English Literature
_Crown of Wild Olive_, three lectures on Work, Traffic, and War, which
appeals to thoughtful men facing the problems of work and duty; and _Sesame
and Lilies_, which appeals to men and women alike. The last is the most
widely known of Ruskin's works and the best with which to begin our
reading.
The first thing we notice in _Sesame and Lilies_ is the symbolical title.
"Sesame," taken from the story of the robbers' cave in the _Arabian
Nights_, means a secret word or talisman which unlocks a treasure house. It
was intended, no doubt, to introduce the first part of the work, called "Of
Kings' Treasuries," which treats of books and reading. "Lilies," taken from
Isaiah as a symbol of beauty, purity, and peace, introduces the second
lecture, "Of Queens' Gardens," which is an exquisite study of woman's life
and education. These two lectures properly constitute the book, but a third
is added, on "The Mystery of Life." The last begins in a monologue upon his
own failures in life, and is pervaded by an atmosphere of sadness,
sometimes of pessimism, quite different from the spirit of the other two
lectures.
Though the theme of the first lecture is books, Ruskin manages to present
to his audience his whole philosophy of life. He gives us, with a wealth of
detail, a description of what constitutes a real book; he looks into the
meaning of words, and teaches us how to read, using a selection from
Milton's _Lycidas_ as an illustration. This study of words gives us the key
with which we are to unlock "Kings' Treasuries," that is, the books which
contain the precious thoughts of the kingly minds of all ages. He shows the
real meaning and end of education, the value of labor and of a purpose in
life; he treats of nature, science, art, literature, religion; he defines
the purpose of government, showing that soul-life, not money or trade, is
the measure of national greatness; and he criticises the general injustice
of his age, quoting a heartrending story of toil and suffering from the
newspapers to show how close his theory is to daily needs. Here is an
astonishing variety in a small compass; but there is no confusion. Ruskin's
mind was wonderfully analytical, and one subject develops naturally from
the other.
In the second lecture, "Of Queens' Gardens," he considers the question of
woman's place and education, which Tennyson had attempted to answer in _The
Princess_. Ruskin's theory is that the purpose of all education is to
acquire power to bless and to redeem human society; and that in this noble
work woman must always play the leading part. He searches all literature
for illustrations, and his description of literary heroines, especially of
Shakespeare's perfect women, is unrivaled. Ruskin is always at his best in
writing of women or for women, and the lofty idealism of this essay,
together with its rare beauty of expression, makes it, on the whole, the
most delightful and inspiring of his works.
Among Ruskin's practical works the reader will find in _Fors Clavigera_, a
series of letters to workingmen, and _Unto This Last_, four essays on the
principles of political economy, the substance of his economic teachings.
In the latter work, starting with the proposition that our present
competitive system centers about the idea of wealth, Ruskin tries to find
out what wealth is; and the pith of his teaching is this,--that men are of
more account than money; that a man's real wealth is found in his soul; not
in his pocket; and that the prime object of life and labor is "the
producing of as many as possible full-breathed, bright-eyed, and happy-
hearted human creatures." To make this ideal practical, Ruskin makes four
suggestions: (1) that training schools be established to teach young men
and women three things,--the laws and practice of health, habits of
gentleness and justice, and the trade or calling by which they are to live;
(2) that the government establish farms and workshops for the production of
all the necessaries of life, where only good and honest work shall be
tolerated and where a standard of work and wages shall be maintained; (3)
that any person out of employment shall be received at the nearest
government school: if ignorant he shall be educated, and if competent to do
any work he shall have the opportunity to do it; (4) that comfortable homes
be provided for the sick and for the aged, and that this be done in
justice, not in charity. A laborer serves his country as truly as does a
soldier or a statesman, and a pension should be no more disgraceful in one
case than in the other.
Among Ruskin's numerous books treating of art, we recommend the _Seven
Lamps of Architecture_ (1849), _Stones of Venice_ (1851-1853), and the
first two volumes of _Modern Painters_ (1843-1846). With Ruskin's art
theories, which, as Sydney Smith prophesied, "worked a complete revolution
in the world of taste," we need not concern ourselves here. We simply point
out four principles that are manifest in all his work: (1) that the object
of art, as of every other human endeavor, is to find and to express the
truth; (2) that art, in order to be true, must break away from
conventionalities and copy nature; (3) that morality is closely allied with
art, and that a careful study of any art reveals the moral strength or
weakness of the people that produced it; (4) that the main purpose of art
is not to delight a few cultured people but to serve the daily uses of
common life. "The giving brightness to pictures is much," he says, "but the
giving brightness to life is more." In this attempt to make art serve the
practical ends of life, Ruskin is allied with all the great writers of the
period, who use literature as the instrument of human progress.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. One who reads Ruskin is in a state of mind
analogous to that of a man who goes through a picture gallery, pausing now
to admire a face or a landscape for its own sake, and again to marvel at
the technical skill of the artist, without regard to his subject. For
Ruskin is a great literary artist and a great ethical teacher, and we
admire one page for its style, and the next for its message to humanity.
The best of his prose, which one may find in the descriptive passages of
_Præterita_ and _Modern Painters_, is written in a richly ornate style,
with a wealth of figures and allusions, and at times a rhythmic, melodious
quality which makes it almost equal to poetry. Ruskin had a rare
sensitiveness to beauty in every form, and more, perhaps, than any other
writer in our language, he has helped us to see and appreciate the beauty
of the world around us.
As for Ruskin's ethical teaching, it appears in so many forms and in so
many different works that any summary must appear inadequate. For a full
half century he was "the apostle of beauty" in England, and the beauty for
which he pleaded was never sensuous or pagan, as in the Renaissance, but
always spiritual, appealing to the soul of man rather than to his eyes,
leading to better work and better living. In his economic essays Ruskin is
even more directly and positively ethical. To mitigate the evils of the
unreasonable competitive system under which we labor and sorrow; to bring
master and man together in mutual trust and helpfulness; to seek beauty,
truth, goodness as the chief ends of life, and, having found them, to make
our characters correspond; to share the best treasures of art and
literature with rich and poor alike; to labor always, and, whether we work
with hand or head, to do our work in praise of something that we love,--
this sums up Ruskin's purpose and message. And the best of it is that, like
Chaucer's country parson, he practiced his doctrine before he preached it.
MATTHEW ARNOLD (1822-1888)
In the world of literature Arnold has occupied for many years an
authoritative position as critic and teacher, similar to that held by
Ruskin in the world of art. In his literary work two very different moods
are manifest. In his poetry he reflects the doubt of an age which witnessed
the conflict between science and revealed religion. Apparently he never
passed through any such decisive personal struggle as is recorded in
_Sartor Resartus_, and he has no positive conviction such as is voiced in
"The Everlasting Yea." He is beset by doubts which he never settles, and
his poems generally express sorrow or regret or resignation. In his prose
he shows the cavalier spirit,--aggressive, light-hearted, self-confident.
Like Carlyle, he dislikes shams, and protests against what he calls the
barbarisms of society; but he writes with a light touch, using satire and
banter as the better part of his argument. Carlyle denounces with the zeal
of a Hebrew prophet, and lets you know that you are hopelessly lost if you
reject his message. Arnold is more like the cultivated Greek; his voice is
soft, his speech suave, but he leaves the impression, if you happen to
differ with him, that you must be deficient in culture. Both these men, so
different in spirit and methods, confronted the same problems, sought the
same ends, and were dominated by the same moral sincerity.
LIFE. Arnold was born in Laleham, in the valley of the Thames, in 1822. His
father was Dr. Thomas Arnold, head master of Rugby, with whom many of us
have grown familiar by reading _Tom Brown's School Days_. After fitting for
the university at Winchester and at Rugby, Arnold entered Balliol College,
Oxford, where he was distinguished by winning prizes in poetry and by
general excellence in the classics. More than any other poet Arnold
reflects the spirit of his university. "The Scholar-Gipsy" and "Thyrsis"
contain many references to Oxford and the surrounding country, but they are
more noticeable for their spirit of aloofness,--as if Oxford men were too
much occupied with classic dreams and ideals to concern themselves with the
practical affairs of life.
After leaving the university Arnold first taught the classics at Rugby;
then, in 1847, he became private secretary to Lord Lansdowne, who appointed
the young poet to the position of inspector of schools under the
government. In this position Arnold worked patiently for the next thirty-
five years, traveling about the country, examining teachers, and correcting
endless examination papers. For ten years (1857-1867) he was professor of
poetry at Oxford, where his famous lectures _On Translating Homer_ were
given. He made numerous reports on English and foreign schools, and was
three times sent abroad to study educational methods on the Continent. From
this it will be seen that Arnold led a busy, often a laborious life, and we
can appreciate his statement that all his best literary work was done late
at night, after a day of drudgery. It is well to remember that, while
Carlyle was preaching about labor, Arnold labored daily; that his work was
cheerfully and patiently done; and that after the day's work he hurried
away, like Lamb, to the Elysian fields of literature. He was happily
married, loved his home, and especially loved children, was free from all
bitterness and envy, and, notwithstanding his cold manner, was at heart
sincere, generous, and true. We shall appreciate his work better if we can
see the man himself behind all that he has written.
Arnold's literary work divides itself into three periods, which we may call
the poetical, the critical, and the practical. He had written poetry since
his school days, and his first volume, _The Strayed Reveller and Other
Poems_, appeared anonymously in 1849. Three years later he published
_Empedocles on Etna and other Poems;_ but only a few copies of these
volumes were sold, and presently both were withdrawn from circulation. In
1853-1855 he published his signed _Poems_, and twelve years later appeared