draw immediate images in our minds. As a long-time living history presenter, I see clothing styles first. Then I see the rest…
For the Tudor period, I picture Henry VIII of course, but I also see architecture. Elizabethan fills my head with theater. Jacobean gives me images of Guy Fawkes and musketeers. The Caroline era comes to me in the form spaniels! (King Charles spaniels specifically). The Georgian era puts redcoats and revolution in my mind. Regency calls up empire dresses and Mr. Darcy. Mmm Darcy. And the Edwardian era comes to me with women’s suffrage and germ theory, not to mention it ushers in mechanized warfare. Did you notice which era is missing from that list?
Hint #1: a long-running period utterly defined by one woman.
Hint #2: She had a HUGE family.
Hint #3: Her era fell between Georgian and Edwardian. From 1837 to 1901.
Yes, I’m speaking of Queen Victoria and the Victorian era. It had quite a long run because she 
was queen a long time. In that span, so many things were credited to her –too many for this post.
The reason I mention Queen Victoria is because a lot of symbols come out of the Victorian era. In fact, Victoria herself was a symbol of British imperialism and pride. Because there are just so many, I’m going to devote a few posts to it. I often use Victorian symbolism to add depth to my historical writings.
For today, I’ll start with…
The symbol of flowers during Victoria’s reign.
Flowers adorned just about everything in the Victorian era. Decor-wise, it was an extremely busy time for the eye. Flowers decorated every other inch of people’s lives, and men’s and women’s clothing and jewelry sported all manner of florals too.
This site has an impressive list of 371 Victorian flowers and their symbology. If you write historical fiction, this is a fantastic reference site with more info than flowers:
http://www.victorianbazaar.com/meanings.html
Monday: a bit more.
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Words Worth M
entioning for January
“And there is quite a different sort of conversation around a fire than there is in the shadow of a beech tree. Four dry logs have in them all the circumstance necessary to a conversation of four or five hours, with chestnuts on the plate and a jug of wine between the legs. Yes, let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.”
~Pietro Aretino
Today is Author Suz DeMello’s blog day
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/
Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
Our January is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/
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