I sort of want to send this to my students.

[tempestsarekind]

At least one of them has done the "when you think about the Victorians, you might think of the genteel country-house world of Jane Austen, but Charles Dickens presents gritty realism in his sketches of city life" opening*, and several of them do immediately equate--like some [columnists/bloggers/people named Joe Wright] who constantly disparage Austen for not writing about dirt and the poor--the depiction of the lower classes with realism:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7993920.stm
(via Austenblog)

*Yes, I did point out that Austen isn't a Victorian writer. I realize this wasn't the student's main point, but it needs to be said.