Literary Images of the Great Exhibition of 1851

Abstract

The bachelor thesis introduces and analyses the images of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in two literary sources; Mrs. Napier's poem The Lay of The Palace and Henry Mayhew's novel 1851: or, The Adventures of Mr. And Msr. Cursty Sandboys. To understand both the nuances and the parallels between the event's impressions depicted in these literary sources, the theoretical part provides historical, social and cultural background of the Victorian era in Great Britain. Additionally, the Exhibition is introduced simultaneously with the contexts mirroring the historical setting in order to illustrate the event's complexity.