Assignment
Name
:- Gujarati Krishna v.
Class
:- M.A. SEM 2
Topic :- Victorian prose writers.
Paper No
:- 06 Victorian age
ROLL
NO :- 17
Submitted
to:- Smt. S.B.Gardy Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar
University,
Bhavnagar.
Introduction
It was an era of material of affluence , political
consciousness, democratic reforms,
industrial progress, scientific advancement, social unrest, educational
expansion, empire-building and religious uncertainty. Many thinkers and writers
felt satisfied with the general condition of the age. But some like Ruskin and
Carlyle raised frowns against the soul-killing materialism of the age.
(1) Ruskin as an outstanding prose writer of his age
Introduction:
Ruskin (1819-1900) was a sensitive
soul who pitted himself against the inhumanity of the age of machine. Born in
the middle of the Industrial Revolution, he raised his prophetic voice against
the rank materialism which had been ushered in the industrial expansion and
cut-throat competition. But what is more, he was an artist himself 23i a keen
lover of all art. He made himself felt in the field of art criticism as well as
in that of social criticism. Add to that his remarkable sense of vigorous and
colourful style. So Ruskin's work and achievement have to be studied under
three heads as given below:
As an art critic, Ruskin did not concern himself only
with painting. He went ahead, and in some of his writings, particularly The
Seven Lamps of Architecture and The Stones of Venice, he came
forward to discuss the art of architecture. His fundamental point, which he
repeated over and over again, was, in his own words "that certain right
states of temper and moral feeling were the magic powers by which all good
architecture had been produced." For him art was to be considered as the
spiritual history of a nation. He emphasized the relation between art and life,
and art and morality. "Art," he asserted, "in all its forms was
but a manifestation of a sound personal and social life." Art he
considered to be an action; and, therefore, as indicative of the artist's
temper and spiritual condition as any other important action of his. Though he
favoured principles of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood yet he keenly opposed
their slogan "Art for the sake of art." The "seven lamps of
architecture," according to him, are:
(i) Truth (ii) Power (iv) Beauty (v) Life
(vi) Sacrifice (vii) Memory
(viii) Obedience.
Ruskin's as social critic : Ruskin's object as social critic and reformer
was to quote Compton-Rickett, "to humanise political economy." The
conventional "political economy" which Ruskin called
"nescience," and elsewhere, "a bastard science," owed its
origin to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations which was the bible of the
political economists of Ruskin's age—such as Mill and Ricardo. Unto This
Last was a remarkable work by Ruskin, where he somewhat systematically set
about the task of challenging the pontifical utterances of self-important
political economists. He gave a new definition of wealth and value, but, most
of all, he apparently succeeded in demolishing the superstructure of "the
bastard science" by shaking its very foundations. The political economists
based all their principles on the assumption of "the economic man".
Ruskin tried to show that there was none like an economic
man, that is, a man who is wholly motivated by considerations of monetary
profit. Ruskin contended that our motive power is not the desire of gain, but a
soul. He emphasised the importance of what he called "social
affections" in determining the actions of a normal human being. Thus he
tried to nullify all the conclusions of the political economists by challenging
their very premises.
(2) Matthew Arnold as an essayist
Arnold is considered one of the
most significant writers of the late Victorian period in England. He initially
established his reputation as a poet of elegiac verse, and such poems as “The
Scholar-Gipsy” and “Dover Beach” are considered classics for their subtle,
restrained style and compelling expression of spiritual malaise. However, it
was through his prose writing that Arnold asserted his greatest influence on
literature. His writings on the role of literary criticism in society advance
classical ideals and advocate the adoption of universal aesthetic standards.
Arnold's
prose writings articulate his desire to establish universal standards of taste
and judgment. In his highly regarded Essays in Criticism (1865), he
elaborates on this key principle, defining the role of critical inquiry as “a
disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best that is known and
thought in the world, and thus to establish a current of fresh and true
ideals.” For Arnold this endeavor should not be limited to literature, but
should embrace theology, history, art history, science, sociology, and
political theory, with pertinent standards drawn from all periods of world
history. Arnold's approach was markedly eclectic, and in “The Literary
Influence of the Academies,” the second of the Essays in Criticism, he
pointedly contrasts the isolation of English intellectuals with European
urbanity, hoping to foster in his own country the sophisticated cosmopolitanism
enjoyed by writers and critics on the European continent. Similarly, Culture
and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism (1869), widely
viewed as one of Arnold's most important works, was motivated by his desire to
redress what he saw as the smug provincialism and arrogance of English society.
The essay is a sociopolitical analysis of England's class structure in which
Arnold identifies three major classes: Barbarians (the aristocracy),
Philistines (the middle class), and the Populace (the lower class). While Arnold
praised the aristocracy for their refined manners and social assurance, he also
condemned them for their conservatism. “Philistines” Arnold considered
hopelessly uncouth though innovative and energetic. The lower class he
dismissed as an ineffectual, inchoate mass. Arnold argued that as the middle
class gradually assumed control of English politics, they must be transformed
from their unpolished state into a sensitive, sophisticated, intellectual
community. The alternative, he contended, would be a dissolution of England's
moral and cultural standards. Arnold also endorsed the eventual creation of a
classless society in which every individual would subscribe to highly refined
ideals based on the culture of ancient Greece.
(3) Carlyle as an essayist
One of the foremost writers and intellectuals of his era,
Carlyle wrote influential works on The French Revolution, Cromwell and
Frederick the Great, emphasising the cult of a great man as national moral
leader.
Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan, Dumfries and Galloway, as
the son of a stonemason and small farmer. He was brought up in a strict
Calvinist household. At the age of 15 he went to University of Edinburgh,
receiving his B.A. in 1813. From 1813 to 1818 he studied for the ministry of
the Church of Scotland, but abandoned this course and studied law for a while.
Carlyle wrote contributions for Brewter's Edinburgh
Encyclopedia, also contributing to such journals as Edinburgh Review and
Fraser's Magazine. From 1824 he was a full-time writer and undertook thorough
study of German literature, especially Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Carlyle's
essays on German philosophy introduced many new ideas to the British public. He
also produced a translation of a work by Goethe, which was highly acclaimed.
As an essayist Carlyle's career began with two pieces in the
Edinburgh Review in 1827. He expressed sympathy for the condition of the
working class in the long essay Chartism (1839). In 'The Negro Question' (1850)
he addressed the subject of West Indian slavery in intemperate and for the
modern day reader doubtly repugnant terms. Carlyle's cynicism with English
society was evident in the Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850). As in his historical
studies, Carlyle insisted the importance of the individual, and raised serious
questions about democracy, mass persuasion, and politics. This also isolated
him from the liberal and democratic tendencies of his age. In the 20th-century
his reputation waned, partly because his trust in authority and admiration of
strong leaders, which were interpreted as foreshadowing of Fascism.
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