Thomas Wolfe

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Lore & Background

Carlyle was born on 4 December 1795 to James and Margaret Aitken Carlyle in Ecclefechan. His father was a stonemason, later a farmer, who built the Arched House where his son was born. His mother taught him reading despite being barely literate, and his father taught him arithmetic. By age 7 he showed enough proficiency in English that he was advised to "go into Latin", which he did with enthusiasm. He attended Annan Academy from about 1806 to 1809, where he studied rudimentary Greek, read Latin and French fluently, and learned arithmetic "thoroughly well". In November 1809 at nearly fourteen, he walked one hundred miles to attend the University of Edinburgh, where he studied mathematics with John Leslie, science with John Playfair and moral philosophy with Thomas Brown. He gravitated to mathematics and geometry, being credited with the invention of the Carlyle circle. In 1813 he completed his arts curriculum and enrolled in a theology course at Divinity Hall the following academic year. He began teaching at Annan Academy in June 1814, and in November 1816 began teaching at Kirkcaldy, where he made friends with Edward Irving and Margaret Gordon, who became his "first love" and is said to be the basis for the character "Blumine" in his later work Sartor Resartus. In May 1817 he abstained from enrolment in the theology course. In the autumn of that year he read De l'Allemagne by Germaine de Staël, prompting him to seek a German teacher. In Irving's library he read David Hume and Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; he later recalled that reading Gibbon made him "first clearly see that Christianity was not true." In October 1818 he resigned from his position at Kirkcaldy and left for Edinburgh in November, shortly before beginning to suffer from dyspepsia, which remained with him throughout his life. He enrolled in a mineralogy class from November 1818 to April 1819, and in January 1819 began to study German. In November he enrolled in "the class of Scots law", studying under advocate David Hume. In March 1820 he wrote several articles for David Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia, which appeared in October—his first published writings. In May 1821 he was introduced to Jane Baillie Welsh by Irving in Haddington; the two began a correspondence, and she called him "my German Master." In early July 1821, during three weeks of total sleeplessness, an incident occurred in Leith Walk as he went down into the water—the beginning of his "conversion."

Reader's Guide

Carlyle initially gained prominence in English-language literary circles for his extensive writing on German Romantic literature and philosophy. These themes were explored in his first major work, a semi-autobiographical philosophical novel entitled Sartor Resartus (1833–34). He eventually relocated to London, where he published The French Revolution: A History (1837). Its popular success made him a celebrity, prompting the collection and reissue of his earlier essays under the title of Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838–39). His subsequent works were highly regarded throughout Europe and North America, including On Heroes (1841), Past and Present (1843), Cromwell's Letters (1845), Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850), and Frederick the Great (1858–65). He founded the London Library, helped to establish the National Portrait Galleries in London and in Edinburgh, became Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh in 1865 and received the Pour le Mérite in 1874, amongst other honours. Carlyle occupied a central position in Victorian culture, being considered the "undoubted head of English letters" and a "secular prophet." Posthumously, a series of publications by his friend James Anthony Froude damaged Carlyle's reputation, provoking controversy about his personal life and his marriage to Jane Welsh Carlyle in particular. His reputation further declined in the aftermaths of the First World War and the Second World War, when his philosophy was seen as a precursor of both Prussianism and fascism. Growing scholarship in the field of Carlyle studies since the 1950s has improved his standing, and although little-read today, he is yet recognised as "one of the enduring monuments of [English] literature."

Did You Know?

• Carlyle invented the Carlyle circle while studying mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.
• He walked one hundred miles from his home to attend the University of Edinburgh at nearly fourteen years of age.
• His first published writings were articles for David Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia, appearing in October 1820.
• He founded the London Library and helped establish the National Portrait Galleries in London and Edinburgh.
• Carlyle received the Pour le Mérite in 1874.