Final answer:
Early Victorians who distanced themselves from Romantics faced a cultural shift toward a more structured and stratified view of society. Romanticism valued emotion and nature, while Victorian culture emphasized moral conduct related to economic success. These contrasts likely led to disapproval for those who moved away from Romantic ideals in favor of Victorian societal norms.
Step-by-step explanation:
Early Victorians who tried to separate themselves from the Romantics were entering a period defined by a variety of cultural and intellectual movements. Romanticism, which began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, was characterized by a focus on emotion, imagination, and the natural world, often in response to the industrialization and rationalism of the period. The Romantics cherished the beauty of nature and criticized the impact of urbanization.
As the Victorian era progressed, elements of Romanticism influenced the burgeoning sense of nationalism, with an interest in folk traditions reflecting national character. However, the Victorian zeitgeist evolved to prioritize societal norms and proprieties often at odds with the Romantic ethos. The Victorian bourgeoisie held certain prejudices against the working class, seeing their demands for improved working conditions as laziness rather than legitimate grievances resulting from exploitation.
The contradictions between Victorian ideology and reality were stark, with the upper classes often engaged in activities they would publicly disdain, such as alcohol and drug use. Notably, Victorian culture was pervaded by a moral connection between virtue and economic success, in contrast with the Romantic Ideal that saw value in every aspect of human experience regardless of social standing.
Consequently, Early Victorians who sought to distance themselves from Romanticism might have faced criticism for abandoning the deep emotional connections and authenticity prized by Romantic artists and thinkers for what was perceived as a more dispassionate and socially stratified worldview of the Victorian establishment.