Charles lamb was one of
the greatest essayists of the 19th century. He has rightly been called the
prince of English essays. What Shakespeare is to English drama, Spenser and
Milton to English poetry, Fielding and George Eliot to English fiction, Lamb is
to the English essay. He is the most charming and poetic of English essayists.
High Walker rightly said:
"There are essayists like Bacon of more massive greatness and
others like Sir Thomas Browne who can attain lofty heights of eloquence but
there is no other who has in an equal degree, the power to charm."
LAMB, A PURE ARTIST:
Lamb was essentially an
artist in the field of essay writing. He was neither a moralist nor a
psychologist, but an artist pure and simple. His aim was neither to reform the
society nor to analyse human psychology. He wrote essays just for artistic
delight.
POETIC ELEMENT:
Charles Lamb lived during
the golden period of English romantic poetry. Lamb’s finest essays are the
nearest of all to poetry not only because they often touch the height where
prose losses eloquence and passes into poetry but because whether grave or grey
they have in some degree the creative imagination which it is the privilege of
poetry to possess in full.
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENT:
Like Montaingne’s essays,
Charles Lamb’s essays are personal and autobiographical. They are subjective in
character. Each essay of Lamb is a fragment of the spiritual history of his
inner life. S. E. Marpurgo comments that from his essays and letters we can
write a whole biography of Lamb and he has actually attempted such a biography.
We meet the boyish Charles
in his essays ‘NightFeras’ and‘Christ’s Hospital’. We are introduced to his
family in the ‘Old Ventures of the Inner Temple’ and ‘Poor Relations’. Glimpses
of his official lifein the service of the East India Companyfound in his essay
‘The South House’. The sentimental memories of his early days are presented in
‘Dream Children’. His prejudices and temptations find expression in ‘Imperfect
Sympathies’ and ‘The Confessions of a Drunkard’.
CHARACTER PORTRAYAL:
Charles Lamb had the art
and power of character portrayals in his essays. He has presented real
characters as well as imaginary characters. Colleridge has been portrayed in ‘Christ
Hospital’ and his own brother John in ‘Poor Relations’. His sister Bridget is
presented in ‘Mackeray End in Hertfordshire’ and in ‘Old Benchers’. His father
and patron Samuel salt have been presented in the ‘Old Ventures’.
Moreover, some immortal
imaginary characters like Captain Jackson and the New and Old School Masters
have also been created by Lamb in his essays.
ELEMENT OF HUMOUR:
There is no other humourist
like Charles Lamb in the field of essay writing. He finds mirth where no one
else can find it. Regarding his humour all Hallward and Hill remark:
"The terms ‘wit’,‘humour’ and ‘fun’ are often confused but they
are really different in meaning. The first is based on intellect, the second on
insight and sympathy, the third on vigour and freshness of mind and body. Lamb’s
writings show all the three qualities, but what most distinguishes him is ‘humour’
for his sympathy is ever strong and active."
Examples:
In ‘Poor Relations’ the
opening is marked by witticism, but gradually it turns out a painful picture.
There is pure fun in ‘All Fool’s Day’ and ‘Roasted Pig’.
In his personal life Lamb
was much unhappy so he laughed to save himself from weeping. J. B. Priestley
rightly said,"his
humour is not an idle thing, but the white flower, plucked from a most
dangerous nettle."
ELEMENT OF PATHOS:
Compton Rickett rightly
remarked:
"Humour with Lamb is never far from tragedy. Through his tears
you may see the rainbow in the sky. For him, humour and pathos are really
inseparable from one another."
Pathos was inevitable in
his essays as his life was largely affected by melancholy and despair. In the
description of his dead brother, in ‘Dream Children’ in the fight of Favel from
the university in ‘Poor Relations’, in the story of the sick boy who had no
friends in ‘Old Morgate Hoy’ and in many other instances we have examples of
his true pathos.
LAMB'S PROSE STYLE:
Lamb’s prose style in his
essays is mostly old fashioned. It has echoes of older writers likes are Thomas
Browne and Fuller. His sentences are cast in the mould of the old authors. It
is a bookish style for the modern readers.
However, a striking
feature of Lamb’s style is his use of allusions and quotations. Many times he
quotes from his favourite authors and sometimes from his own poems. Pictorial
quality and glimpse of romance also often peep out from his writings.
CONCLUSION:
All in all, Charles Lamb
is a myriad minded man of letters who has contributed immensely to English
essays. His essays are all full of personal note, humour and pathos.
E. V. Lucas opines:
"When compared with Bacon, Addison, Steele, Goldsmith, Hazlitt,
Leigh Hunt or Macaulay, his greatest companions in the essay, it is Lamb’s richness
that surprises us his, abundance and above all his interest. Each of the
writers named could do this or that better than Lamb, but Lamb as a whole is
better company than all."
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