PAPER 3, MODULE 26, TEXT

(A) Personal Details

Role Name Affiliation

Principal Investigator Prof. Tutun

Mukherjee

University of Hyderabad

Paper Coordinator Dr. Neeru Tandon CSJM University, Kanpur

Content Writer/Author

(CW)

Dr. Neeru Tandon Kanpur

Content Reviewer (CR) Dr Supriya Shukla CSJMU

Language Editor (LE) Dr Ram Prakash

Pradhan

Kanpur

(B) Description of Module

Item Description of module

Subject Name English literature

Paper name Nineteenth Century Literature

Module title Charles Lamb

Module ID MODULE 26

Pre-requisites The reader is expected to have familiarity with

the main trends of the Romantic age and its

literature.

Objectives To familiarize the reader with the various

aspects of the 19th

Century and prose style of

Charles Lamb

Key words Poor Relations, Dream Children, wedding,

convalescent, Elia, Essays

CONTENTS

26.1 LEARNING OUTCOME

26.2 SHORT BIOGRAPHY

26.3 WORKS OF CHARLES LAMB

26.4 LAMB AS AN ESSAYIST

26.5 DREAM CHILDREN

26.6 THE CONVALESCENT

26.7 POOR RELATIONS

26.8 A Bachelor’s Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People

26.9 PROSE STYLE

26.1 LEARNING OUTCOME: The students will learn about Charles Lamb, his essays and his

prose style. The students will grasp the basic essentials about Lamb and his famous essays.

Multiple-choice exercises will help them in assessing their knowledge and understanding of the

work. Bibliography and list of websites will help them in their in-depth study and further

reading. Critical quotes and quotes from the book will also help them in understanding various

literary aspects of his essays.

26.2 SHORT BIOGRAPHY of CHARLES LAMB

Charles Lamb

Birth: February 10, 1775, London, England.

Death: December 27, 1834, Edmonton.

Genre: Essays and Criticism.

Best Known For: Essays of Elia (1823-33)

Father: John Lamb

Mother: Elizabeth Field Lamb

School: Christ’s Hospital (till 1789)

His Best Known Poem: The Old Familiar Faces (1789)

His Finest Poetic Achievement: On an Infant Dying As Soon As It Was Born‖ (1828)

Charles entered at Christ's Hospital, a London charity school of merit, on 9 October 1782. Here

he met great literary figure Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who remained his close friend for a very

long time. On 23 November 1789, because of his stammering Lamb left his school and was sent

to Hertfordshire to his ill grandmother,. In September 1791 he started working as a clerk first at

the South Sea House and then at the East India Company, where he remained for thirty-three

years.

In Hertfordshire, Lamb fell in love with Ann Simmons. His "Anna" sonnets, which appeared in

the 1796 and 1797 editions of Coleridge's Poems, have a sentimental, nostalgic quality. All were

written after the love affair had ended, to Lamb's regret. His early novel, A Tale of Rosamund

Gray (1798), is also rooted in the Ann episode.

Two of Lamb's early sonnets are addressed to his sister Mary, who was ten years older than

Charles. She had mothered him as a child. But unfortunately Mary became mentally unstable and

on 22 September 1796 Mary killed their mother with a carving knife. Lamb at twenty-two took

full legal responsibility for her for life, to avoid her permanent confinement in a madhouse. She

also developed skills as a writer. But she was almost annually visited by the depressive illness

which led to her confinement for weeks at a time in a private hospital in Hoxton. (Lamb too had

been confined briefly at Hoxton for his mental state in 1795, but there was no later recurrence.)

In 1819, at age 44, Lamb again fell in love with an actress, Fanny Kelly, of Covent Garden, and

proposed marriage. She refused him, and he died a bachelor. His collected essays, under the title

Essays of Elia, were published in 1823

In the years 1820-1825 Lamb made his reputation as Elia in the London Magazine. By 1825,

though he was still a clerk, Lamb's salary had risen after long service, and he was able to retire at

fifty with a good pension and provision for Mary. In 1834, Lamb fell and died of erysipelas a

few days later. Mary lived on, with a paid companion, till 1847.

Some of Lamb's fondest childhood memories were of time spent with Mrs. Field, his maternal

grandmother, who was for many years a servant to the Plummer family in Hertfordshire. Charles

often visited this place and was in love with it.

Christ's Hospital was a typical English boarding school and many students later wrote of the

terrible violence they suffered there. Years later, in his essay "Christ‘s Hospital Five and Thirty

Years Ago," Lamb described these events, speaking of himself in the third person as "L."

Charles Lamb suffered from a stammer and this "an unconquerable impediment" in his speech

robbed him of many things he really deserved. While Coleridge and other scholarly boys were

able to go on to Cambridge, Lamb left school at fourteen and was forced to find a more prosaic

career.

Charles Lamb, having been to school with Samuel Coleridge, counted Coleridge as perhaps his

closest, and certainly his oldest, friend. On his deathbed, Coleridge had a mourning ring sent to

Lamb and his sister. Accidentally, Lamb's first publication was in 1796, when four sonnets by

"Mr. Charles Lamb of the India House" appeared in Coleridge's Poems on Various Subjects. In

1797 he contributed additional blank verse to the second edition, and met Coleridge, William and

Dorothy Wordsworth. In London, Lamb became familiar with a group of young writers who

supported political reform, including Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Hazlitt, and Leigh

Hunt. Lamb created a portrait of his father in his "Elia on the Old Benchers" under the name

Lovel. Lamb's older brother was too much his senior to be a youthful companion to the boy but

his sister Mary, being born eleven years before him, was probably his closest playmate. Lamb

was also cared for by his paternal aunt Hetty, who seems to have had a particular fondness for

him. A number of writings by both Charles and Mary suggest that the conflict between Aunt

Hetty and her sister-in-law created a certain degree of tension in the Lamb household. However,

Charles speaks fondly of her and her presence in the house seems to have brought a great deal of

comfort to him.

He died of a streptococcal infection, erysipelas, on 27 December 1834, just a few months after

Coleridge. Lamb is buried in All Saints' Churchyard, Edmonton. His sister, who was ten years

his senior, survived him for more than a dozen years. She is buried beside him.

26.3: His works:

Though soon after his mother's death he announced his intention to leave poetry "to my betters,"

Lamb continued to write verse of various kinds throughout his life: sonnets, lyrics, blank verse,

light verse, prologues and epilogues to the plays of friends, satirical verse, verse translations,

verse for children, and finally Album Verses (1830), written to please young ladies who kept

books of such tributes.

Lamb's prestigious essays did not appear in published form until about 1821. It was then that

Lamb began contributing to The London Magazine a series of essays by "Elia." The essays ran

until 1823. Their popularity led to a second series between 1823 and 1825, also largely published

in The London Magazine. This second series was published together as a book in 1833, The Last

Essays of Elia.

From a fairly young age Lamb desired to be a poet but never gained the success that he had

hoped. Lamb lived under the poetic shadow of his friend Coleridge. In the final years of the 18th

century Lamb began to work on prose with the novella entitled Rosamund Gray, a story of a

young girl who was thought to be inspired by Ann Simmons, with whom Charles Lamb was

thought to be in love. Although the story is not particularly successful as a narrative because of

Lamb's poor sense of plot, it was well thought of by Lamb's contemporaries and led Shelley to

observe ―what a lovely thing is Rosamund Gray! How much knowledge of the sweetest part of

our nature in it!"

In the first years of the 19th century Lamb began his fruitful literary cooperation with his sister

Mary. Together they wrote at least three books for William Godwin‘s Juvenile Library. The most

successful of these was of course Tales From Shakespeare. Lamb also contributed a footnote to

Shakespearean studies at this time with his essay "On the Tragedies of Shakespeare,"

‘Lamb‘s first appearances in print were as a poet, with contributions to collections by Coleridge

(1796) and by Charles Lloyd (1798).

1798: A Tale of Rosamund Gray, a prose romance

1802: John Woodvil, a poetic tragedy.

1807: Tales from Shakespeare, published by Lamb and his sister Mary.

1808: The Adventures of Ulysses.( A children‘s version of the Odyssey)

1808: Specimens of English Dramatic Poets Who Lived About the Time of Shakespeare ( a

selection of scenes from Elizabethan dramas)

1809: Mrs. Leicester’s School, (a collection of stories)

1820: Publication of his remarkable letters and the essays that he wrote under the pseudonym

Elia for London Magazine.

COMMENTS ON LAMB

His intensity of emotion is never once matched with an intensely personal manner of

expression: he does not find the one perfect mould, and hardly ever lights upon the miraculous

right word...." – A C Ward

His poetry," "makes a pendant to his Essays, and it is a lustrous and significant pendant." The

roles of artist and critic, of course, demand very different abilities: Lamb was, in

correspondence, an able critic of the poetry of Coleridge and Wordsworth, who sometimes

took his advice. Seymour

"Mr. Lamb has succeeded, not by conforming to the Spirit of the Age, but in opposition to it.

He prefers bye-ways to highways. When the full tide of human life pours along to some festive

show, to some pageant of a day, Elia would stand on one side to look over an old book-stall, or

stroll down some deserted pathway in search of a pensive description over a tottering doorway,

or some quaint device in architecture, illustrative of embryo art and ancient manners. --- Mr.

Lamb has the very soul of an antiquarian, and this implies a reflecting humanity; He is shy,

sensitive, the reverse of every thing coarse, vulgar, obtrusive, and common-place. ..... William

Hazlitt (Elia, and Geoffrey Crayon.)

Lamb was "the very noblest of human beings ... [he had] the habit of hoping cheerfully and

kindly on behalf of those who were otherwise objects of moral blame. .. [Lamb would come to

no] final conclusions [or to] any opinions with regard to any individual which seemed to shut

him out from the sympathy or the brotherly feeling of the just and good ... Thomas De

Quincey

26.4 LAMB AS AN ESSAYIST

Charles Lamb, the Prince of English Essayist, occupies a distinctive place as an English writer.

If Bacon is remembered for his massive wisdom and Browne for his lofty heights of eloquence in

his musical prose, Lamb will always be remembered for his charm. Hugh Walker remarked, ‘‘ A

man may be most sagacious and yet fail to win love, as Lamb won and still remains it.‘‘\His

personal essays were published in the London Magazine, known as Essays of Elia (1823) and

The Last Essays of Elia(1833).During the years 1820-1825 ,Charles Lamb attained undying

eminence as a writer because of his essays which had appeal, humor, and sensitivity, observation

and peculiarities at the same time. The great French critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve

admired Lamb's early sonnet "Innocence" so much that he translated it, but most critics then and

now agree with Leigh Hunt that Lamb "wanted sufficient heat and music to render his poetry as

good as his prose." William Hazlitt praised Lamb in high terms: ‗The prose essays, under the

signature of Elia form the most delightful section amongst Lamb‘s works.‘‘ Alaric A. Watts,

wrote that Lamb's prose is often admirably poetic, so that "we miss not the rhyme." See his

jingle on Lamb

"For what if thy Muse will be sometimes perverse,

And present us with prose when she means to give verse?"

THE IMMENSE VARIETY OF ESSAYS: Lamb‘s ‗thinking heart‘ could sense a story in

whatever he saw or experienced. His thoughts were never presented in a systematic way, rather

he narrated his various themes with the help of sudden flashes of imagination and remembrance.

His likes and dislike, his opinions, views and biases all find place in his essays.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NATURE OF HIS ESSAYS: To know the life of Lamb, the best and

the easiest way is to go through the Essays of Elia. His essays are deeply personal and

autobiographical. In several of his essays Lamb narrated various episodes of his life. In Christ’s

Hospital he talks about his childhood. In My Relations he gives a complete picture of his brother,

and sister Mary. His father is the Lovel of the Old Benchers and his grandmother appears in

Dream Children.

BLENDING OF HUMOUR AND PATHOS: Lamb‘s humour is the mingling of laughter and

tears. The precious gift of humour enables him to dissociate himself from the reality and

construct a new world of humanity. Beside being real, Humour is the part and parcel of his

essays. Hugh Walker has rightly said , ‗‘Lamb‘s style is inseparable from his humour.

‗Humorous touches and witty remarks are there in his serious subjects as well. With humour

there is the undercurrent of pathos in his essays. In fact he laughed in order to save himself from

sadness. His life full of murder, madness, despair and depression gave him many reasons for

using pathos, still his playfulness, courage to fight with life and energy induced a spirit to laugh

LAMB’S LOVE OF MYSTIFICATION: Lamb relished in weaving threads of fiction in the web

of truth. In many of his essays he has changed the names of persons and places. Dream Children

is a beautiful specimen of mystification. The whole fabric of the Essays of Elia is woven under

the pseudonym of Elia. His sister Mary is Bridget, his brother John is James Elia.

POETIC QYALITY: Lamb‘s essays are lyrics in prose. They are rich in poetic cadence and

beauty. Simpson said, ‗‘Lamb‘s finest essays are nearest of all to poetry.‘‘ Likewise Legouis also

commented, ‗‘Though he did not write of them in verse, his exquisitely wrought prose with its

rich literary tone, preserves the poetic history of words and enriches them with echoes scarcely

less than does Keats‘ poetry.‘‘ In fact it is in prose that Lamb the poet is to be found.

EGOISM (SELF-CENTEREDNESS): The essays of Charles Lamb may be read as different

chapters about his life history. His family, his likes and dislikes, his problems, his feelings all are

expressed through his essays. His essays do not merely throw light on his biographical details but

they sufficiently reveal his character. A love of Lamb‘s writings is truly a love for the man

himself. He loved intensely his books, streets, crowd and his London as well. And this is quite

visible in his essays. His life was closely interwoven with his writings.

NARRATOR OF MEMORIES: Lamb had a fascination for everything old and unique. His past

experiences had so much fascination for him that no matter what the subject he dealt with, he

tended to look backward. He makes Bridget Elia say: ‗I wish the good old times would come

again.‘ The remembrances of his youthful days are full of touching pathos. His essays abound in

recollections and memories. Their charm lies in past remembrances.

A TYPICAL LONDONER: Just as Wordsworth was a high priest of Nature, Charles Lamb may

be called a high priest of City. He loved to live and die in London. Wordsworth called him, ‗ a

scorner of the fields.; London offered him a shelter where he felt safe and secure, where he

enjoyed full freedom to give free play to his imagination and fancy. He gradually grew so

intimate to the city that he could not even imagine his existence without the city. His essays are

full of glimpses and pictures of London. We find references of London beggars, old school; play

houses, actors and chimneysweepers etc. in detail.

LAMB A TRUE ROMANTIC :In Lamb‘s essays we find a peculiar combination of Romantic

and Classical trends. His pathos must be regarded as an essential element of Romantic

Movement. Like a true romantic, Lamb felt the acute sadness of human life. Lamb‘s love for the

past is however, an essential romantic quality. Lamb was honoured by The Latymer School, a

grammar school in Edmonton, a suburb of London where he lived for a time; it has six houses,

one of which, "Lamb", is named after Charles.

LAMB AS A CRITIC: Lamb as Critic (1980) collects his criticism from all sources, including

letters. Lamb occasionally wrote as a correspondent, he also wrote some plays, poetry and for

children. But it is his prose, which has sustained. He soon comprehended that his inclination was

not towards poetry, so he made essays, love of his life. He was a true Londoner. Lamb‘s

criticism often appears in the form of marginalia, reactions, and responses: brief comments,

delicately phrased, but hardly ever argued through.

Thus truly E.V. Lucas, his principal biographer, has referred to Lamb as the most lovable

figure in English literature.

26.5 DREAM CHILDREN: ( SUMMARY)

The children of James Elia, John and Alice, asked him to tell them about - Mrs. Field who was

his grandmother-their great grandmother. She used to live in a great mansion in Norfolk.

Grandmother Field was the keeper of the house and she looked after the house with great care.

The tragic incident of the two children and their cruel uncle had taken place in the house. The

children had come to know the story from the ballad of ‗The Children in the wood‘. The story

was carved in wood upon the chimneypiece. Alice was very unhappy that the rich man had

pulled down the chimneypiece with the story. When the house came to decay later, after the

death of Mrs. Field the nobleman carried away the ornaments of the house and used them in his

new house. The ornaments of the old house looked very awkward in the new house, just like the

beautiful tombs of Westminster Abbey would look awkward if placed in someone‘s drawing

room. Grandmother Field was very religious for she was well acquainted with ‗The Book of

Psalms‘ in ‗The Old Testament‘ and a great portion of ‗The New Testament‘ of ‗The Bible‘.

Grandmother Field did not fear the spirits of the two infants, which haunted the house at night.

So she slept alone. But Elia used to sleep with his maid, as he was not so religious. John tried to

look courageous but his eyes expanded in fear. When the grandmother died many people in the

neighborhood attended her funeral. She was also a good dancer when she was young. Here, Alice

moved her feet unconsciously as she too was interested in dancing. Grandmother Field was tall

and upright but later a disease called cancer bent her down. In the garden, there were fruits like

nectarines, peaches, oranges and others. Elia never plucked them but rather enjoyed looking at

them. Here John deposited a bunch of grapes upon the plate again. From all the grandchildren,

Grandmother Field loved John the most as he was lively and spirited, fond of riding, hunting and

outdoor activities. He was brave and handsome. He used to take James Elia upon his back out for

outings, as James Elia was lame footed. But James was not very understanding and sympathetic

to him. John died later and James missed him much.

The children began to cry at the sad turn of events. The father began to tell them how he had

wooed their mother, Alice for seven years. When the father looked at Alice she looked at that

time very much like her mother. Thereafter, the children began to grow hazier. From a great

distance they seemed to say that they were not children of Alice nor of him, they were not

children at all, they were only what might have been. When he woke up he found himself in an

armed chair. He had fallen asleep and he had been dreaming. James Elia had disappeared. On the

chair was only Charles Lamb.

Excerpts from Dream-Children: a Reverie

Children love to listen to stories about their elders, when they were children; to stretch their

imagination to the conception of a traditionally great-uncle, or grandma, whom they never saw.

Then I told what a tall, upright, graceful person their great-grandmother Field once was; and how

in her youth she was esteemed the best dancer —

Field loved all her grand-children, yet in an especial manner she might be said to love their

uncle, John L— — because he was so handsome and spirited a youth,

….and though I did not cry or take it to heart as some do, and as I think he would have done if I

had died, yet I missed him all day long, and knew not till then how much I had loved him.

I courted the fair Alice W— n; and, as much as children could understand, I explained to them

what coyness, and difficulty, and denial meant in maidens.

―We are not of Alice, nor of thee, nor are we children at all. The children of Alice called Bartrum

father. We are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been, and

must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have existence, and a

name‖—

and immediately awaking, I found myself quietly seated in my bachelor arm-chair, where I had

fallen asleep, with the faithful Bridget unchanged by my side — but John L. (or James Elia) was

gone forever.

— Main points of the Essay:

The essay Dream Children is a reverie, which was occasioned by Lamb‘s loneliness and

the death of his brother John.

The essay is noted for its autobiographical description.

Lamb‘s memory takes us to good old days of great grand mother Mrs. Field.

We also know about his brother John, who died recently.

Lamb‘s love for Alice is also revealed.

There is an undercurrent of Pathos in the essay, particularly in the end when children

disappear as ‗airy nothing‘.

It is an extraordinary piece of poetic prose.

26.6 THE CONVALESCENT: (SUMMARY)

The Convalescent was first published in the London Magazine for July, 1825. It was later

collected in the Last Essays of Elia which made its appearance in 1833. In The

Convalescent Lamb describes his sickness and his recovery from it. He expresses his thoughts in

this essay from the point of view of a sickman because he recently suffered from fever. Sickness

extends the area of a man‘s thoughts to himself. He begins to think that supreme selfishness is

his only duty. His only thought is how to get well. He remains unaffected by inside and outside

events of his sickroom. A short while ago Lamb was worried about his friend who was involved

in a law- suit. From some whispering in his house he had gathered that he would lose the case

and actually the court pronounced decision against him. Lamb became forgetful of his friend‘s

misfortune because he focused his attention on the thought how to get-well soon. Lamb calls

sickness a magnificent dream and his sick bed the throne of a king because

He feels like a King and enjoys royal solitude and respect. He changes sides very often like a

politician. During his sickness a man remains merged in the thoughts of his own self in his

sickness Lamb forgets to misfortune of his friend who lost his case in the court of law. In

sickness a man thinks of himself in various conditions. His bed becomes a very discipline of

humanity and tender heart becomes insensible to the business of the world and the household

stories do not worry him.

In sickness a man gets courtesy and respect like a King. But his recovery from sickness makes

him a dethroned King. His sighs and groans disappear. His pain enfolds and the riddle of

sickness is solved. Lamb tells us that a leftover of the sick man‘s dream survives when a medical

attendant visits him. But the medical attendant also changes his attitude at the complete recovery

of his patient.

At the end of The Convalescent Lamb also refers to the letter of the editor of a magazine he

requested him to note an essay for the periodical. He also reveals that after his sickness he

became lean and sick. The essay is more reflective and descriptive than autobiographical. Lamb

describes humorously and exaggerative the privileges that a stickman demands to himself .

Main Points of the Essay

(1) A few weeks ago Charles Lamb fell ill and was recovering from his illness by and by.

(2) Sickness gives royal solitude to a man

(3) Charles Lamb lays pitying himself hoping and moaning for himself and he is not

ashamed to weep over himself.

(4) Lamb is his own best sympathizer and feels that nobody else can so well sympathize with

him.

(5) But convalescence brings a man to his former state and his sick room is reduced to a

common bedroom.

(6) During his sickness Lamb became insensible to the magazines, monarchies, laws and

literature.

(7) The essay contains quaintness and humour.

(8) It is one of the most imaginative essays of Charles Lamb.

(9) It is a fine representation of the psychology of a sick person.

(10) A trivial subject has ben presented as a fine literary piece of humour and wit.

(11) Lamb considers the change from sickness to convalescence as a deplorable fall

from imperial dignity.

(12) The style of the essay is simple and straightforward.

(13) It is remarkably free from allusions and Lamb‘s habitual mystification

26.7 POOR RELATIONS (SUMMARY)

In Charles Lamb's "A Poor Relation," from Essays of Elia, the speaker describes the terrible

burden of the poor relation on a family that was financially comfortable—a sad commentary,

actually.

The speaker refers first to the male relation who had no wealth or means to live as his wealthier

relatives, and who would stop by—invariably at dinnertime, and especially upon someone's

birthday. He would be fed and be able to socialize for a time. He was a burden to be tolerated

unnecessarily. It was just to follow the custom, even though it was something of ‗an

embarrassment to the family, a curiosity of visitors, and a challenge to the staff...who were not

quite certain just how much respect was to be paid to the "poor relation." Among the descriptions

that convey the burden of the needy relative is… a haunting conscience, -- a preposterous

shadow, lengthening in the noontide of your prosperity, -- an unwelcome remembrance, -- a

perpetually recurring mortification, -- a drain on your purse...

This was a man that one might wish to ignore, but that one could not (in good conscience) send

away. He lived an existence with only one foot in the door; and he never stayed beyond one

night at a time.

The second aspect of this writing deals with the poor female relation. While the male version of

this relative might be considered eccentric—able to carry it off without exposing himself as

poverty-stricken—such was not the case with the female relation. She was treated without

respect, forever knowing her place and expected to be ever grateful to the "hands that feds her."

She would acquiesce to the opinion of whatever man was present—e.g., the wine they should

have after dinner. She was humble and sensible. The condition of her clothing was "something

between a gentlewoman and a beggar." Never was she allowed to forget (nor would she let

herself do so) her place. Few opportunities for survival were available to women of her

class and her disastrous financial condition.

She calls the servant Sir; and insists on not troubling him to hold her plate. The housekeeper

belittles her. The children's governess takes upon her to correct her, when she has mistaken the

piano for a harpsichord.

The third portion of the writing refers to a young man at school who was required to leave the

safety of that place and go to live with his father, a poor workingman.

In the last section, the story refers to a school friend of his father who spent time in the speaker's

household when he was young. He came to dinner occasionally and was treated with respect. But

once the speaker's aunt embarrassed him, insisting that he take more to eat because he did not

often get it.

Not too long after, he died. Here we can see things from Mr. Billet's perspective. He suffered in

having to take "charity," the speaker seems to say, but would have been relieved and proud to

know—at the time of his passing—that he had enough to pay for his burial. He would have felt

this a blessing from God.

It would seem that the burden of this position is deeply felt by those in need—it would seem

more so than those who might resent having to give.

IMPORTANT POINTS:

Elia starts by presenting a ridiculous picture of a poor relation and ends by drawing a

pathetic picture of the same poor relation.

A poor relation implies that you are rich.

The essay shows marked features of Lamb‘s faculty of combining humour and pathos

Lamb‘s description of a female poor relative is no less interesting.

Towards the end another incident of mr Billet is reported

The essay abounds in reminiscences and anecdotes which are an integral part of Lamb‘s

essays.

The style of the essay is remarkable.

The number of phrases used for describing a poor relation adds charm to the essay.

The very theme of the essay is of universal interest.

Lamb has shown psychological insight in his description of the habits and manners of the

poor relatives.

26.8 A Bachelor’s Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People (SUMMARY)

Lamb describes various oddities of the married couples. Very often they make a show of their

love in the presence of guests who feel themselves as intruding upon their privacy. Then Lamb

speaks of the show of superior knowledge, particularly by the wives of the married people. They

consider the unmarried people as ignorant. Lamb calls children the double-headed arrows. The

friendship rarely continues after the marriage of one of the friends. Wives envy the friends of

their husbands and they use a number of cunning ways to undermine their husband‘s confidence

in their bachelor fiends. Another common fault with married ladies is that they treat people as if

they are their husbands. He hopes that they would try to improve their characters, or else he

would be bound to publish their names openly.

MAIN POINTS:

This is one of the Lamb‘s most autobiographical and humorous essays.

In a humorous and ironical way, Lamb records his complains against the behaviour of

married people.

As Lamb was a bachelor, so he describes the various insults and humiliations that he

himself suffered.

The style of the essay is quite simple

It is free from the burden of allusions and references.

It is rich with similes and metaphors

Excerpts

As a single man, I have spent a good deal of my time in noting down the infirmities of Married

People, to console myself for those superior pleasures, which they tell me I have lost by

remaining as I am.

What oftenest offends me at the houses of married persons where I visit, is an error of quite a

different description; — it is that they are too loving.

But what I complain of is, that they carry this preference so undisguisedly, they perk it up in the

faces of us single people so shamelessly, you cannot be in their company a moment without

being made to feel, by some indirect hint or open avowal, that you are not the object of this

preference.

Just as little right have a married couple to tell me by speeches, and looks that are scarce less

plain than speeches, that I am not the happy man — the lady‘s choice. It is enough that I know I

am not: I do not want this perpetual reminding.

Marriage by its best title is a monopoly, and not of the least invidious sort.

When I consider how little of a rarity children are — that every street and blind alley swarms

with them — that the poorest people commonly have them in most abundance —

As for instance, when you come into a house which is full of children, if you happen to take no

notice of them (you are thinking of something else, perhaps, and turn a deaf ear to their innocent

caresses), you are set down as intractable, morose, a hater of children.

I know there is a proverb, ―Love me, love my dog:‖ that is not always so very practicable,

particularly if the dog be set upon you to tease you or snap at you in sport.

But I am weary of stringing up all my married acquaintance by Roman denominations. Let them

amend and change their manners, or I promise to record the full-length English of their names, to

the terror of all such desperate offenders in future.

26.9 Lamb’s prose style is highly personal and mannered. His essays invoke humour and

pathos, old connections; they also recollect scenes from childhood and from later life, and they

pamper the author‘s sense of playfulness and fancy. He was as romantic in his writings as

William Wordsworth or Coleridge. Charles Lamb is the most delightful and sweetest essayist of

English literature. He himself is the subject of his essays and maintains a perpetual friendship

with his readers. Lamb's literary essays were often perceptive and original. He had a particular

gift for analyzing character and his sensitivity and perceptiveness made him a valuable essayist.

Main Points of his Prose Style

Lamb‘s essays possess poetic quality.

His essays have a strain of melancholy and gloom.

His prose style is a mixture of many styles.

His style is based on prose masters of 17th century such as Browne, Burton and Fuller.

There is little doubt bout the fact that the charm of Lamb‘s essays lies mainly in their

style, which is unique.

As a stylist he does walk in the past.

Allusiveness is another very important feature of Lamb‘s style.

Lamb is really an artist with words.

He uses words very carefully to achieve his desired effect.

There is conversational ease and flexibility.

He used short simple and direct sentences.

Lamb‘s style has its own originality.

New biographies and studies have recently appeared, and in the 1980s there began a renewed

appreciation for Lamb's prose--though not for his poetry. The Charles Lamb Society of London

flourishes, and publishes a bulletin, which has become impressively scholarly since its new

series began in the 1970s.