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Thomas Carlyle

Born

in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

December 04, 1795

Died

February 05, 1881

Genre

History, Philosophy

Influences

Voltaire, Edward Gibbon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lucien of Samosata ...more

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Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian, critic, and sociological writer. was born in the village of Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, eldest child of James Carlyle, stonemason, and Margaret (Aitken) Carlyle. The father was stern, irascible, a puritan of the puritans, but withal a man of rigid probity and strength of character. The mother, too, was of the Scottish earth, and Thomas' education was begun at home by both the parents. From the age of five to nine he was at the village school; from nine to fourteen at Annan Grammar School. where he showed proficiency in mathematics and was well grounded in French and Latin. In November 1809 he walked to Edinburgh, and attended courses at the University till 1814, with the ultimate aim of becoming a ministe Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian, critic, and sociological writer. was born in the village of Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, eldest child of James Carlyle, stonemason, and Margaret (Aitken) Carlyle. The father was stern, irascible, a puritan of the puritans, but withal a man of rigid probity and strength of character. The mother, too, was of the Scottish earth, and Thomas' education was begun at home by both the parents. From the age of five to nine he was at the village school; from nine to fourteen at Annan Grammar School. where he showed proficiency in mathematics and was well grounded in French and Latin. In November 1809 he walked to Edinburgh, and attended courses at the University till 1814, with the ultimate aim of becoming a minister. He left without a degree, became a mathematical tutor at Annan Academy in 1814, and three years later abandoned all thoughts of entering the Kirk, having reached a theological position incompatible with its teachings. He had begun to learn German in Edinburgh, and had done much independent reading outside the regular curriculum. Late in 1816 he moved to a school in Kirkcaldy, where he became the intimate associate of Edward Irving, an old boy of Annan School, and now also a schoolmaster. This contact was Carlyle's first experience of true intellectual companionship, and the two men became lifelong friends. He remained there two years, was attracted by Margaret Gordon, a lady of good family (whose friends vetoed an engagement), and in October 1818 gave up schoolmastering and went to Edinburgh, where he took mathematical pupils and made some show of reading law.

During this period in the Scottish capital he began to suffer agonies from a gastric complaint which continued to torment him all his life, and may well have played a large part in shaping the rugged, rude fabric of his philosophy. In literature he had at first little success, a series of articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia bringing in little money and no special credit. In 1820 and 1821 he visited Irving in Glasgow and made long stays at his father's new farm, Mainhill; and in June 1821, in Leith Walk, Edinburgh, he experienced a striking spiritual rebirth which is related in Sartor Resartus. Put briefly and prosaically, it consisted in a sudden clearing away of doubts as to the beneficent organization of the universe; a semi-mystical conviction that he was free to think and work, and that honest effort and striving would not be thwarted by what he called the "Everlasting No."

For about a year, from the spring of 1823, Carlyle was tutor to Charles and Arthur Buller, young men of substance, first in Edinburgh and later at Dunkeld. Now likewise appeared the first fruits of his deep studies in German, the Life of Schiller, which was published serially in the London Magazine in 1823-24 and issued as a separate volume in 1825. A second garner from the same field was his version of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister which earned the praise of Blackwood's and was at once recognized as a very masterly rendering.

In 1821 Irving had gone to London, and in June 1821 Carlyle followed, in the train of his employers, the Bullers. But he soon resigned his tutorship, and, after a few weeks at Birmingham, trying a dyspepsia cure, he lived with Irving at Pentonville, London, and paid a short visit to Paris. March 1825 saw him back; in Scotland, on his brother's farm, Hoddam Hill, near the Solway. Here for a year he worked hard at German translations, perhaps more serenely than before or after and free from that noise which was always a curse to his sensitive ear and which later caused him to build a sound-proof room in his Chelsea home.

Before leaving for London Irving had introduced Carlyle to Jane Baillie Welsh daughter of the surgeon, John Welsh, and descended from John Knox. She was beautiful, precociously learned, talented, and a brilliant mistress of cynical satire. Among her numerous suitors, the rough, uncouth ...more

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Thomas Carlyle’s books

Average rating: 3.72 · 5,658 ratings · 589 reviews · 2,982 distinct works • Similar authors

	Sartor Resartus 3.62 avg rating — 1,078 ratings — published 1834 — 78 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The French Revolution: A History 3.88 avg rating — 995 ratings — published 1837 — 608 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History 3.63 avg rating — 868 ratings — published 1841 — 676 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Past and Present 3.47 avg rating — 239 ratings — published 1897 — 267 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selected Writings by Thomas Carlyle, Alan Shelston (Editor) 3.53 avg rating — 95 ratings — published 1980 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Early Kings of Norway 3.66 avg rating — 85 ratings — published 1875	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Latter-Day Pamphlets 3.85 avg rating — 78 ratings — published 1850 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	محمد - صلى الله عليه و سلم -المثل الأعلى by Thomas Carlyle, توماس كارليل 3.26 avg rating — 91 ratings — published 1841 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chartism 3.38 avg rating — 84 ratings — published 1840 — 89 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Signs of the Times 3.25 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 1829 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Thomas Carlyle…

Series by Thomas Carlyle

The French Revolution: A History (3 books)
by

Thomas Carlyle,

Charles Robert Leslie Fletcher

3.88 avg rating — 1,059 ratings

The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson (3 books)
by

Thomas Carlyle,

Ralph Waldo Emerson

3.21 avg rating — 33 ratings

The Norman and Charlotte Strouse Edition of the Writings of Thomas Carlyle (2 books)
by

Thomas Carlyle,

Chris Ramon Vanden Bossche,

Fleming McClelland,

Brent E. Kinser

3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings

Quotes by Thomas Carlyle (?)

“What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.”
― Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History

tags: books, education, reading

333 likes

“If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun of it.”
― Thomas Carlyle

tags: atheism, atheist, religion

218 likes

“I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.”
― Thomas Carlyle

203 likes

See all Thomas Carlyle's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The History Book ...: 1. A TALE OF TWO CITIES ~ February 6th - February 12th ~~ INTRODUCTION, BOOK THE FIRST, I, II, AND III ~ (ix - 24) No Spoilers Please	70	107	Feb 21, 2012 10:20AM
The History Book ...: 2. A TALE OF TWO CITIES ~ February 13th - February 19th ~~ BOOK THE FIRST, IV, V, AND VI ~ (25 - 60) No Spoilers Please	72	71	Feb 29, 2012 04:23PM
The History Book ...: 6. A TALE OF TWO CITIES ~ March 12 - 18 ~ ~ BOOK THE SECOND ~ XIV, XV, XVI, AND XVI I (156 - 191) No Spoilers Please	13	91	Mar 18, 2012 08:17AM
The History Book ...: GLOSSARY - A TALE OF TWO CITIES - SPOILER THREAD	71	164	Apr 19, 2012 10:01PM

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Thomas Carlyle’s Followers (457)

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Thomas Carlyle

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