I really enjoyed reading about Thomas Carlyle and reading his work. Thomas had strict parents. I believe his parents was his foundation for contributing to him being a hard worker. He valued the thought of hard work. He had a good education by attending the University of Edinburgh. Therefore, he had the foundation to be an extraordinary writer.
Out of all the poetry I have read thus far, Carlyle work has been easier for me to understand. All poetry has a meaning in one way or the other, but Carlyle’s work kept my interest throughout. Two of his writings kept my attention throughout and I could understand them fully; Labour (Know Thy Work) and Gospel of Mammonism.
Labour (Know Thy Work) on page 481, “It has been written, “an endless significance lies in Work”; a man perfects himself by working.” I felt this was an evaluation of his life personally as well as speaking for the majority. Carlyle found hope and love in being a hard worker at whatever he set out to do. His parents were the backbones to him believing in being a hard worker. I also say this was a general statement to the readers because if you find something you love you will work hard at perfecting it. According to Carlyle if one has work then he needs no other blessings; he has found his purpose (see page 482). I do not totally agree with that statement because an individual may be multi-talented and can proceed in working hard in many areas. I feel that if you love what you do then you will put your heart and soul in it.
The second work of Carlyle that I enjoyed was from Gospel of Mammonism (The Irish Woman). My first thought when I read Gospel of Mammonism was social services in our society today. Here we have a widowed woman with three children and she is poor. She goes to the Charitable Establishment where she was refused help. Her rejection did not just stop there it continued on. Imagine being poor without anything and being rejected until all of your resources are depleted. You may ask how I can compare this with our social services today. When I was down and out, I had to jump through hoops to get the system to help me out. I had just lost my job and I had two children. Luckily for me, I had my family and my church home. In the Gospel of Mammonism, she did not have any one to lean on. “Behold I am sinking, bare of help: ye must help me! I am your sister, bone of your bone; one God made us: ye must help me!” (page 480-481). Once again, the people answered no to her cry. This story touched my heart because it was a little personal. Thankfully I did not have to go through the struggles that the Irish Woman did.
In closing, I enjoyed both of Carlyle’s works because they spoke on things that I could truly relate to. One was working hard and the other was being rejected in a time of need.
2 comments:
Mignon,
Very good job in this posting on Carlyle. Your analysis of the texts you focus on is insightful, especially when you connect the Irish widow's experiences to your own. Glad your experience didn't end the same way as her's did!
I completely agreed with your thoughts on Carlyle. When I read about his childhood and how his parents treated him, I also thought this could be the reason why he worked as hard as he did. I felt as though his work was fairly straight forward.
I felt that I could relate to him. I enjoyed "Labour" because when people are passionate about something, they tend to work hard at it. I love to ride and show horses, and I spend hours preparing to show, trying to perfect my own skills.
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