Thomas Carlyle's On Heroes, Hero worship and The Heroic in History

Hero as Poet” in “On Heroes, Hero- Worship, and The Heroic in History” by Thomas Carlyle.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) is the prominent writer of Victorian age. His early work is consisted of translations, essays and auto biographies. His other historical works include “The History of Fredrick II of Prussia”, called Fredrick the Great, “Past and Present” and “Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches”. He holds fair fame by dint of Sartor Resartus. “On Heros, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History” is also his famous work which is consisted of five lectures. First is Hero as Divinity, second is Hero as Prophet, third is Hero as Poet, forth is Hero as Man of Letters and fifth is Hero as King.

Carlyle in third lecture depicts that what sort of a poet can be a hero. According to him having all qualities of heroic warrior can delineate a picture of a heroic warrior in his writings. Like prophets poets are the people who can see and understand divine mystery. They bring to light “ the open secret ” which is seen by almost none. They can penetrate into “Divine idea of the world that which lies at the bottom of Appearance”. And they are the man of the eternal world. He gives two names of poets which are Dante and Shakespeare. He calls them the saint of poetry.

Carlyle says that people are worshiping Dante. He was an intelligent and hard working person. Misery, suffering and humiliation were the great part of his life. He could not marry to whom he loved. He was banished from Florence. But all his suffering bestowed him with profound and ponderous intellect. Dante in his epic described all the circumstances of dark and medieval age. Carlyle gave different names to his “Divine Comedy”. Like “divine song”, “the transcendental mystic song” , “the voice of silent centuries” and “Christian epic” etc. In “Divine Comedy” we can experience the vivid expression of Dante’s realm of imagination. The first part Inferno of “Divine Comedy” explains the condition of hell, the second part Purgatorio describes the experience of souls that how they are purified. And the third part Paradiso is a kingdom of beauty and delightness. Here poet meets his beloved. Dante with all sincerity and circumspection delineates his time. So according to Carlyle the soul of “Divine Comedy” is eternal and if will continue to transfer its readers into the world of joy.

According to Carlyle, Shakespeare has the same importance for modern age as Homer has for Greece and Dante has for middle ages. He praises Shakespeare for his penetrating eye, joyous strength, great soul and true and clear tune. He calls him a tranquil unfathomable sea and the greatest intellect. He says his tragedies can make us acquainted with his own sufferings. He says that his use of proverbs can only be compared with Dante. By concluding this he says Shakespeare’s intelligence the “unconscious intellect”. And Shakespeare is more than his awareness.

Thomas Carlyle by dint of his prophetic zeal is trying to make the world free from evil. He is trying to convince us to purity of heart and soul. For describing hero as poet he gives us the ideal figures from the world of poetry. He considers Dante a hero because his poetry still encompasses the universal lessons. Shakespeare to him is an eternal poet. He believes that Shakespeare gains his art from the depth of nature.

 

 

 

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