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PROVERB LORE III Til': ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY A THESIS PRESENTED TO TITS FACULTY OF BAYLOR UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR TIIE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS BY BARBARA ELIZABETH CALDON VACO, TEXAS AUGUST 1941 APPROVED BY THE DEPARTMENT OP ENGLISH (Signed)^ 0„ HEAD OP THE DEPART# ENT OP ENGLISH APPROVED BY THE GRADUATE COUNCIL (Signed) V 1/ ■ T~. kJq Q qA CHAIRMAN OP THE GRADUATE COUNCIL AUGUST 11,1941 V PREFACE The problem of this thesis has been to study Robert Burton's Anatomy of t'elancholy for the purpose of finding as many as possible of the proverbs he uses in that famous work. Before entering upon the task proper, Apperson's Pn^lish Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, and S ith's Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs were checked to discover how many of Burton'3 proverbs had already been recognized authorities. It wa3 found that Apperson li3ts 17, and Smith 83, which are given in appendices A and B respectively in this thesis. These dictionaries overlap in five instances, making a total of 95 proverbs already credited to Burton. In addition to these, this thesis authen ticates 173 more. In order to establish statements from the Anatomy as proverbial, I have made use of Apperson iii and Smith chiefly, and Benham, Tilley, Chri3ty, Bohn, and Heywood in a supplementary way. All of the established proverbs have been listed alphabetically according to the key words in each. These have been strengthened in most cases by two parallels selected^ contemporary literature as far as possible. A further list of aphoristic statements which I have spotted, but which I have been unable to authenticate as genuine proverbs is given in appendix G. These have also been arranged alphabetically according to key word3. A finding index of the established proverbs ha3 been appended to facilitate practical U3e of the thesis. I am deeply indebted to Dr. Charles G. Smith, who suggested this subject and spent a considerable amount of time, care, and patience in directing my research. To him I fear I should say, inverting the words with which Florio addressed his public, that this has been "a paine to thee though a gaine to mee." I should al30 like to acknowledge the additional aid which he lent me through hi3 assistant, iss Tama Dell Porter B.3.C. Vaco, Texas Au.uat, 1941 v table op contents Page PREFACE................................... ill INTRODU CTION............................. 1 PROVERBS nr THE ANATOMY.................. 16 APPE1IDIX A: ' PROVERBS IN Til '. ANATOMY RECORDED BY APPBRSON .................... 98 APPENDIX B: PROVERBS IN THE ANATOMY RECORDED BY SMITH........................ 101 wtEPPEBDIX C: APHORISTIC STATEMENTS IN THE ANATOMY ............................. 116 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................. 120 ABSTRACT OF THESIS......... *.......... 121 VITA ................................... 122 INDEX ................................... 123 INTRODUCTION Proverbs are the pith, the proprieties, the proofes, the purities, the elegancies, as the commonest, so the commendablest phra3e3 of a language* To U3e them is a grace, to understand them a good. 1 This is the manner in which Plorio, in the sixteenth century, referred to the aphorisms of which hi3 generation was so fond* The average member of the present generation can scarcely appreciate the active influence exercised by proverb lore over the literature and general thought of variou3 pre ceding epochs. Today the proverb is regarded in the light of the slightly amusing banality of the sage of the small town general store, who, sitting by the wood 3tove of a winter's evening, sprinkles through his reminiscences the homely old saws which have been handed down among the farm folk along with the recipes for butter pickles and the earthy secrets 1 W*G. Smith, Oxford Dictionary of dn/rlish Proverbs (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936),Introduction, p* xiii. 1 2 of the sowing season. General acquaintance with the practically limitless field of proverbs has become confined to a knowledge of a few of these overworked and henceforth hackneyed maxims, such as "A stitch in time 3aves nine” or "A rolling stone gathers no moss.” These are banished from cosmopolitan drawing-room repartee now ju3t as they were in the eighteenth century by Lord Chesterfield, who decreed that "no man of fashion ever uses a proverb.” The vast amount of more sophisticated and colorful adages are lost to our culture and conversation, being preserved only in the darkness of library stacks, where they are found in dreary volumes compiled by patient scholars. This condition is regrettable in that our language has thereby lost some of its raciness and vigor of expression. It seems to have been a universal character istic among all races to condense the knowledge gained by experience into compact and easily quotable ex pressions which might serve as moral precepts to guide others in the common experiences of life. In the earliest literatures of all countries there is to be 3 found a similar current of ideas expressed in pro verbial form. Most of these early and fundamental ideas are precautionary--warnings not to be caught in predicaments which have already been discovered to be unfortunate in their results. Some of these have very practical applications to the purely external actions of everyday life, and others are more profound observations upon the eternal verities of existence and the relationship of men to each other. Archer Taylor has classified the field in two broad divisions: First, the popular, which has its origin in the common experiences of the working classes, and is generally handed down by word of mouth, becoming as a by-word among the people; Second, the learned proverb, which i3 the product of a more intellectual effort, and deals with moral, social, or religious questions of broader scope and deeper delicacy. The latter is often connected with literary efforts, and can often be traced through literature. Sometimes, however, thi3 distinction is purely academic as the learned proverb might have had it3 origin in a current popular saying which was thereafter reworked into a more polished form. Katurally the strictly popular proverb i3 extremely difficult to trace unless . 4 it has been put into writing from time to time. The two together represent the sum of the racial experience, practical and intellectual, of a people. According to composition, proverbial expressions may be roughly divided into metaphorical and sententious groups. Listed in proverb dictionaries are a great many expressions which are mere figures of speech or descriptive terms. These are dignified with the title of proverbs not because they are so technically, but because they have wide usage and significance. 3uch terms as "gold of Toulouse," and "Pandora’s box," although not strictly proverbs, have become proverbial through common acceptance of the aphoristic or general meaning which each has acquired. The true proverb is a condensed allegory. Though it may have literary record as far back as the Greeks, and may even be traceable in Hebrew and Sanskrit, it is rather the spontaneous product of human meditation than that of any individual sage. 2 It should have a dramatic touch and a general adap tability possible of application far removed from the literal translation. 2 Sarnest Weekly, "Proverbs Considered," Atlantic Monthly. CXLV (1930),504-512. 5 Proverbs gain effect by such mechanical means as alliteration, rhyme, contrast of parts, and paradox. It may be said that the qualities necessary to a proverb are popular usage, succintness, signi ficance, and pungency. Lord John Huscell’o clever statement, "The wit of one and the Wisdom of many" is perhaps the best known short definition of a proverb, and is itself on the way to becoming proverbial. It is futile to try to imagine when the first of proverbs wa3 spoken or used; therefore we have to rely upon written evidences for historical proof, aristotle is 3aid to have been the first to have collected current sayings. If this is so, proverb hunting certainly had an illustrious innovatiota. Most of the early collections were used for practical purposes. For example, the grammars of the Middle Ages recommended the use of proverbs for literary elegance or to add piquancy and energy to some moral point. There is ouch an example in Aelfric’s Grammar, which belongs to the tenth century, and gives adages in both the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon. Spelling, rhetoric, and reading were often taught by this method, 6 and apparently it was a good one, for it seized upon the imagination and drove home the lesson. Ponce de Provence made a collection of proverbs entitled the Summa de Dictamina. which served as a handbook for letter-writers. The medieval admiration of the proverb, however, merely prepared the way for the unprecedented heights of popularity which it reached during the Renaissance. Erasmus inaugurated the heyday of the proverb by publishing his Adagia in 1500. This great work is composed of thousands of anecdotes, each of which explains or gives the origin of a proverb. "It is not too much to say that with this book he acquainted men with the great figures of classical a antiquity by means of proverbs". This was one of the most widely read books of the sixteenth century, which indicates the trend of popular thought of that age. Following this great success, John Florio offered his First (1578) and Second Fruits (1591), books written 3 W. G. Smith, The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1936), Introduction, p. xlii. 7 in dialogue from and designed for the purpose of acquainting Englishmen with the proverbs which he had gathered from beyond the Alps. The proverb had by then become the absolute rage of all the au courant. In 1546 John Heywood published his Dialogue Conteinlng Proverbes. which, amazingly enough, hud run through six editions by 1598.