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KeyFacts:
Born: 4th December 1795
at Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire
Writer
Died: 5th Feb 1881
at 24 Cheyne Row,
Chelsea, Middlesex
KeyWords:
Thomas Carlyle
Writer
Historian
The French Revolution
The Edinburgh Review
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Though his essays and histories do not command the attention today that
they did in the Victorian era, the world of literature owes an enormous debt
to Thomas Carlyle, from Ecclefechan in the Scottish Lowlands. In 1837,
Carlyle gave us the great masterpiece of historical writing, The French
Revolution. Early in his career as a teacher, Carlyle read extensively in
English, German and French literature, becoming heavily influenced by
Gibbon, Hume, Voltaire and Mme de Stael. His biography of Schiller appeared
in The London Magazine (1823-4) and he also translated part of Goethe's
Wilhelm Meister to satisfy a growing demand for works on German culture.
Many of Carlyle's articles were published in The Edinburgh Review (late
1820's), some of them dealing with contemporary social problems. During this
time, he wrote essays on Goethe, published his revolutionary Sartor Resartus,
followed by Voltaire, Diderot and The Diamond Necklace. It was only after he
moved to London in 1834 and he published his history of the French
Revolution, that Carlyle achieved worldwide fame.
As historian, social reformer and prophet, Carlyle has few equals. His
whole philosophy was influenced by his idea of the Divine Will, proof of
which is the duty of the poet and historian to express. His writings try to
explain what has motivated human behaviour through the ages. One of
Carlyle's most remembered lines: "No great man lives in vain. The
history of the world is but the biography of great men."
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