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CARLILE AND TENNYSON: RELATIONS BETWEEN A PROPHET AND A POET by JOHANNES ALLGAIER B.A., University of British Columbia, 1963 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 1966 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of. the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of . British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that per• mission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly - purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives,. It is understood that copying, or publi• cation of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. JOHANNES ALLGAIER Department of ENGLISH The University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada. Date April ^0, 1966 CARLYLE AND TENNYSON: RELATIONS BETWEEN A PROPHET AND A POET ABSTRACT Carlyle was much, more popular and influential in the nineteenth century than he is in the twentieth. Many critics "believe that he exerted an influence over Tennyson, but there is very little direct evidence to support such an opinion. However, circumstantial evidence shows that Tennyson must have been interested in what Carlyle had to offer; that Carlyle and Tennyson were personal friends; and that there are many parallels between the works of Carlyle and Tennyson. Carlyle is essentially a romantic. His attitude toward art is ambivalent, a fact which is indicative of the conflict between Carlyle's longing for beauty, goodness, and truth on the one hand, and, on the other, his realization of the difficulty in reaffirming these absolutes within the spirit of his age. This ambivalence is related to the post-Kantian conflict between "Mere Reason" and "Understanding". Carlyle describes that conflict as the result of a process of ever-increasing self-consciousness of both the individual and society. Tennyson's early poetry is determined by the ii same "romantic" conflict, "but whereas in Carlyle's writings this conflict is philosophically resolved, Tennyson's early poems lack this resolution. One may say that these poems represent Tennyson's "Everlasting No." Carlyle and Tennyson met first in 18J8 and soon became personal friends. Although during the forties their friendship was at times very intimate, it seems that Carlyle took Tennyson not very seriously, and that Tennyson was sometimes annoyed over Carlyle's blustering manner. But on the whole, Tennyson regarded Carlyle very highly. In In Memoriam. many sections of which were written after Tennyson had become acquainted with Carlyle, Tennyson arrives at an "Everlasting Yea," i.e., at a reconciliation of "Mere Reason" and "Understanding" through renunciation (Selbsttotung). In addition, the poem displays many similarities with Sartor Hesartus. But whereas in Carlyle's writings the resolution of the "basic romantic polarity" is mainly rational, it becomes an intense emotional experience in Tennyson's poem. "Locksley Hall" displays many similarities with Sartor Resartus in general, and with Book II in particular. These similarities have led William D. Templeman to maintain that "Locksley Hall" is a dramati• zation of Book II of Sartor. But apart from parallels iii "between the two works, there is no evidence to support this view. After 1850, when Tennyson received the laureateship and founded a family, he became more self- reliant. His meetings with Carlyle became less frequent and more formal. However, there are many indications that both men held each other in high esteem, despite the fact that Carlyle often criticised Tennyson. The plot and the characters in Maud resemble Book II of Sartor Resartus. In addition, there are several other parallels between Maud and some of Carlyle*s works. In one instance it appears likely that Tennyson has used an image from Past and Present. Furthermore, the hero in Maud undergoes a progression from an "Everlasting No" to an "Everlasting Yea," but there is little evidence to prove that such parallels reflect influences. After 1855» the friendship between Carlyle and Tennyson may be described as a "friendly companionship between two equals, neither ignoring the other, but each enjoying full intellectual independence." After a temporary estrangement, probably caused by Carlyle's overbearing manner, Tennyson appears to have taken the initiative in reviving the friendship (1865)• Although Carlyle's criticism of Tennyson continued to be unfair and destructive, Tennyson often indicated that he had an iv affectionate regard for Carlyle. "Locksley Hall Sixty Years After" suggests that Tennyson agreed closely with Carlyle's political views. Because Carlyle and Tennyson were interested in the same intellectual problems; because Carlyle formulated solutions to these problems much earlier than Tennyson; because Tennyson appears to have accepted these solutions after he had met Carlyle; because the two men were personal friends; and because there are many parallels between their works, it appears likely that Carlyle has exerted some influence over Tennyson, although the extent of such influence cannot be determined. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. A DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM AND A JUSTIFICATION OF THE METHOD EMPLOYED IN ITS SOLUTION 1 II. CARLYLE AS A ROMANTIC ......... 12 III. TENNYSON AS- A ROMANTIC: AN EXAMINATION OF HIS EARLY POETRY . 28 IV. CARLYLE'S INTERCOURSE WITH TENNYSON BETWEEN THE TIME OF THEIR FIRST MEETING AND THE PUBLICATION OF IN MEMORIAM . 44 V. PARALLELS BETWEEN SARTOR AND IN MEMORIAM AND SOME POSSIBLE INFLUENCES FROM CARLYLE UPON TENNYSON 61 VI. PARALLELS BETWEEN SARTOR AND "LOCKSLEY HALL", AND SOME POSSIBLE INFLUENCES FROM CARLYLE UPON TENNYSON 84 VII. TENNYSON'S INTERCOURSE WITH CARLYLE FROM 1850 TO 1855 (PUBLICATION OF MAUD) 100 VIII. CARLYLE AND MAUD: PARALLELS AND SOME POSSIBLE INFLUENCES Ill Chapter Page IX. CARLYLE AND TENNYSON AITER MAUD .... 125 X. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 136 WORKS CITED 142 CHAPTER I A DEFINITION OP THE PROBLEM, AND A JUSTIFICATION OP THE METHOD EMPLOYED IN ITS SOLUTION In the second half of the twentieth century- it is extremely difficult to estimate the full influence which Carlyle's thought exerted over the minds of his contemporaries. The sharp decline of Carlyle's reputation in the English-speaking world, particularly after the turn of the century, can only partly be explained as the outcome of a critical examination of his ideas. Today, Thomas Carlyle is not so much disliked as he is simply ignored. His eclipse was caused by the fact that his literary fate is closely related to the history of Europe during the last fifty years. During his lifetime, Carlyle had been the chief interpreter of German literature and thought in England. Some time after his death, during two World Wars, many of his ideas were used consciously and unconsciously as rallying cries by those who were to be the vanquished. Thus it is only natural that the estrangement between England and Germany contributed decisively to the decline of Carlyle's popularity with his countrymen. And having been unpopular with one generation, Carlyle came to be almost ignored by the next. To accept the near oblivion into which Carlyle's works have passed in the late twentieth century as an indication of his intellectual standing in the nineteenth may therefore be highly deceptive. In his prime the "Sage of Chelsea" was regarded by most literate Englishmen as the prophet of the age. The fact that his compatriots seldom heeded his advice rather confirms than denies his standing as a prophet, if indeed a "prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house." In the words of a scholar who was a Victorian himself, the "man who first gives us a key to the signi• ficance of the age of Tennyson is not Tennyson himself, nor Browning, nor any writer of verse, but one who believed that the day of poetry was past, — Thomas Carlyle."^* And this man "was during a considerable part of his life p . the greatest literary force in England." In the opinion of the same scholar Sartor Resartus "is the first great book which faces the difficulties, and, in a way, embodies the aspirations of the new period."^ The fact that Sartor was nevertheless not very popular at any time may easily be ascribed to Carlyle's devious and difficult style. "Swift, whom Carlyle resembled in not a few ways, wrote a style unsurpassed for clearness and simplicity yet he is not much read. How much less would he be read were Gulliver's Travels written in the style of Sartor Resartus!" John Nichol compares Carlyle to two of his greatest contemporaries as follows: Carlyle "remains the 3 master spirit of his time, its Censor, as Macaulay is its Panegyrist, and Tennyson its Mirror."'' The assertiveness of such critical estimates makes it worth one's while to consider the influence Carlyle may have exerted over Tennyson. Many critics hold that Carlyle did indeed exert a strong influence over the poet. For example, the Rev. John Wilson says: Most of the living writers of our time hear some trace of Carlyle in their work, even those who are in other respects unlike him. Do we not, for instance, find the poet- laureate giving forth this purely Carlylean utterance [i.e., the protest against modern shams], as if the spirit of the Chelsea sage, struggling to find for itself expression in polished verse, had taken temporary possession of Tennyson?"

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