On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in HistoryUniversity of California Press, 1993 M06 7 - 622 pages In his 1840 lectures on heroes, Thomas Carlyle, Victorian essayist and social critic, championed the importance of the individual in history. Published the following year and eventually translated into fifteen languages, this imaginative work of history, comparative religion, and literature is the most influential statement of a man who came to be thought of as a secular prophet and the "undoubted head of English letters" (Emerson). His vivid portraits of Muhammad, Dante, Luther, Napoleon—just a few of the individuals Carlyle celebrated for changing the course of world history—made On Heroes a challenge to the anonymous social forces threatening to control life during the Industrial Revolution. In eight volumes, The Strouse Edition will provide the texts of Carlyle's major works edited for the first time to contemporary scholarly standards. For the general reader, its detailed introductions and annotations will offer insight into the author's thought and a reconstruction of the diverse and often arcane Carlylean sources. |
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Page v
... Poet . 67 Dante ; Shakspeare . Lecture IV . The Hero as Priest . 99 Luther ; Reformation : Knox ; Puritanism . Lecture V. The Hero as Man of Letters . 133 Johnson , Rousseau , Burns . Lecture VI . The Hero as King . 169 Cromwell ...
... Poet . 67 Dante ; Shakspeare . Lecture IV . The Hero as Priest . 99 Luther ; Reformation : Knox ; Puritanism . Lecture V. The Hero as Man of Letters . 133 Johnson , Rousseau , Burns . Lecture VI . The Hero as King . 169 Cromwell ...
Page xxx
... poet and priest , are much scantier than those for the first two lectures , but records of the final two , on the hero as man of letters and king , are the most abundant we have , because of the attendance at these last two lectures of ...
... poet and priest , are much scantier than those for the first two lectures , but records of the final two , on the hero as man of letters and king , are the most abundant we have , because of the attendance at these last two lectures of ...
Page xxxiii
... poet , " which was far the worst of all as I delivered it , is considerably the best hitherto as written . " With improvements , it would in its final shape " do as well as any of the rest . " 94 But even with this satisfaction , the ...
... poet , " which was far the worst of all as I delivered it , is considerably the best hitherto as written . " With improvements , it would in its final shape " do as well as any of the rest . " 94 But even with this satisfaction , the ...
Page xlvii
... nonentity , while that Dante's voice is 181 See note to " The Hero as Poet " at 70.15-17 . 182 On Heroes , 85 . 183 On Heroes , 95 . 184 On Heroes , 85 . 185 On Heroes , 96 . still audible . The Nation that has a Dante is INTRODUCTION ...
... nonentity , while that Dante's voice is 181 See note to " The Hero as Poet " at 70.15-17 . 182 On Heroes , 85 . 183 On Heroes , 95 . 184 On Heroes , 85 . 185 On Heroes , 96 . still audible . The Nation that has a Dante is INTRODUCTION ...
Page xlviii
... Poet who could merely sit on a chair , and compose stanzas , would never make a stanza worth much . He could not sing the Heroic warrior , unless he himself were at least a Heroic warrior too . " 187 By hero - king Carlyle does not mean ...
... Poet who could merely sit on a chair , and compose stanzas , would never make a stanza worth much . He could not sing the Heroic warrior , unless he himself were at least a Heroic warrior too . " 187 By hero - king Carlyle does not mean ...
Contents
vii | |
ix | |
xv | |
xxi | |
Note on the Text | lxxxi |
On Heroes HeroWorship and the Heroic in History | 1 |
Notes | 227 |
Works Cited | 393 |
Textual Apparatus | 419 |
Index | 487 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alexander Carlyle American edition Arab beautiful believe Books Boswell Boswell's British Burns Carlyle wrote Carlyle's century Christian copy-text Cromwell Cromwell's Dante Dante's death earnest Earth Edda Emerson England English Essays Etin Euphuisms eyes fact false falsehood French Revolution Froude genuine German Gibbon God's Goethe heart Heaven Heimskringla Hero as Divinity Hero as Poet Hero-worship heroic heroism History of Literature human Inferno Johnson Joseph Neuberg Jötuns kind King Knox Korán lecture Letters Literary live London look Luther Macaulay Mahomet Mirabeau modern Muḥammad Napoleon Nature noble Norse Novalis Odin Old Norse Paganism Parliament Poetic Edda poor portrait Priest Prose Edda Protestantism Puritan Qur'an Reformation religion Rousseau rude Sartor Scepticism Scotland Shakspeare silent sincere soul speak speech spiritual struggle TC to John things Thomas Carlyle Thor thought tion true truth University variants Voltaire whole wild withal word worship writing