Thomas Carlyle 1795-1881

Thomas Carlyle was a prominent writer of the Victorian Period. His work is undeniable, and it inspired many of his fellow Victorians such as Mill, Tennyson, Browning, Dickens, Ruskin, and many others. George Elliot believed that even if all Carlyle’s books were burnt, “it would be only like cutting down an oak after its acorns have sown a forest” (475). Carlyle was born in a small village in Scotland to a working class family. He was brought up with a strong Calvinist upbringing. Carlyle struggled for a great deal of his young adulthood to try to find his way in the world. It wasn’t until later that he decided to dedicate his life to a literary career. In 1821 he met Jane Welsh, and later in 1826 he married Jane. Carlyle was infamous for his irritable, depressed, and complaining outlook. Samuel Butler rather nastily remarked that, “it was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs. Carlyle marry one another and so make only two people miserable instead of four, besides being very amusing” (475). Carlyle and Jane moved to London in 1834. This is where they would spend the rest of their lives, and where Carlyle would write his famous chronicle of The French Revolution.

Like Friedrich Engels, Carlyle writes of the ills of the time and he offers what he sees as solutions to these ills. I was quite astounded at the shock factor writing that he used to describe the ills of the day. He reminded me of a shock jock on talk radio that uses sarcasm and satire to criticize current society. I was astounded at how he depicted cannibalism among family members as a sarcastic solution to the hunger and poverty brought on by the ills of society in England at his time. He threatens that another French Revolution will take place if need be in his work in Past and Present. Here he pleas with the people to return to older times where the community was more connected and that people cared for one another as opposed to the self-interested money driven attitudes of the people in present times. Carlyle criticized his present day society in other works as well such as The Irish Widow. I enjoyed reading Carlyle and seeing how he tried to use his writings as a tool to alter what he perceived as societal ills of his time.