Francis Thompson As a Myth-Maker
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FRANCIS THOMPSON AS A MYTH-MAKER APPROVED: Major Professor Minoip Professor O A Director of thedepartment of English Dean of the Graduate School FRANCIS THOMPSON AS A MYTH-MAKER THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By George F. Carter, B. A. Denton, Texas May, 1968 TABLE OP CONTENTS Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose of Uhis Paper A Definition of the Term "Myth-maker" II. THE LIFE OP PRANCIS THOMPSON AS IT BEARS UPON HIS MYTHIC. SYSTEM 5 III. DIFFICULTIES WHICH THE STUDENT OP , THOMPSON MUST PACE 7 The Problem of His Drug Addiction The Problem of Dissecting Thompson's. Writings The Problem of Biased Critics Other Problems IV. EVIDENCE THAT THOMPSON IS A SIGNIFICANT MYTH-MAKER, 15 V. THE NATURE OP THOMPSON'S MYTH l8 Thompson's Statement of His Myth Scope Epistemology Conclusion VI. THOMPSON'S MYTHICAL VALUES IN CONNECTION WITH GRECO-ROMAN,CLASSICAL TRADITION ..... .25 Introduction The Proper Use of Classical Materials The Improper Use of Classical Materials Conclusion VII. OTHER MYTHIC VALUES I" Excerpts from Various Sources Basic Primitive Christian Values Examples of Significant.Values Conclusion m VIII. THOMPSON'S MYTHIC VALUES--IN "THE HOUND OF HEAVEN" 72 Introduction Man's Life, a Plight and a SearQh The Place of Pain and Death The Vindication of God's Wisdom and Love Illumination and Surrender Conclusion IV CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Purpose of This Paper The purpose of this paper is to establish that Francis Thompson, the English poet who lived from 1859 until 1907, is a myth-maker. In doing this, it will be necessary to de- fine the term "myth-maker." The theme will then be developed by considering it in relation to the following topics: a i brief resume of the events of his life having a direct bear- ing upon his mythic system, difficulties the student of his work must face, proof that he is a, myth-maker of noteworthy significance, a consideration of the nature of his myth, a discussion of his most notable mythic values, and a special look at his mythic development of "The Hound of Heaven." A Definition of the Term "Myth-maker" "Myth-maker," as used in this paper, refers to an author who consciously or unconsciously uses a body of symbols to define the views he holds concerning the order of the uni- verse and man's relationship to it. The author may use his symbols to define his values either positively or negatively, according to his view of things. Moreover, he may use them to compare or contrast his values with those of other mytho- poeists. An author's myth usually involves his belief in a metaphysical Being or Principle. It may also involve his views concerning justice and injustice, good and evil, pain am e&sa, turmoil and tranquillity, love ana hate, law end anarchy, or other relationships of this sort as they affect mankind.1 The connotation of the word "myth" itself seems to imply that there must be some acceptance by society of an author1s mythic values in order for them to qualify as myth. ^Richard B. Sewall, "The Tragic Form," A Grammar of Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence Sargent Hall (New York, 19^5j, pp. 82, «4o CHAPTER II THE LIFE OP FRANCIS THOMPSON AS IT BEARS UPON HIS MYTHIC SYSTEM Francis Thompson was born on December 16, 1859* at Preston, England, and died in London, on November 1J>, 1907, at the age of forty-seven; thus he lived within the age during which the myths having the greatest influence upon this century were being shaped. Before his birth, his parents became fervent converts to the Roman Catholic faith, along with some of their closest relatives. His parents lived in a predominantly Protestant neighborhood and isolated him from other children; thus, he developed early in life an inward turning, contemplative, imaginative nature. Close relatives on his mother's side believed in, and practiced, religious mysticism. This pro- vided his life with a mystical coloring. In later life he appears to have combined his contemplative and,mystical traits with Platonic Idealism in order to produce poetry and prose. When his parents sent him to Ushaw College, near Durham, at age eleven, to prepare for the Roman Catholic priesthood, the shock of this sudden exposure to the thoughtless cruel- ties of the other boys there confirmed him in his' inward turning disposition; for he developed more definitely at Ushaw the habit of retreating within himself through his imaginative dreamings. At the end of seven years at Ushaw, his teachers there deemed him unsuited for ordination as a priest; therefore his father, a physician, sent him to a medical school near their home to prepare him for the medical profession. Thompson's contemplative nature asserted itself again. Instead of attending classes and lectures, he spent the greater part of his time in a nearby library following his literary interests. The result was that he failed to qualify as a physician. Next, he tried to enlist in the army; but he was released from service when he proved unsuccessful as a soldier. Fol- lowing this, he abandoned all ties with his family and friends, and disappeared into the London slums for nearly four years. He had been using opium since the inception of a lung fever when he was about twenty.^ Now, he became addicted to the excessive use of narcotics, likely to intensify his mystic dreaming, as well as to ease his malady. While>he was in this Slough of Despond, he must have spent hours at a time in his mystic dream world; however, the later events of his life indicate that he also must have experimented both intellectu- ally and pragmatically with many different philosophical and mythical values. During this time, too, though he lost all outward semblance of human dignity and pride, he still held -'•Peter Butter, Francis Thompson (London, 1961), p. 9. to the forms of his faith, attending worship with -some degree of regularity. Toward the close of these four years, he submitted both a poem and a prose essay to the Catholic publication Merry England, edited by Wilfrid Meynell. Meynell judged the works to be of such merit that he began a search for Thompson. The essay, "Paganism: Old and New," reveals a keen, practical insight into the issues of the time. It also reveals a well- balanced and finely adjusted mind that belied Thompson's outward appearance when he finally stumbled into Meynell's office, showing every sign of poverty, drug addiction, and disease. His inherent fragility, aggravated by overdoses of opium, exposure, and improper diet, had developed into tuber- culosis. By cautious and diligent effort, MeyneU. and his wife, Alice, persuaded Thompson to accept treatment for both his addiction and his illness. They also convinced him that he had great possibilities as a poet. This seems to be the first realization on his part that he had any talent for anything, except failure. Thompson was about thirty-one years old when he began his career as a poet. Most of the other poets of the Romantic and Victorian Ages had, by this time in life, already written some * of their most significant works; thus, compared with them, Thompson began writing at a rather mature age. Nevertheless, he entered into seven years of truly productive poetry writ- ing, though he had to struggle throughout them against succumbing to his two thorns in the flesh, addiction and tuberculosis. In 1897 his illness became active again; and, with it he resumed his use of opium. However, it is significant in inter- preting his mythic symbols that he kept his renewed use of the drug well within the range of safe dosage. Sadly though, the springs of poetry dried within him at this time; and the last ten years of his life were spent in writing prose essays and reviews, but little poetry. CHAPTER III DIFFICULTIES WHICH THE STUDENT OF THOMPSON MUST FACE The Extent of His Knowledge of Catholic Dogma During the time Thompson attended Ushaw, the academic policy emphasized ceremony and ritualistic liturgy, rather than dogma.1 This appealed to his imaginative qualities; but it leaves students of his life facing the question of how much knowledge of Catholic teaching he really had, and how much conviction he had to go along with it. His first liter- ary works are definitely polemic and practical in tone, rather than doctrinal or doctrinaire. His "Paganism: Old and New" is unmistakably a strong apologetic for primitive Christian values instead of classical values. One would find it a most difficult task to make of it an apo,logy for Catho- licism. The same is true of his poem "Assumpta Maria," which he submitted with it. Though the poem's title would seem to indicate that it is concerned with teaching or defending the Catholic doctrine of the Bodily Assumption of Mary into heaven, it does neither. Rather, it deals with the practical benefits mankind gains from the Word made flesh, especially as recipients of Divine love. There is some peculiarly •*-J. C. Reid, Francis Thompson Man and Poet (Westminster, Md., I960), pp. 12, 13». 8 A Catholic doctrine in the poem, but it is not primary. The characteristics exemplified in these two works of the apolo- getic and practical predominating over the purely doctrinal can be observed throughout his works. There are very few exceptions, and many of these might be subject to considerable questioning. It would seem from these facts that Thompson as a writer was concerned primarily with urging the primitive Christian values that have been generally accepted through the ages and which contribute to man1s happiness and peace of mind, rather than with expounding Catholic dogma; also it would seem that he was 'urging his generation to accept them as a Divine and workable mythical system, rather than to fol- low the mythical hybrids being foisted upon them, which he considered to be both unworkable and harmful.