1

i ) Aims and Scope of the Study

Etymologically Comparative Literature means ‘any literary work

that compares’. Such a comparison could be in terms of structure, style or

the philosophical vision. A study in Comparative Literature ought to lead

one to a more comparehensive and adequate understanding of the works

and their authors. Mainly, it seeks to study interactions between

literatures written in various countries in various languages. Comparative

Literature is a literary discipline recognized as the most important

academic activity of the present era, in which the East and the West are

merging and unifying the world into a single whole.

It was Matthew Arnold who first used the term ‘Comparative

Literature’ in his essays. Arnold speaks of a plurality of Comparative

Literatures specified as being those of England and the Continent.

Moreover, he places them together not for comparison but for contrast. In

his inaugural lecture as the Professor at Oxford, Matthew Arnold says,

“ No single event, no single literature, is adequately comprehended

except in its relation to other events, to other literatures. The literature of

ancient Greece, the literature of the Christian Middle Age, so long as they

are regarded as two isolated literatures, two isolated growths of the

human spirit are not adequately comprehended. ” ( Dhawan : 1987 : 10 )

He approves to compare the works of other ages with those of our own

age and country. Arnold wrote ‘Posnett’s Comparative Literature’, the

Comment [u1]:

2

first work in English on comparison. George Saintsbury describes Arnold

as “ the very first English critic to urge the importance, the necessity of

………… comparative criticism of different literatures ” ( Ibid ) in a

systematic and an impartial manner.

The comparatists adapt various approaches in their investigations.

Some of them merely find out identities or similarities, some only

differences and disparities while some others both. Such studies may not

be entirely futile but they fail to serve the true ends of comparative

literature. The aim of a comparist is to find out the implications and the

underlying identities of both similarities and differences so that even the

differences can be given their proper place in a deeper and more

comprehensive understanding of the artist. It should be borne in mind that

there can be no significant difference without any underlying identity.

The comparist has to keep an open mind and should be earnest and

sincere in his inquiry and desire for truth. He has to be as self critical as

critical of others in his procedure.

Comparative Literature is a highly fascinating but challenging

discipline. It is said to have come into real prominence in 1900, when in

connection with the World Exhibition in Paris, a whole section of the

Historical Studies Congress was reserved for ‘Historie comparee des

litteratures.’ ( quoted in Dhawan : 1987 : 17 ) The Comparative

Literature section was opened by Bruntiere with an address on European

3

literature and was also addressed by the great French medievalist Gaston

Paris. The stage was thus set for vigorous cultivation of the broader

aspects of literature on a systemic and comprehensive comparative basis.

The early practitioners of Comparative Literature held a rather

narrow view of it. Van Tieghem, for example, remarked : “ The object of

Comparative Literature is essentially the study of diverse literatures in

their relations with one another. ” ( Ibid ) Guyard called it “ the history of

international literary relations. ” ( Ibid ) Anna Saitta Revignas had even a

narrower concept of Comparative Literature. She spoke of it as “ a

modern science which centres on research into the problems connected

with the influences exercised reciprocally by various literatures. ” ( Ibid )

Fernard Baldensperger, the recognized leader of the French school of

Comparative literature, claimed to have had no use for comparisons

which did not involve a real encounter that had created dependence.

Comparative Literature has, however, moved since the straight path that

its early exponents wanted it to take.

The main idea of Comparative Literature is to broaden one’s

perspective by discovering certain dominant trends in a literature and

culture and to understand precise relations between two or more

literatures. It is conceived today in a comprehensive sense. Comparative

Literature is the branch of literary study which concerns itself with the

4

basic structures which underlie all literature of any kind. Hence there is

no limit to its scope.

The term ‘Comparative Literature’ had to compete with certain

overlapping terms and concepts such as ‘universal literature’,

‘international literature’, ‘general literature’, and ‘world literature’. It was

Friedrich Schegel who first spoke of ‘Universalpoesie’ in 1798, and

Goethe used the term ‘Weltiliteratur’ in 1827 while commenting on a

translation of his drama Tasso into French. ‘Universal literature’ came

into vogue in the 18th century and was widely used in Germany. These

trerms, in fact, share what semanticists call ‘a field of meaning.’ They all

imply that, despite their circumstantial and surface differences, there is

always something in literatures of the world that can be regarded as the

common heritage of mankind and consequently has the

comprehensiveness to include every aspect of human experience. To

appreciate the deep structural similarities between literatures, as

represented by the best writers, it would be desirable to have an unusual

tolerance and uncommon competence.

Classics in different languages have many threads of connection

with each other. Munro maintains that “ it would be hard if not

impossible to find a work of art which does not possess some unity. ”

( quoted in Dhawan : 1987 : 18 ) It is this sense of unity that prompted

the Indian Sahitya Akademi to maintain that “ Indian literature is one

5

though written in many languages. ” ( Ibid : 19 ) In his Foreword to the

Akademi’s publication entitled Contemporary Indian Literature,

S. Radhakrishnan wrote : “ There is a unity of outlook as the writers in

different languages derive their inspiration from a common source and

face more or less the same kind of experience, emotional and

intellectual.” ( Ibid ) What is true of Indian literature in this respect is

true, to a very great extent of literatures in other parts of the world. The

Western world has a concept of European literature. By extending the

peripheries of these ‘regional’ or ‘national’ literatures, one can arrive at a

more comprehensive concept of world literature or universal literature.

Literature is the most humanizing force, and internal relations

between its realizations in various parts of the world may be appreciated

on the basis of sound comparative studies. If it is done properly, national

vanities will disappear and Universal Man will emerge, and the study of

literature will never degenerate into an antiquarian pastime, a calculus of

national credits and debts.

According to Max Mueller, “ All higher knowledge is gained by

comparison and rests on compasrison. ” ( Ibid : 27 ) Comparative studies

can be of immense value in imparting the training in enjoyment and in

freeing the mind from the shackles of provincialism and literary myopia

in Bosanquet’s opinion. Such studies will bring back the uninterrupted

perspective which is so essential for literary study and research of wide

6

dimensions. The scope and methodology of Comparative Literature,

however, have remained all along bones of contention. It has been found

to be difficult to define precisely the content of Comparative Literature

and to determine its scope. To Posnett, Comparative Literature means

“ the general theory of literary evolution, the idea that literature passes

through stages of inception, culmination and decline. ” ( Ibid : 28 )

Remak has delimited the scope of it even more ambitiously. According to

him, “ the study of literature beyond the confines of one particular

country, and the study of the relationships between literature on the one

hand and the other areas of knowledge and belief, such as the arts,

philosophy, history, the social sciences, religion, etc., on the other hand. ”

( Ibid )

No really useful purpose can be served either by a too narrow or a

too comprehensive concept of Comparative Literature. Rightly enough,

Rene Wellek defines it by its perspective and spirit. He says that

“ Comparative literature will study all literatures from an international

perspective, with a consciousness of the unity of all literary creation and

experience. ” ( Ibid )

Comparative Literature aims to enhance awareness of the qualities

of one work by using the products of another linguistic culture as an

illuminating context. It also means studying some broad topic or theme as

it is realized or transformed in the literatures of different languages.

7

The general distinction of Comparative Literature is that it is

confined to the study of relationship between two or more literatures. The

French method was confined to the sources and influences. This school

has given much attention to such questions as the reputation and

penetration, the influence and fame of Goethe in France and England, of

Carlyle and Schiller in France. But this conception of Comparative

Literature has a flaw. No distinct system can emerge from the

accumulation of such studies. There is no methodological distinction

between a study of Shakespeare in France and a study of Shakespeare in

18th century England.

Comparison being only one method of investigation occuring in all

sciences, Rene Wellek considers it a mistake to overemphasize its value.

For Wellek, literary creation forms a unity. Comparative literature should

not narrow its interest to phenomena that cross national or linguistic

boundaries ; it should rather ignore these boundaries. Inspired by the

Russian Formalists, Wellek advocated in 1958 the study of

“ literature as a subject distinct from other activities and products of

man ” ( quoted in P.A.S. : 1948 : 74 ).

Comparative Literature has a long history, not only as a separate

field of study, but also as an academic discipline. This long tradition

accords an extra dimension to the comparative study of literature, but at

times it is also considered a liability, in particular by those who hold that

8

any science, including the humanities should aim at problem solving by

means of hypotheses and their testing, rather than by the accumulation of

knowledge. The compilation of knowledge can be useful if it is

accessible, i.e. if this knowledge has been collected in a systematic way

and can thus be retrieved.

The essay fills so large a place in modern literature and is so

attractive a form of composition that attention must necessarily be given

to it in any course of literary study. At the same time, its outlines are so

uncertain and it varies so much in matter, purpose and style that systemic

treatment of it is impossible. The question may indeed be raised whether

the essay is to be considered as an independent and settled form of

literary art at all.

The force of this question becomes apparent, the moment one

compares a number of representative essays by different writers and

observes how little they have in common in respect either of theme or of

method. An essay by Bacon consists of a few pages of concentrated

wisdom with little elaboration of the ideas expressed. An essay by

Seigneur de Montaigne is a medley of reflections, quotations and

anecdotes. In an essay by Addison, the thought is thin and diluted and the

tendency is now towards light didacticism and towards personal gossip.

Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a ponderous

volume close packed with philosophical matter. The essays of Macaulay

9

and Herbert Spencer are really small books. In these cases, they cite

haphazard quotes and only illustrate. It is evident, that one has to do with

totally different conceptions of what the essay is and what it should aim

to accomplish. If, now one turns to attempted definitions one will find

little in them to clear up the confusion.

According to Dr. Samuel Johnson, an essay is “ a loose sally of

the mind, an irregular, undigested piece, not a regular and orderly

composition ” ( quoted in Arora : 1996 : 2 ), a view which certainly does

not tally with the highly evolved essay of more recent times. While

Murray’s Dictionary, taking note of modern changes in the meaning of

the word, speaks of the essay as “ a composition of moderate length on

any particular subject or branch of a subject, ” adding “ originally

implying want of finish, but now said of a composition more or less

elaborate in style, though limited in range ” ( Ibid ).

Manifestly the word essay is very loosely used and any attempt to

fix rigorously its forms and features must perforce end in failure.

Murray’s definition points out towards clarity in thinking and an essay is

limited in both length and range which is brought out in it. The essay then

may be regarded as a composition on any topic, the chief negative

features of which are comparative brevity and comparative want of

exhaustiveness. Comparative brevity is also a formal feature of the essay

and it would seem to be a necessary condition of a good essay. Another

10

commonly accepted canon is that the method of the essay is marked by

considerable freedom and informality. This brings it well within

Johnson’s definition. The essay arose because men had come to feel the

need of a vehicle of expression in which they could enjoy

something of the freedom of conversation.

In the abstract, therefore, one may considers the essay as relatively

unmethodical as well as relatively short. The well marked tendency

among the essayists towards greater logical consistency and regularity of

structure is only one among many signs of the transformation of the essay

into something different from the original and genuine type. The central

fact of the true essay, indeed, is the direct play of the author’s mind and

character upon the matter of his discourse.

The essay is the oldest form of literary writing that has been

adapted by many writers as a mode of creative writing since ancient

times. It does not attempt a comprehensive and thorough discussion of its

subject.

Twentieth century is an age of speed and hurry. Men have no time

for the leisurely enjoyment of literature or even of life; they require

everything in concentrated tabloid form. The spread of education and the

improvement in the life of common man have swelled the ranks of the

reading public, but this public demands information and entertainment in

convenient morsels. As a consequence, the Press has become a powerful

11

organ, reflecting popular views and sentiments on one hand, and shaping

and moulding them on the other. It is surprising, therefore, that some of

the greatest essayists of the twentieth century have been connected with

the Press. G.K.Chesterton, H.G.Wells, G.B. Shaw, Robert Lynd,

A.G. Gardiner and Max Beerbohm are among the most illustrious of

these journalists.

Journalistic literature has its limitations and defects. Everyone

knows that great literature, literature for all times as distinguished from

ephemeral literature, should deal with what is of universal or eternal

interest. It may have its roots in the transient and the local, but it should,

nevertheless, lift its branches and foliage into the sustaining air of the

universal and the permanent. Journalism avowedly deals with subjects of

passing interest. Its objects are to appeal, to persuade, to convince.

Consequently, it requires the qualities of brevity, clarity and sincerity

more than beauty and approximation to unchanging truth.

A.G. Gardiner has used this ancient form in the modern times. He

has used this short piece of prose writing in order to deal with his subjects

very briefly. In his essays, Gardiner has sought to convey his views on

particular subjects and tried to convince the readers of what he says. His

reflections, tastes, preferences and moods are mirrored in his essays. His

essays project his personality and his viewpoints. One finds a personal

and subjective element in majority of his essays. He is very clear in his

12

thinking and his thoughts are expressed in a lucid style. His views on the

various subjects are direct, clear, precise and condensed. Due to all these

peculiarities, his essays have won for him a place in the world at large.

At the same time, there are writers in this century who have

wielded the weapon of the periodical essay for transient purposes, but still

have paid attention to its aesthetic aspect and its relation to the eternal

verities of life. The essays of Robert Lynd, Lucas, Gardiner, Beerbohm

and others have much in them that is journalistic, but they also have

beauty and truth.

In Marathi Literature, in 1832, Balshastri Jambhekar started a

periodical called Darpan which published a number of knowledgeable

articles which were later on treated as essays. These essays commented

the political and social transformations of the period. Balshastri

Jhambekar, Bhau Mahajan, Dadoba Pandurang, Vinayak Kirtane, Govind

Madgaonkar, Vishnu Brahmachary, Hari Keshavji and Baba Padmanji’s

writings fall short to the expectations of the essays. On 19th

March 1848,

Lokhitwadi published his first essay in Prabhakar. Thereafter, he

published essays every week in Shatpatre, a collection of 108 essays, in

the form of letters, hence, he is considered as the pioneer of Marathi

Essay. But unfortunately, his fervour for social reform was

misunderstood and attacked by the Marathi critics.

13

The project A Comparative Study of the Selected Social Esays

of A.G. Gardiner (English) and Lokhitwadi (Marathi) deals with the

selected educational, socio-political and socio-economic essays of both

essayists. It compares the essays of an English essayist with the essays of

a Marathi essayist, i.e. an international writer with a regional writer. The

study is confined to the relationship between English and Marathi essay

writing.

ii ) Life and Works of A.G. Gardiner ( 1865 – 1946 )

The youngest of the children of Henry James Gardiner and

Susannah Taylor, Alfred George was born on June 2, 1865 at Chelmsford

in Essex. The frequent unemployment and drinking habits of his father

drove the family to poverty and debt, and only the efforts of his mother

could save it from starvation. Thus, Gardiner had his upbringing in a poor

family, and could not enjoy the privileges that the children of his age

generally enjoy. The family could not even afford to arrange for a proper

education for him, and he got his early education in an ordinary school.

This education was discontinued by the time he was hardly 14 years old.

His educational career ended at an early age.

However, Gardiner’s inability to receive an adequate formal

education did not chill his enthusiasm for reading, and he read widely,

14

acquiring knowledge from whatever sources he could. The circumstances

of his early life led him to develop the habits of simplicity and frugality.

A couple of years after leaving school, Gardiner served as an

apprentice to Frederic Henry Maggie from whom he learnt short-hand

and reporting. He worked diligently and continued his self education

through an extensive reading which later proved a boon in his career as a

reporter.

He worked for about 15 years on the staff of various journals like

Essex Country Chronicle, Bournmouth Directory and Northern Daily

Telegraph, to which he contributed articles and reviews under the

pen name of Argus and Tatler. These 15 years formed a period of

apprenticeship in journalism, involving hard work and economic

hardship. But the hard work he had to undertake during these years

helped him greatly in developing his powers as a writer and journalist and

proved a propeller in his later career as a renowned and highly honoured

figure in the field of journalism. He owned much to his elder brother

Arthur in matters of inspiration and guidance during a period of

depression and drudgery in his career.

In 1902, Gardiner was appointed the editor of the Daily News, the

most renowned Liberal newspaper published from London. His early

journalistic training stood him in good stead in his work as the editor of

15

this daily and it was he who arrested the steep decline in its reputation

and circulation, and brought its former glory and prestige back to it.

He was a liberal at heart, and his views and talents were suited to a

liberal paper. When he was appointed the editor of the Daily News,

doubts were raised in certain circles about his competence to handle it

properly. He was the most literary journalist of his time, who gave a

literary touch to the Daily News, which enhanced its appeal. Moreover,

he staunchly supported the cause of the Liberals for about 17 years of his

editorship of this liberal newspaper. His work as a journalist and an editor

won recognition in the form of his election in 1915, as the President of

the Institute of Journalists. However, after the First World War, he found

it difficult to adapt his view to the changed policy of the Daily News, and

resigned from its editorship in 1919.

While working as the editor of Daily News, Gardiner wrote a

number of pen portraits and character sketches for its issues published on

Saturdays. He wrote about the prominent figures of his time in an

impartial and detached manner, without showing any favour to or

prejudice against any of them. These character sketches are remarkable

for Robert Lynd especially because in writing them “ Gardiner did not

sacrifice his independence as a portrait-painter to party or to friendship ”

( quoted in Arora : 1996 : 30 ).

16

By writing these sketches, he established his reputation as an

outstanding writer of short biographical sketches and pen portraits. These

sketches were later included in his collection published under the titles

Prophets, Priests and Kings (1908), Pillars of Society (1913), The

War Lords (1915), and Certain People of Importance (1926). The

character sketches written were regarded as a standard introduction to the

personalities of the time.

Gardiner’s resignation from the editorship of the Daily News did

not mean for him a severance of all relations with journalistic writing. He

continued thereafter to contribute to various papers and journals like

Manchester Evening News, the Glasgow Citizen, John Bull, the

Nation and the Star. Apart from working for the Nation for some time,

he now worked mostly as a free lance journalist, and contributed essays

and biographical articles to various journals. His two full length

biographies viz. Life of Sir William Harcourt and Life of George

Cadbury were published in 1922 and 1923 respectively.

Gardiner is one of the most gifted, prominent, popular, and

delightful modern English essayists. His literary career spans both the

Victorian and Modern ages. He began his career in the Victorian Age, but

the full fruition of his literary genius occurred in the Modern Age.

However, he is chiefly known as a delightful essayist to the reading

public. These essays, written under the pen name Alpha of the Plough

17

assumed at the instance of James Douglas, the editor of then Star, were

initially contributed to various journals, but were later collected in

volumes published under the titles Pebbles on the Shore (1916), Leaves

in the Wind (1919), Windfalls (1920), and Many Furrows (1924). Of

his essays following remarks are noteworthy -

“ Gardiner’s essays are in origin casual and

journalistic. He would have been the last

person to claim for his essays the title of

abiding literature, but we should, in fairness,

concede that they too embody a vision and

an experience. They reveal a cultured and

balanced man’s response to life, and the response

is one of harmony and delight. They combine

ideas and emotions with beauty of form, they

may be ranked among the finer productions of

literary genius” ( Macmillan : 1960 : 11 ).

Thus, starting his career as a mere reporter, Gardiner rose to the

heights of literary and journalistic fame. The obscurity of his early life

was itself obscured by the immense renown and recognition he won

through perseverance and hard work. His marriage with Ada Claydon,

whom he had been in love with since his childhood, proved a happy and

prosperous one. His settled life at Blackburn in a home of his own,

presented a sharp contrast to his early life of poverty and uncertainty. He

had six children and lived a long life of about eighty years. Having

enjoyed a fruitful literary career and a happy domestic life, he breathed

his last on the 3rd

of March, 1946.

18

Gardiner wrote 190 essays in four collections. 51 essays in Pebbles

On The Shore, 41 essays in Leaves In The Wind, 42 essays in

Windfalls and 56 essays in Many Furrows. All these essays were

written under the pen name of Alpha of the Plough.

In this connection, Encyclopaedian D.A. Girling quotes,

“ British journalist and essayist born at Chelmsford Essex. He wrote

under the pseudonym Alpha of the Plough and was editor of the Daily

News from 1902 to 1919. His Prophets, Priests and Kings, 1908, is a

series of caustic character sketches of contemporary celebrities, notably

politicians. It was followed in 1913 by Pillars of Society, in a similar

vein, and by War Lords in 1915 ” ( 1978 : 431 ).

George Bernard Shaw, Thomas Hardy, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire

Belloc, and Rudyard Kipling were some of the famous literary figures

portrayed by him. Among political personalities sketched by him were

Lord Northcliffe, Kaiser of Germany, the American President Theodore

Roosevelt, the English Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and the

Russian Dictator Joseph Stalin. The famous film actor and comedian,

Charlie Chaplin, also found a place in one of his character sketches.

The most attractive characteristic of Gardiner’s works is its

unfailing cheerfulness. A great deal of the literature of modern era is the

literature of disillusionment. Particularly in the years that followed the

end of the First World War, literature was permeated with the gloom and

19

the bitterness, which were in the minds of men who had dreamed glorious

dreams but had awakened to the hideous realities of life. Disillusioned

eyes saw in the cities only as a Wasteland like T.S. Eliot, the great

American poet of 20th century. They saw in the mind of man not charity

and love but cruelty and lust.

His eye is always on what is joyous and bright and he deftly and

deliberately passes by what is ugly and painful. Not that he lives in an

ivory tower, but he chooses to write only on what delights him and can

delight other people too. His keen eye notices the foibles and

eccentricities of men, but he does not denounce them in the sardonic

manner of Swift; he gently describes them with a good humoured smile

like Addison and Goldsmith before him. Gardiner is a prophet of joy.

In spite of Gardiner’s preferences for the light and the gay, his

works have a range and variety, which cannot be overlooked. He is not

content with watching the ripples playing on the surface of life. He

explores the depths and his essays are replete with profound observations

on human life. Light hearted and gay as he generally is, he is a

philosopher and a moralist with a vision and an ideal of his own. He

entertained his readers with the flimsiest narration as in A Night’s

Lodging where he recorded his struggles with a pillow, a bolster and a

bed. The laughter he provoked here is boyish, boisterous, not bordering

on tears. On the other hand, he soared to the heights of reflection and

20

spoke to the readers with seriousness and sanity. In the essay, On

Courage, one has a stimulating examination of an ethical question. The

essay, On Keyhole Morals, is likewise a discussion of another problem

in ethics. In the essay, he says, “ We are merely counterfeit coin if our

respect for the Eleventh Commandment only applies to being found out

by ourselves that ought to hurt us ” (1916 : 248 ). Gardiner’s essays thus

range from the commonplace and tried to the sublime.

Another quality of Gardiner is his freedom from vanity and

hypocrisy. His essays had a refreshing frankness and the author talked to

his readers with the intimacy of a friend just as Lamb did. He described

his own foibles and joined in the laughter against himself.

Like Lamb, Gardiner is a lover of the town and many of his essays

deal with the life in crowded London. He is, nevertheless, not impervious

to the appeal of Nature. His descriptions of Nature, though not numerous,

are marked by delicacy of feeling and keenness of observation. In the

essay On Being Idle, he describes the sights and sounds experienced by

him as he lied on the grass in the sunshine: “ There was the thin whisper

of the breeze in the grass on which he lays, the breathings of the

woodland behind, the dry flutter of dead leaves from a dwarf beech

nearby, the boom of a bumblebee that came blustering past, the song of

the meadow pipit rising from the fields below, the shout of the cuckoo

sailing up the valley, the clatter of magpies on the hillside ” ( 1920 : 248).

21

Many more characteristics of Gardiner could be pointed out and

profitably discussed. His ability to be funny without becoming ridiculous,

his love of animals, his sense of form, his delicacy of feeling, his

wonderful commonsense, his tolerant wisdom, his capacity for singling

out those of his experiences which were also the experiences of other

men, these and other characteristics would be obvious to any reader of his

essays. Another characteristic of Gardiner’s writing which the young

reader should try to emulate is the simplicity of his style. These essays are

read again and again because -

“ In History Today from the year 2000

you can read Edward Pearce's article

comparing Gardiner with J. L. Garvin

as powerful Edwardian editors. Various

older English language readers include

a Gardiner essay for students to read ”

( http://www.amazon.co.uk/ ).

Gardiner writes with spontaneous ease even as the thoughts come

to his mind. Artistically, this simplicity is more effective than laboured

rhetoric. His essays are in origin, casual and journalistic. They belong to

the class which Ruskin contemptuously dismissed as ephemeral literature.

His essays embody a vision and an experience of his own. They reveal a

cultured and balanced man’s response to life, and the response is one of

harmony and delight. These essays remind the readers of pleasant things,

sunshine and mirth, laughter and peace. And because they combine ideas

22

and emotions with beauty of form, they are ranked among the finer

productions of literary genius.

The range of his reading and his knowledge of man and books can

be judged from the careful reading of his essays as well as biographical

writings. The circumstances of his early life led him to develop the habits

of simplicity and frugality, which lasted long. Describing his appearance,

famous essayist Robert Lynd says, “The dimple in one of his cheeks at

the corner of his brown moustache is expressive of his humour and a

dreamer’s brow indicates the idealist in him.” Lynd also calls him

“ conspicuously English person with muddy brown moustache ”

( quoted in Arora : 1996 : 28 ).

By dint of his diligence, his devotion and his powers as a journalist

writer, he soon dispelled these doubts rejuvenating the newspaper and

reviving its position as the foremost liberal daily of London.

His essays were of various types - literary, social, political, moral

and philosophical. These deal with the subjects like travel, soldiers, dog,

sleep, thought, choosing a name, umbrella morals, love, hats, dining,

voices, bores, swearing, fear, virtues, clothes, nature, etc. The essays dealt

with a wide range of subjects. His essays are marked by intimacy of tone,

a sincerity and warmth of feeling, clarity of thought, a moral and didactic

intention, and a lively, simple and natural style. They revealed Gardiner

23

as a genial humorist with a sympathetic and tolerant attitude towards life

and human beings.

iii ) Life and Works of Lokhitwadi ( 1823 – 1892 )

Gopal Hari Deshmukh, alias Lokhitwadi, was born in Pune, a city

in the state of Maharashtra, on 18th February 1823 in a well-to-do middle

class Brahmin family. He was the eldest among the four sons of Haripant

– Kashibhai Deshmukh alias Upadhay alias Siddhay. His ancestors were

‘Deshmukhs’ in Konkan region of Maharashtra. In 1754, in order to get

employment in Peshwa’s Government, Lokhitwadi’s grandfather came to

Pune with his brothers. His uncle Chinto became ‘Fadnis’, and Krishnaji,

another uncle was ‘Sardar Vinchurkar’. His father Hari was ‘Fadnis’ of

Bapu Gokhale, the last Commander-in-Chief of the Peshwa.

In line with tradition, he availed himself of Marathi education from

a government Marathi school at the beginning. At the age of six his

Vratbandh ( thread ceremony ) was performed. After a year, in 1830, at

the age of seven, he married Gopikabai, a four year girl. His father

Haripant died on 16th May 1836.

Realizing the importance of English education, he first joined

private English tuitions. Then on 8th February 1841, at the age of

eighteen, he entered a government English school in Pune. He studied in

24

the Poona English High school from 1841 to 1844. After three years, he

left this school where he acquired mastery over English and History.

In the meantime, he studied Saint Literature of Dyneshwar, Eknath,

Tukaram as well as the old Marathi Literature. At the same time, he

studied English Literature too. He then learnt swimming, horse riding and

shooting. He also learnt Sanskrit, Persian and Gujarati languages. He

wrote and regularly published his letters from 1848 to 1850 i.e.

consecutively for two years in Bhau Mahajan’s Prabhakar, a periodical

which gave birth to Renaissance in Marathi Literature. These essays were

later on collected in Shatpatre. Social reform was the intention behind its

publication. With Shatpatre’s publication, Lokhitwadi became the

pioneer of Marathi essay writing.

Shatpatre is a collection of 108 letters, later on recognized as

essays, on finding the features of an essay. These revolutionary essays

made a very harsh comment upon the all time disputed issues in Society,

Religion, Economy, Country, Rulers, Moral, Polity, History, and burning

subjects like Marriage, Re-Marriage, Logic, Western Culture, Rural life,

Local Governance, Importance of English education, Literature,

Industrial Revolution, Democracy, Knowledge, Languages, Books etc.

Shatpatre exposed and attacked orthodox nature of 19th

century Hindu

social order.

25

On the recommendation of John Wardon, the then Judge of Pune,

Lokhitwadi was appointed as a translator in South Duke Agents’ office

on a salary of Rs. 77/- per month on 16th

October 1844. Simultaneously,

he held the office of the Agent to the Sardars in the Deccan. In 1846, he

passed the Munsiff’s examination. In 1852, he was appointed as the First

Class Munsiff at Wai, District Satara. In 1855, he became Sub-Assistant

Inam Commissioner and promoted to the post of Assistant Inam

Commissioner in 1857. In May 1861, he was appointed by the

Government to prepare a Digest of Hindu and Muslim Religious

Practices. He was appointed as the Assistant Judge, Ahmednagar, in July

1862. After that serving as an acting Judge in various courts, he received

a permanent position in March 1867. In 1874, he was conferred the

Fellowship of Mumbai University. In 1877, he was appointed as a Joint

and Session Judge at Nashik. After retirement, he was temporarily

appointed for eight months as an assistant to Thane District Judge. On

September 1st, 1879, he retired from his service.

During his lifetime, he was the President of the Arya Samaj,

Mumbai. He also served as the President of the Theosophical Society,

Bombay, and the Gujarati Buddhivardhaka Sabha, Ahmedabad. In 1877,

he was conferred with ‘Rao Bahadur’, then ‘Justice of the Peace’ and in

March 1881 with the title ‘Sadar (First Class)’. He edited the

Lokhitwadi, a monthly magazine in Marathi. From 1880 to 1882, for

26

three years, he was the member of Law Council, Mumbai. He was the

adviser and the trustee of many institutions. Nirmalkumar Phadkule, a

noted Marathi writer and critic states : “ Gopalrao Deshmukh was not

only an individual but also an institution. This institution was the

inspiration behind all social, educational and religious revolutions of 19th

century. He spread a wave of social revolution in Marathi Literature ”

( 1973 : 9 ).

Lokhitwadi continuously thought over the social, religious,

economic and political problems of India. Marathi critic Sunanda

Deshpande remarks, “ Lokhitwadi was the first essayist who wrote for

the welfare of the society in clear, straightforward and harsh words.

His tremendous faith in English rule, culture, social structure,

judiciary was severely criticized by the critics which made him a

controversial writer. But with changing time he welcomed modernity,

scientific view and western fields of knowledge and English education

in order to remove orthodoxy and eradicate Hindu blind faith. Through

‘Shatpatre’, he attacked hypocritical nature of Hindus suggesting

various social reforms ” ( 1983 : 11 ).

Through his writings, he criticized the Brahmins for arresting the

progress of the Hindu society by fostering anti social traditions. He

advocated widow remarriage and upliftment of social status of women,

and condemned child marriage, tonsure of widows, caste system and

27

slavery in any form. He was fond of making speeches; in fact, he never

refused an invitation to speak. He delivered lectures at Ahmedabad,

Nashik and Mumbai. At Ahmedabad, he arranged a series of lectures on

behalf of the Premanbhai Institute, and himself delivered many lectures

under the auspices of the Institute. The main theme of these lectures was,

of course, social reform. But other subjects like politics, economics,

religion, history, industrialization and boycott of foreign goods were also

discussed. He opened a branch of the Prarthana Samaj and started a

Punarvivaha Mandal (Widow Remarriage Institute) at Ahmedabad, and

arranged widow remarriages. He was instrumental in starting the

Hitechhu, a weekly newspaper in Gujarati, and contributed many articles

to it. He also started the Gujarati Vaktrittwa Sabha, under whose auspices

eminent persons delivered lectures. He helped poor students by paying

their tuition fees and giving them books. He helped the poor who were

robbed of their property by employing competent pleaders to secure the

restitution of their property. He continued these activities in Nashik, Pune

and Mumbai. While working with the Inam Commission, he helped many

people who had no domicile certificates but had other evidence in their

favour to retain their Inams. Nirmalkumar Phadkule has aptly described

his cooperative nature : “ He was ever ready in matters of social affairs

with his pen, patience and ability. As a citizen he was quite affiable

and accessible to all. Shirdar Gopalrao will be best known among the

28

lower classes whom he loved so much and for medical aid he had small

native charitable dispensary of his own house, where medicines

were distributed. Though he was not professionally a man of medicine,

yet he had learnt much of native medicine and his services were always

available at any time of the day and night. When in Pune, he could be

seen moving among the poor people disseminating his thoughts and ideas

without the restraints of conservatives ” (1973 : 21 ).

Lokhitwadi was among the pioneers of Marathi newspapers

Induprakash and Dnyanprakash, published from Mumbai and Pune

respectively, and he was the founder of Nagar Wachan Mandir.

Marathi Encyclopaedia Vol. XII glorifies Lokhitwadi saying that

“ Essayist Gopal Hari Deshmukh was highly respected and praised by

topmost English periodicals for his thoughtful Marathi writings. Through

Shatpatre, he expressed his modern thoughts on social, economic,

political subjects in exciting but proper manner ” ( 1985 : 1264 ).

Besides writing, Lokhitwadi also promoted orphanages like

Anathbalakashram and Sutikagraha at Pandharpur. He contributed more

than Rs. 15,000/- to various institutions and funds like the Anath Fund,

Gujarat Provincial College and Schools, Public Libraries, Public Wells

and Dharmashalas, the Prarthana Samaj and many such other

institutions.He had many publications to his credit but these were mostly

in the form of pamphlets like Nibandha Sangraha, Vidyalahari,

Hindustanatil Balvivah, Agam Prakash , and Nigam Prakash. His

29

historical writings were translations in Marathi like Panipatchi Ladhai,

Hindustanacha Itihas (Purvardha), Udepurcha Itihas, Gujarathacha

Itihas, Saurashtra Deshacha Itihas, and Lankecha Itihas.

In May 1885, when he returned to his home, on the death of his

wife Gopikabai, he lost his sons and daughters. He could not tolerate

these consecutive shocks and died on 9th October 1892 at Pune.

iv) A Brief Survey of English Essay

English Prose is a flexible instrument of expression. It is equally

informative and delighting, an amusing and instructing. Among English

Prose writers, there are Periodical essayists and Parliamentary orators,

preachers of sermons and tellers of stories, expounders of weighty

philosophy and men of humour and wit, biographers, historians,

journalists, literary critics and letter-writers ; and English Prose nobly

serves the turn of every one of these writers. English Prose through

centuries makes great reading, and English has attained greater

significance as an international language.

The essay is one of the oldest genres of literary writing, and has

been adopted by writers as a mode of creative writing since ancient times.

In this regard, the opinion of D. Chatterjee and S.K. Prasad is remarkable.

They state, “ An essay is a walk through a pleasing landscape. There is no

30

fixed destination, no time limit. You may begin anywhere and end

anywhere ” ( 1971 : 6 ).

However, it has not been found possible to provide an accurate

definition of this genre, chiefly because of the variety and ever changing

nature of its form. No definition has yet been propounded that would be

adequate enough to include in it the prose essays like Locke’s Essay

Concerning Human Understanding and Herbert Spencer’s Essay on

Progress, or the verse essays like Pope’s Essay on Man or Essay on

Criticism. However, some idea of what an essay is can be gained by

looking at the definitions put forward by various writers. Roughly

speaking, an essay is a short piece of prose writing, though in some cases

it has also been written in verse as by King James I and Pope. It may be

said to be a short piece of expository or discursive prose dealing with any

subject, and trying to throw some light on it while expressing the writer’s

point of view in such a way as to persuade. The essay deals with its

subjects in a general and non technical manner, and is unsystematic and

incomplete in exposition. As W.H. Hudson pointed out, “ Not all the

essayists of the period were contributors to the newspapers and weekly

reviews but two at least Robert Lynd and A.G. Gardiner (Alpha of the

Plough) did admirable work under the conditions of limited length

imposed by the press ” ( quoted in Arora : 1996 : 10 ).

31

All subjects on the earth can be dealt with in the essay and the

writer presents only certain aspects of the subject he chooses to deal with

and he does so in a haphazard and incoherent manner without attempting

to give a complete view of the ideas he seeks to convey.

Looking at the history and definition of the form ‘essay’, it is found

that the word ‘essay’, as its other name in English i.e. ‘assay’, denotes,

implies an attempt or trial or experiment or examination. According to

this implication, an ‘assay’ is an attempt to deal with, or examine some

subject, and to treat or analyse it in the light of the writer’s views on it.

The essays of the French writer Montaigne conform to this aspect of the

essay in that they are experimental attempts or trial pieces of writing. The

essays of English writers like Francis Bacon and Abraham Cowley are

also attempts at writing on various subjects. In this respect too, the essay

differs from a treatise or a dissertation, because it is shorter, experimental

in nature, and is written at random for the general reader, rather than for a

specialist on the subject.

A number of peculiarities differentiate essay from other branches

of literature. The Essay is a short composition, one which can be easily

read through in any interval of leisure, and retained easily in the mind as

a whole. It should be rather an assemblage of details carefully grouped

than a system or theory worked out ; it should suggest rather than prove,

for in so short a work there must necessarily be much left undealt with. It

32

is a picture, not a narrative or a thesis. It must be an artistic whole, that is

the development of a single idea, and not an aimless or casual wandering

of the mind from one subject to another.

The subject must be lightly handled ; not frivolously, but without

any appearance of wishing to force the writer’s opinion upon the reader.

It must appeal, like a poem, to the emotions and the heart rather than to

the intellect. There need be no lack of wisdom in it, but this must be

imparted by persuasion and not by argument.

The Beginning of the Essay –

Essay is the late course in the realm of literature. It presupposes a

class of readers who possess economic and social security and who can

appreciate rational reflection upon civilized manner and morals.

The earliest traces of the English essay may be found in ancient

Greek and Latin literature. In Greek, Theophrastus (c.378-c.287 B.C.)

and Plutarch (c.A.D.46-c.120) are the oldest writers of the essay.

Theophrastus was a disciple and a friend of Aristotle and wrote several

treatises on different subjects like Metaphysics and styles. He is chiefly

known for his Characters which comprise short sketches on various

common weaknesses of human beings.

His writing has a great influence on the English character writers of

the 17th

century like Joseph Hall, Sir Thomas Overbury and John Earle.

33

Plutarch is another great Greek essayist who is chiefly famous for two

collections of his writings. The French essayist Montaigne followed the

manner of Plutarch’s essays. In English, Jeremy Taylor and Francis

Bacon derived much from a study of Greek master Plutarch. Marcus

Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) and Lucius Annaeus Seneca

(c.4.B.C.A.D.65) were the outstanding Roman writers of the essay.

Cicero contributed much to the development of Latin prose. He wrote a

large number of essays like De amicitia (On friendship), De senectute

(On Old Age), De Officiis (On Moral Duties), De nature decorum (On

the Nature of the Gods). He owed to Plato and treated abstract ideas in a

conversational way, depicting romantic background. Seneca was an

essayist as well as a dramatist. He wrote plenty of moral and

philosophical essays. He has also written tragedies on Greek mythologies.

His prominent essays are Epistudae morales ( Moral Epistles or Letter )

dealing with various aspects of life, such as death, riches, happiness etc.

The great poet Geoffery Chaucer was familiar with Seneca’s works. The

essayist Francis Bacon was a great admirer of his Epistles which he

regarded as an essay.

Although the origin and the beginning of the essay owe much to

the early Greek and Roman writers, it assumed its modern name and form

only during the Renaissance period. It was French writer Michel Eyquem,

Seigneur de Montaigne (1553 – 1592) who laid foundation of the essays

34

in the sense the term it is understood today. He published a large number

of essays in his collection with the title Essais. It was he who coined the

word ‘essai’ and its conception as a genre of literature. His essays are

highly personal and deal with his own thoughts, habits and whims. He

himself is the chief subject of his essays.

He has written almost on every subject human beings are interested

in, such as books, prayer, sleep, friendship, women, solitude, and the like.

Montaigne’s essays stand supreme as they possess the quality of

universality. Montaigne has drawn on Plutarch and Seneca for his

philosophy of life. He exercised a great influence on English and

American writers like Bacon, Addison, Lamb, Emerson, and Thoreau. It

is to him that the essay in the English language owes its growth and

development.

The Development of English Essay –

The roots of English essay lie in the prose tracts and pamphlets

produced during the Elizabethan Age by writers such as Sir Philip Sidney

(1554-86), Thomas Nashe (1567-1601),Robert Greene (1560-92),Thomas

Lodge and Thomas Dekker (1570-1641). The prose writings do not

belong to the category of the essay. They provide anticipations of essay

form in English. They deal with the various features and problems of life

of their time, and expose its ills in a realistic way. They attack the seamier

35

side of the contemporary social life. The pamphlets of Nashe’s Anatomie

of Absurdite and Piere Penniless, Greene’s Never Too Late and

Notable Discovery of Coosnage and Dekker’s The Guls

Horn-Booke contain traces of fiction, but they are also social essays in a

rudimentary form. They have sown the seeds of the essays of Bacon,

Addison, Steele and Sir Philip Sidney. Sir Philip Sidney initiated the

writing of the critical essays in English, through his Apologie for

Poetrie. It was however, Francis Bacon who perfected and developed the

form of the essay.

Dekker, the successor of Nashe and his superior, comes

chronologically after Bacon. The latter consequently, is the first of

English essayist, as he remains, for sheer mass and weight of genius, the

greatest.

Bacon’s Aphoristic Essay - Francis Bacon (1561 –1626) is regarded

as the first real essayist in English. He was so versatile that he wrote both

in English and Latin. In English, he wrote both longer prose treatise and

short essays. But he is most widely known merely as an essayist.

It was Bacon who first adapted Montaigne’s term essais in his

series of Essays. His first collection of ten Essays was published in 1597,

and he enlarged it in two other editions published in 1612 and 1625,

containing 38 and 58 essays respectively. A pioneer in the field of

36

essay like Studies, Expenses, Travel, Truth, Vainglory, Factions,

Friendship, Religion, Adversity, etc, Francis Bacon wrote on familiar

subjects. Less personal than Montaigne, his essays bear the stamp of his

individuality, and express his opinions on various subjects, and his likes

and dislikes, in an objective compressed, serious and aphoristic style.

In contrast with the personal and informal essays of Charles Lamb

and Montaigne, his essays are formal, objective, and impersonal. He deals

with various subjects of universal interest in a cool but detached manner.

His essays are compendiums of worldly wisdom embodied in a language

of common people.

Bacon’s essays show his interest in the world of human experience.

They were first published, then ten in number, in 1597, in the author’

thirty sixth year. Fifteen years later, they were issued with additions and

in 1625, a year before Bacon’s death, they were put forth in final form,

the essays numbering fifty eight, the old ones revised and expanded. It is

clear that their charm grew upon Bacon, and lured him, half against his

will, to put more and more serious effort into the manipulation of a

language for which he had no great respect, yet of which he is one of the

greatest masters.

Even in their finished state the essays are desultory and suggestive

rather than coherent or exhaustive. They deal with many subjects of

public and private conduct of statecraft, of the nature and value of human

37

passions and human relations. With these graver themes are inter mingled

others of a lighter sort, on building, on the planting of gardens, on the

proper mounting and acting of mosques and pageants. The readers get

from them a little real vision, and a few generous points of view;

everywhere one finds wit, keen observation, grave or clever mundane

judgements. His essays are not the confidential chat of a great

philosopher.

Bacon was a moralist and a politician. But as a moralist he does

not offer any ethical system. He did not believe in any moral principles of

absolute validity. His essays show him to be more or less an opportunist.

Accordingly, a large number of his essays deal either with the ethical

qualities of man or with matters connected with the government of

countries. His purely scientific interests do not appear much in the essays.

Science was the subject of his more serious works in comparison with

which the essays were merely recreations.

Apart from his dramatic works, Ben Jonson (1572-1637) published

his prose work Timber, or Discoveries containing 171 loose jottings,

some of which resemble Bacon’s essays in length and aphoristic style.

Ben Jonson has written chiefly on moral and critical subjects, and

employed a lucid, terse, condensed and forceful style like that of Bacon.

Jonson’s essays contain a personal note like Montaigne’s, but in manner

they belong to the category of aphoristic essays.

38

As its very title indicates, Seldon’s Table-Talk is a collection of

his informal utterances or pieces of conversation compiled and published

a short time after his death, by his secretary, Richard Milward. Much of

the phraseology and style of Seldon’s talk is preserved in writing by

Milward. Together they have produced a little volume which showed

more mastery of the aphoristic style than anything else in English, except

the works of Bacon and Jonson. Like Bacon’s essays, Seldon’s

Table-Talk contains much wisdom, which is conveyed in a

condensed manner. It is the concentrated essence of immense

learning and a life of thought. His book contains informal reflections of a

man on various matters which, in their formal and finished form, might

have been aphoristic like Bacon’s.

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) - is the most prominent writer of essays

in English after Bacon. The other essayists of his period were

Drummond, Burton and Sir Thomas Browne. Cowley can be regarded as

a connecting link between Bacon and Addison. His essays are written in

personal vein, and are marked by an intimacy and familiarity that are

missing from Bacon’s essays. Cowley has written Essays on familiar

subjects in a familiar manner, and the personal note in his essays brings

him nearer to Montaigne than to Bacon. Some of his well-known essays

are Of Greatness, Of Solitude, Of Liberty, Of the Garden and

Of Myself. These essays are more in the style of Addision and Steele

39

than that of Drummond and Thomas Browne. His essays reveal the

genial, friendly tone of Addison and Steele, and he usually writes in the

first person as in Of Myself which is much similar to Addison’s first

essay in The Spectator, namely The Spectator’s Account of Himself.

The Character Writers – Between Bacon and Cowley, there appeared a

group of writers who wrote essays of a different kind called ‘characters’ ;

and thus initiated a new type of essay in English. The ‘character’ may be

defined as a short and witty prose sketch of a distinctive person or type.

John Healey translated Character in English in 1616, originally written

by the Greek writer Theophrastus. Afterwards several English writers

such as Joseph Hall (1574-1656), Nicholas Breton (1545-1626),

Sir Thomas Overbury (1581-1613), John Earle (1601-65) and Samuel

Butler (1612-80) wrote character. Hall’s Characters of Virtues and

Vices, Overbury’s Characters, Earle’s Microcosmographie and other

works were written in imitation of Theophrastus’ Characters. Nicholas

Breton’s Characters upon Essays, Moral and Divine and The Good

and the Bad, the second volume of Samuel Butler’s Remains, George

Herbert’s (1593-1633), and Geoffrey Mynshul’s (1594-1668) Essays

and Characters of a Prison and Prisoners are some of the prominent

collections of characters brought out in the 17th

century.

Thomas Overbury is the most prominent of these character writers.

He modeled his characters on those of Theophrastus and produced a large

40

number of characters like An Affected Traveller, A Country

Gentleman, A Pedant, A French Cook and A Virtuous Widow.

Among the more famous characters of Joseph Hall like, The Truly

Noble, The Busy Body, The True Friend, A Valiant Man and The

Flatterer deal with various men, both good and bad. Earle wrote witty

characters like A Child, A Constable, A Cook, An Attorney and A

Plausible Man. The number of ‘characters’ written by other writers is

also fairly large. The characters written by Hall, Overbury and Earle had

a great impact on the writing of history and fiction as well as the essay in

later times.

The evolution of the English essay owes much to the characters

written in the early 17th

century. The prose writings of Sir Thomas

Browne and Abraham Cowley, with the dominance of the personal

element in them, bear a greater resemblance with these ‘characters’ then

with the impersonal essays of Bacon. The characters written during the

17th

century foreshadowed the informal and personal essay produced in

the 18th

century.

Addison and Steele – The names of Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Sir

Richard Steele (1672-1729) are always associated on account of their

collaboration in the periodical essay. Their characters were curiously

contrasted. Steele was a thorough Bohemian, easy going, careless, but full

of generosity and sympathy and with an honest love of what is pure and

41

good. Addison was an urbane and polished gentleman, of exquisite

refinement of taste and lofty ideas of rectitude and piety, but shy,

self-conscious, and a little remote and austere. These striking differences

of temperament and outlook, however, were of the greatest value to both,

when they came to join forces in the field of the periodical essay. Outside

the field, both men did a good deal of miscellaneous work. Steele laid the

foundation of The Tatler, the first of the long line of eighteen century

periodical essays. This was followed by the most famous of them,

The Spectator, in which Addison, who had contributed to his friend’s

former enterprise, now became the chief partner. It began on

March 1, 1711, was published daily, Sundays excepted, and ran till

December 6, 1712 ; though some eighteen months later it was revived by

Addison alone, and issued three times a week from June 18 to

December 20, 1714. In its complete form it contains 635 essays. Of these

Addison wrote 274 and Steele 240, the remaining 121 being the work of

various friends. They wrote with an educational as well as with a purely

moral aim, and it was always one of their objects to extend and

popularize general culture. They discussed art, philosophy, drama, and

poetry and sought in so doing not only to create interest of the general

reader in such subjects, but also to guide and develop his taste. It was in

The Spectator, that Addison published his series of eighteen papers on

42

Paradise Lost, by which he helped to spread among English people a

better appreciation of Milton and his work.

The English Essay in the 17th

Century – John Dryden (1631-1700),

Lord Halifax (1633-95) and Sir William Temple (1628-99) are the three

most significant essayists of the Restoration Age (1660-1700). A new

type of essay, viz., the critical essay, was introduced by Dryden. He wrote

essays in criticism in the form of his prefaces, defaces, dedications and

other prose writings. His critical essays possess the qualities of ease,

grace, clearness and intellectual vigour. His two best known prose works

are Essay of Dramatick Poesie and Preface to his Fables. The former is

more of the nature of a longer treatise than an essay, while the latter

combines the qualities of the personal essay and the critical essay. Dryden

is as great a writer of prose as a poet. Literary criticism forms the chief

subject of his prose-writings.

Lord Halifax is comparatively a lesser known writer. But his

volume of political tracts and essays published under the title

Miscellanies, has earned much renown. It contains the famous essay

The Character of a Trimmer which is written in a masterly style and

reveals Halifax’s sound political wisdom. Written in a terse, lucid and

graceful manner, his essays on various subjects show him to be a man of

the world writing about various objects and trying to convey useful

advice to his readers, such as in his essay Advice to a Daughter.

43

Sir William Temple was a master of fine style though much of the

beauty of his writing is marred by diffuseness. He wrote melodious and

rhythmical prose, and dealt with various literary and general subjects in

his essays included in his volume Miscellania. Health, gout, gardening

and poetry are some of the subjects dealt by him in his essays. His style is

clear, agreeable and natural, and often possesses a rhythmic beauty such

as one finds in his Essay on Poetry. His literary output is meager, but it

is marked by dignity, elegance and charm. His essays such as

Gardening and Of Health and Long Life bear ample testimony to his

qualities as an essayist.

The English Essay in the Early 18th

Century – The reign of Queen

Anne (1702-14) was marked by great political controversy, especially

between the Whigs and the Tories, which led to the writing of pamphlets

dealing with it. The rapid rise of journalism in the 18th

century provided a

great impetus to essay writing. Various periodicals were started which

published essays and articles in support of either of the parties. The age

saw the development of the essay which was characterized by variety,

strength and suppleness. The publication of various periodicals such as

Review, The Tatler, The Spectator and the like, gave birth to a new

type of essay, i.e. the Periodical Essay, which achieved perfection at the

hands of Addison, Steele, Defoe and others. The essays of these writers

are called periodical essays because they were published, not in the form

44

of a book, but in different numbers of periodicals. They aimed at both

entertainment and instruction, and were written in a simple conversational

style. Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Richard Steele (1672-1729) were

the most prominent writers of periodical essays. Their aim in writing

these essays was to enliven morality with wit and to temper wit with

morality. The papers contributed by them to The Spectator and

The Tatler dealt with topical subjects like dress, fashions, practical

jokes, etc., and employed the weapon of satire and irony to expose and

attack the social evils of the time. They sought to entertain the reading

public and to improve the morals of the society around them. They also

wrote character-sketches and literary criticism in their papers.

Daniel Defoe (1659-1731), Alexander Pope (1688-1744), Jonathan

Swift (1667-1745), John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Henry St. John, Lord

Bolingbroke (1678-1751), Francis Atterbury (1662-1732), Colley Cibber

(1671-1757), Lord Shaftesbury (1671-1713), George Berkeley

(1685-1753), Joseph Butler (1692-1752) are some other prose writers of

the early 18th

century, who contributed to various periodicals and

enriched the periodical essay. Defoe wrote for his paper Review, on

various social, political and moral subjects. He is especially famous for

his tracts and pamphlets containing vigorous political propaganda. For

example, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters.

45

Pope’s qualities as a writer of periodical essays are revealed in his

prefaces to his editions of Homer and Shakespeare, and in the eight

papers he contributed to The Guardian. Satire, wit and irony are his

favourite tools with which he lashes out against the people he dislikes,

both in his poems and his essays. His essays also reveal his qualities as a

prominent critic of his age. Swift was chiefly interested in political

affairs, and edited the political journal The Examiner for about three

years i.e. from 1711 to 14, to which he and his friend Dr. Arbuthnot

contributed several essays like Meditations upon a Broomstick and

Scheme to make a Hospital for Incurables. His misanthropy and want

of a broad vision inhibited his abilities as an essayist.

The English Essay in the Later 18th

Century – The immense success

and popularity gained by Addison and Steele as writers of periodical

essays and their periodicals gave rise to a host of periodicals and imitators

of the essays of these two masters. The most prominent of the periodical

essayists of the later 18th

century are Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-84) and

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74). Dr. Johnson wrote periodical essays for

The Rambler and Idler, that are marked by depth of thought and

observation, and deal with his own experiences of life. However, their

bombastic and antithetical style and their weighty, serious and dignified

nature stood in the way of their popularity. Unlike Addison and Steele, he

failed to endear himself to the common reading public. He achieved a

46

greater success with his longer prose-works, viz. his biographical-cum-

critical essays on various poets in his Lives of Poets.

Goldsmith proved to be a greater and more delightful essayist than

his friend Dr. Johnson. He contributed several essays to the periodicals

The Bee and Public Ledger. His essays are marked by the qualities of

simplicity, grace and genial humour. His manner is plain, genial and

humane like. Addison’s essays reveal extraordinary power, boldness and

originality. His essays contributed to Public Ledger, that were later

published in the collection entitled The Citizen of the World, are in the

form of letters written by a Chinese visitor to England, Liu Chi Altsngi,

to a friend in Peking, in which he has made shrewd comments and

observations on the contemporary English society. They are written in a

charming, simple and humourous style which never fails to delight the

reader and win his admiration.

The periodical essay of the literary type saw a decline after

Goldsmith, because no really good writer attempted to write it. However,

it continued to thrive in the form of the essay dealing with political strife

and controversy.

The English Essay in the Early 19th

Century – The early 19th

century

saw the rise of the new type of periodical which was chiefly devoted to

critical discussion of authors and their works. This new type was critical

journal and was known as Review or Magazine. Unlike the periodicals of

47

the 18th

century, it was devoted more to literary criticism than to personal,

social, political and other topical subjects. The London Magazine,

Blackwood’s Magazine and The Quarterly Review, The Edinburgh

Review, The Lady’s Magazine and Fraser’s Magazine were prominent

among these journals. Their vogue gave a great impetus to essay writing

in the early 19th

century, and several great writers of this period

contributed to them. These writers were attracted to write in these

journals because they were paid handsomely, and also maintained a high

standard of writing. These review journals contributed a lot to the

development of essay writing.

Charles Lamb (1776-1834), William Hazlitt (1778-1830), Thomas

De Quincey (1785-1859) and Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) are the

outstanding writers of essays in the early 19th

century. While Lamb,

Hazlitt and De Quincey contributed chiefly to The London Magazine,

Leigh Hunt wrote for the Examiner and Indicator. The first number of

The London Magazine contained pieces from Lamb’s Essays of Elia

and De Quincey’s Confessions of an Opium-Eater. These reviews and

magazine thus popularized the Essay and encouraged especially the

writing of critical essays.

Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834) – is the greatest figure in the field of

English essay. He is rightly called the Prince of English essayists, and

excels all others in the art of essay writing. He is best known for his

48

Essays of Elia and Last Essays of Elia which were published first in

The London Magazine. These essays are marked by self revelation,

humour and pathos, and a conversational style. Lamb delights the reader

by his intimate touches, genial nature, loveable personality and sweetness

of disposition. He has written on a great variety of subjects, but one never

misses the personal element in his essays.

In fact, he may be said to be the greatest exponent of the personal

or informal essay in English, of which Montaigne is the greatest exponent

in French. Lamb’s style is a curious mixture of elements borrowed from

several writers, but it has its own charm and appeal. The Essays of Elia

are extremely delightful. In fact, Lamb wrote chiefly with a desire to

please and not to preach and dealt with subjects related to common life

with a touch of light hearted humour.

William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830) – Like Lamb, Hazlitt was a romantic

essayist and critic. His essays and article appeared chiefly in

The Edinburgh Review, The Examiner, The Times and The London

Magazine. He wrote much literary criticism but he is best known for his

essays on various subjects. His lectures and essays on literary and general

subjects were first published in various periodicals and magazines and

were later collected in The Round Table, Table Talk or Original

Essays on Men and Manners and Sketches and Essays. Like Lamb’s

essays, Hazlitt’s have an autobiographical touch and reveal his likes and

49

dislikes, his temperament and views on various subjects. Hazlitt employs

a pure diction and concise expression and makes frequent use of

aphorisms and quotations. His essays like On Public Opinion, On Going

a Journey, The Fight, On the Pleasure of Painting and On Actors and

Acting show the variety of topics he dealt with.

Thomas De Quincey (1785 – 1859) – was a voluminous writer and

produced prose writings in abundance. But much of his work was

produced under financial pressure and belongs to the category of

hack-work. Much of it is diffuse and dreary, and contains a flat and

ineffective humour. His writings are characterized by a romantic element

and are autobiographical and personal in nature. His best work is his

autobiographical Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, serialized in

The London Magazine. His other prose-works are The English

Mail-Coach, the Vision of Sudden Death, Suspiria de Profundis and

On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts.

W.H. Hudson’s remark about Thomas De Quincey seems

appropriate when he says, “ His style, at its best, is marvelously rich and

gorgeously rhetorical, and he remains one of our chief masters of

romantic impassioned prose ” ( 2008 : 211 ).

De Quincey’s writing is chiefly meditative, analytical and

descriptive and abounds in imaginative touches, as it is found in

Lavana and Our Ladies of Sorrow and Dream-Fugue. Apart from

50

essays in literary criticism, he also wrote on subjects like economics and

astrology. The variety of his subjects can be seen when one casts a look at

the titles of his essays like Logic of Political Economy, Sortilege and

Astrology and On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth. Essays like

The Revolt of the Tartars and The Spanish Military Nun reveal his

narrative skill. Style and Theory of Greek Tragedy are his essays on the

philosophy of literature.

Leigh Hunt – was a poet, critic and essayist of the early 19th

century. He

produced much journalistic matter and quite a lot of literary criticism. His

appeal lies in the large body of his intimate, genial, mildly humorous,

familiar essays like Zoological Gardens, The Month of May and

Deaths of Little Children. Hunt brought out and edited several

periodicals including The Examiner, The Reflector, The Indicator etc.

He also contributed to several periodicals such as The New Monthly

Magazine and the The Edinburgh Review. His journalistic essays are

collected in the volumes Men, Women and Books, A Jar of Honey

from Mount Hybla and Imagination and Fancy.

Hunt’s essays combine the qualities of the essay and miscellaneous

writing and everywhere the stamp of a strong personality is evident. He

wins the reader’s heart by the confidential tone of his writing and by his

fluent and easy going manner.

51

The English Essay in the Later 19th

Century – During this period, the

literary essay developed into the treatise-in-little or short dissertation with

writers like Macaulay, Carlyle, Arnold and Walter Pater. The form of

miscellaneous essay was also enlarged by writers like Ruskin and

Stevenson. The immense vogue and popularity of the novel in this period

told adversely upon the essay. Yet several writers wrote essays of

considerable merit. There was a vogue of historical essays in the mid

19th

century, and such essays were written by Carlyle and Macaulay.

Personal essays were written by R.L. Stevenson and critical essays were

written in abundance by Matthew Arnold, Walter Pater, Leslie Stephen

and others. Ruskin wrote essays on political economy. Thus, essays were

produced on a variety of subjects during the Victorian Age. Thomas

Carlyle (1795-1881), Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859),

John Henry Newman (1801-90) , John Ruskin (1819-1900), Matthew

Arnold (1822-88), Walter Pater (1839-94), James Anthony Froude

(1818-91), Alexander Smith (1829-67), Robert Louis Stevenson

(1850-94), Charles Kingsley (1819-75) and J.A. Symonds (1840-93).

Some of the significant essayists are discussed below –

Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881) – apart from his historical and

biographical works like Life of Schiller, The French Revolution,

Cromwell, Life of John Sterling and History of Frederick the Great

Carlyle is known for his critical, biographical, historical, social and

52

political essays published at different times during his whole literary

career. His essays deal with a large number of subjects both English and

German. His characteristic dogmas and beliefs are expressed in his essays

collected in the volumes Miscellanies and Latter-Day Pamphlets.

He has also written biographical essays on Burns, Richter, Mirabeau,

and others ; critical essays on Boswell’s Johnson, Diderot, Voltaire and

The State of German Literature ; social and political essays such as

Signs of the Times, Chartism and miscellaneous essays like The Nigger

Question and Shooting Niagra. Most of his essays included in

Miscellanies are on German subject and the rest on English ones. His

longer works are chiefly historical. He wrote in a volcanic, explosive,

flexible and lyrical style.

Lord Macaulay (1800 – 1859) – was a historian and essayist. He started

his literary career as a contributor to Knight’s Quarterly Magazine,

later wrote about thirty six essays for The Edinburgh Review. Besides

these essays, he wrote five biographies for the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

His essays can be categorised as - essays in literary criticism, such as

those on Bacon, Milton, Byron and Boswell ; and essays on historical

subjects and biographical studies such as those on Machiavelli, Warren

Hastings, Lord Clive and William Pitt. His literary essays contain little

genuine criticism but his historical and biographical essays are marked by

53

lucidity and restraint. The range of his subjects is very wide and includes

critical, biographical, historical and philosophical topics.

John Ruskin (1819 – 1900) – was an art-critic, literary critic, essayist,

social reformer, educationist and revolutionary, all rolled into one.

He merges both letter and essay in his lectures. In An Outline History of

English Literature, W.H. Hudson remarks, “ By virtue of the extent and

variety of his work, his vigour and originality, his influence on art and

letters, and life, and the range and beauty of his style, John Ruskin is

entitled to rank after Carlyle in the general prose of his time ”

( 2008 : 243 ).

Almost all his famous prose-works are treatises on art, such as

Modern Painters, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, The Stones of

Venice and The Two Paths are on political economy, such as Unto This

Last and Fors Clavigera are on ethical and moral matters, such as

Sesame and Lilies and The Crown of Wild Olive. However, his smaller

volumes like Unto This Last, Munera Pulveris, A Joy for Ever and

Time and Tide are collections of essays.

Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888) – was a versatile genius and achieved

immense success both as a poet and a writer of prose. In the earlier part of

his literary career, he wrote much verse, but in the later part, he turned to

the writing of prose and produced essays on various literary, social,

political, religious and cultural issues which were published in various

54

volumes. His Essays In Criticism, in two series, is a collection of essays

in literary criticism. Culture and Anarchy is a collection of essays in

social criticism. Literature and Dogma contains criticism of religion.

Mixed Essays and Irish Essays consist of essays in political criticism.

It is, however, as a literary critic that Arnold claims greatest admiration.

His essays on general literary theory, like The Study of Poetry and those

of various writers like Wordsworth, Milton, Shelley, Byron, Tolstoy and

others show his powers and range as a literary critic. His essays possess

the qualities like clarity, lucidity, restraint, balance, proportion and

symmetry.

Walter Pater (1839 – 94) – is chiefly a writer of critical essays on art

and literature. He had an aesthetic approach and opposed all moral

considerations in art and literature. His essays are collected in two

volumes - i) Studies in the History of the Renaissance – contains a

series of studies of some important figures of the Renaissance, such as

Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli and Joachien du Bellay.

ii) Appreciations – is a collection of essays of Style and a Postscript

comprising a discussion of classicism and romanticism, besides critical

essays on poets Wordsworth, Coleridge and Rossetti, on prose writers

like Charles Lamb and Sir Thomas Browne, three essays on the plays of

Shakespeare and an essay on Octave Feuillet’s novel La Morte. His

critical essays are charming pieces of literary criticism. His works

55

Marius the Epicurean, Plato and Platonism and Greek Studies reveal

his interest in classical studies. All his writings are marked by an artistic

finish of style.

R.L. Stevenson – was a novelist and essayist of great merit. The range of

his essays is very wide, includes cities, books, pictures, personal

experiences and the characters of men around him. As an essayist, he

belongs to the school of personal essayists like Lamb and Hazlitt and

establishes intimacy with his readers by taking them into confidence and

revealing personal experiences to them, as in his essays included in the

volumes Virginibus Puerisque, Familiar Studies, Random Memories

and Memories and Portraits. His essays like Some College Memories,

A College Magazine and The Education of an Engineer throw light on

various periods of his life. His essays are exercises in self-revelation.

Travels with a Donkey and An Inland Voyage are collection of

humorous personal essays presented in book-form. He was a moralist,

and his ethical approach is evident in essays like Old Morality, and A

Christmas Sermon. His love and observation of Nature is revealed in

essays like Roads, and The Coast of Life. His psychological essays

include A Chapter of Dreams and Child’s Play, and his critical essays

comprise A Humble Remonstrance, A Gossip on a Novel of Dumas,

The Foreigner at Home, The Dynamiter, El Dorado and Ordered

South are essays written on miscellaneous subjects.

56

Besides the essayists discussed above, J.A. Symonds, J.A. Froude,

Cardinal Newman, Sir Arthur Phelps, A.K.H. Boyd are the more

important essayists of the later 19th

century, who wrote essays on various

subjects enhancing the treasure of the English Essay.

The English Essay in the 20th

Century – The English essay has

undergone the process of immense growth in the 20th

century. The

emergence of new ideas in almost every field i.e. literary, social, political,

scientific and philosophical, has encouraged the writers to employ the

essay-form to deal with them. The vast spread of education and an

increasing interest in reading have caused the publication of a large

number of books and critical articles on them. The existence of

innumerable periodicals, journals and magazines has provided a great

impetus to essay-writing.

The popularity of the personal essays of R.L. Stevenson has

inspired several writers to take up this form. G.K. Chesterton

(1874-1936), E.V. Lucas (1868-1938), A.G. Gardiner (1865-1946),

Robert Lynd (1879-1949), Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) and J.B. Priestley

(1894-1950) have produced a remarkable amount of essays of a familiar

and subjective kind. However, there has been a growth of the objective

essay and writers like W.P. Ker (1855-1923), Virginia Woolf

(1882-1941), Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), E.M. Forster (1879-1970),

George Orwell (1903-50), Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) and others are

57

the prominent figures in the field of the writing of the objective, formal or

impersonal essays dealing with various social, political, critical and

philosophical subjects. Some writers like Forster, Orwell and Graham

Greene have written both the personal and objective essays.

Inspite of the immense variety and vast range of subjects dealt

within it and the various fields of life covered, the essay in the 20th

century has become shorter, lighter and more informal and intimate in

manner. The essayists have adopted various styles to convey their views

effectively. Simplicity, clarity and intelligibility are the remarkable

features of the modern essay. The number of topical and critical essays

has been especially large, but social, political, historical and biographical

essays have also been written in a considerable quantity.

Some of the more prominent essayists of 20th

century are briefly

discussed below -

Max Beerbohm (1872 – 1956) – The early 20th

century saw the revival

of the periodical essay by writers like Max Beerbohm and

G.K. Chesterton. At an early stage of his literary career, Beerbohm wrote

some clever essays for the Yellow Book and other journals. These essays

were collected in the form of a book with the title The Works of Max

Beerbohm. Later, some volume of his essays –viz. More, Yet Again and

And Even Now were published. Beerbohm was a sophisticated and witty

writer who wrote graceful and flawless prose. A great humorist, he

58

employed a style marked by the qualities of economy, precision and

simplicity. His essays are as remarkable as his caricatures and his

contribution in the field of English essay cannot be ignored.

G.K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936) – was a versatile writer who produced

poetry, criticism, biography, fiction and essay. As W.H. Hudson remarks,

“ Chesterton wrote too much, and often too carelessly : in total he was

more a causal journalist than an author of genius ” ( Ibid : 312 ).

Chesterton contributed much to the periodical essay. He was a

serious writer and wrote chiefly on social, literary and religious subjects.

His essays are collected in the volumes, The Defendant, Heretics,

Orthodoxy, All Things Considered, Tremendous Trifles and

A Miscellany of Men. He began his career as a journalist, and wrote for

The Daily News and other periodicals. His manner of writing has a

journalistic touch, and is marked by rapidity, ingenuity, wit and paradox.

Chesterton’s best writing consists of his essays and short-stories. He has

written on almost all the subjects under the sun.

E.V. Lucas (1868 – 1938) – the famous biographer of Charles Lamb,

made a notable contribution to the English essay through a large number

of essays written on various subjects and published in the Punch and

other magazines. Character and Comedy, Old Lamps for New,

Loiterer’s Harvest and Cloud and Silver are the collections of his

essays. He has chiefly written essays of personal type. He was mainly

59

concerned with subjects related to art and literature, though he wrote on

other subjects too.

Robert Lynd (1879 – 1949) – used the periodical form of the essay to

convey his reflections on various topics and objects both in serious and

gay manner. Like Gardiner, he has written on very trifling subjects like

races, matches, buses, seaside hotels, patent medicines, literature in a

simple style devoid of all mannerisms. Humour, gusto, reflections and

sympathy are the qualities revealed in his essays. He writes in a funny

manner, as in his essay Eggs : An Easter Homily. He edited the Daily

News and News-Chronicle, and contributed to The New Statesman and

Nation and John O’ London’s Weekly. His periodical writings are

collected in the volumes The Pleasures of Ignorance, The Money Box

and The Green Man. Some other collections of his essays are Selected

Essays, The Little Angel and It’s a Fine World. His essays reveal the

writer himself, and lash out ironically against cant, humbug and

intolerance.

J.B. Priestley – a novelist, playwright, literary critic and essayist. Brief

Divisions, I for One, Open House, Apes and Angles and Self-Selected

Essays are collections of his essays on miscellaneous subjects, whereas

The English Comic Characters contains his literary essays on comic

figures in English literature, like Toby Belch (in Shakespeare) and

Mr. Collins (in Jane Austen). He was a man of wide reading and

60

presented allusions borrowed from various authors and works in his

essays. A talented essayist, he favoured simplicity in writing, and his own

essays are written in a simple and familiar style, revealing his command

over and happy choice of words.

Other Essayists – Hillaire Belloc, A.A. Milne and Augustine Birrell are

some of the other prominent writers of the personal essay in English in

the 20th

century. The vogue of the personal essay in this century could not

deter writers from writing objective essays on different subjects, and a

host of essayist including literary critics and novelists wrote fine

impersonal essays. Writers like E.V. Knox and E.M. Forster have written

on social and cultural subjects, Dean Inge and George Orwell on political

issues and Aldous Huxley and Bertrand Russell on philosophical matters.

The scope of the essay has widened to include every subject on

earth, and because of its publication in periodicals, journals and

magazines, its style and language have tended to be simple and colloquial

so as to make it intelligible to the vast reading public. It has not remained

a ‘loose sally of the mind’, but has become a systematic exposition of the

subject deals with it. It is now no longer used as an instrument of delight

or amusement but as a medium of instruction and information. It tends to

be more inclined to be a branch of the literature of knowledge than of the

literature of power.

61

v ) A Brief Survey of Marathi Essay

East India Company gradually tightened its noose around Maratha

power and eventually dethrowned Peshwa in the year 1818 and hoisted

the Union Jack to establish its rule over Marathas. Not many provinces in

India remained strong to challenge British aggression then after. At the

beginning of 19th

century, when political revolution was taking place,

various agencies started publishing their periodicals. Outdated

educational system was replaced by new ways of acquiring knowledge.

The revolutionary writers challenged the orthodox practices of the people.

They also explained the necessity and the importance of this change.

While condemning, these writers tried to prepare the mindset of the

people to welcome the change in their life without the restraints of

conservatives. These writers published a number of letters in the

periodicals which were later on considered as essays in Marathi

Literature.

In 1832, Balshastri Jambhekar started Darpan, a periodical which

paved the way to Essay as a distinct genre in Marathi Literature. It

inspired socially recognised prose writers to write essays. Dadoba

Pandurang, Hari Keshavji and Baba Padmanji published essay writings

which were similar to that of essays. At the beginning, the editorial and

62

reader’s letters were the source of essays. But all the characteristics of an

essay are not found in their writings.

The Marathi essay can be broadly divided into two periods i.e.

from 1832 to 1849 and from 1850 to 1874. Mrs. Ferrar and Lokhitwadi

were the two main essayists of the first period. Essays were not written

with specific purpose and subjects. Subjects like social reforms, religion,

economy, polity were prominently focused by the then writers.

“ With the publication of monthly Dyaanprasarak in 1849, the

second period of Marathi essay commenced. S.M. Dixit, Govind Narayan

Madgaonkar, Vishvanath Narayan Mandalik, Baba Padmanji, Vishnubua

Brahmachary, Dadoba Pandurang, Krishnashastri Chiplunkar wrote

essays during this period ” ( Jog : 1975 : 464 - 465 ).

Lokhitwadi published Shatpatre in Darpan for two years from

1848 to 1850. These 108 essays possess all the characteristics of an essay.

In 1866 he published another collection of essays called

Nibandhsangrah. Hence, Lokhitwadi is called the pioneer of Marathi

Essay. As Phadkule points out : “ Some features of an essay are found in

Dadoba Pandurang, Hari Keshavji and Baba Padmanji’s writings

however it was Lokhitwadi who wrote Nibandhsangrah in 1848 in

eleven hundred pages, which gave birth to Marathi Essay ” ( 1975 : 12 ).

63

Later on, he published his various essays in two periodicals named

Induprakash and Vrathhvaibhav. All his essays were thoughtful,

instructive and appealed to all sections of the society. His aim was to stir

social consciousness. He wrote spontaneously in order to bring drastic

social change.

Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar’s Nibandhmala, published in 1874 was

full of patriotic fervour. Some critics consider him as the pioneer of

Marathi Essay. But the fact remains that Lokhitwadi’s Shatpatre was

published much earlier to Chiplunkar’s Nibandhmala. In this regard,

S.K. Kshirsagar observes, “ For the first time Lokhitwadi wrote with

concise and matured manner in recent times, so he is the pioneer of

Marathi Essay ” ( quoted in Phadkule and Nasirabadkar : 1990 : 20 ).

His noteworthy essays are Rasaiyanshastra, Suxma Yantra,

Kaagdachi Utpatti, Itihaas, Chin Deshache Varnan, Krutadnyata

which were published in Digdarshan, a monthly edited by Balshastri

Jambhekar. All these essays are merely informative and suggestive in

nature. They lack independence in their expression. This lacuna was

removed by Bhau Mahajan who published essays like Great Britain

Deshachi Rajniti, Frenchache Bandacha Vrittant, Vidhwa Vivah, Stri

Shikshan, Taabutachi Chaal, Wetbigar, Europian Aadhikaariancha

Aararavipana va Befikrr Vritti in Prabhakar.

64

Periodicals like Dynoday (1842) and Dyaanprakash (1849)

contributed a lot and enriched Marathi essay. Kalkata Saharache

Varnan, Kristi Mandalinchi Bhakar, Chin Deshatil Bhasha

aani Pustakay, Punarvivah, Brahmanaanchi Durdasha,

Laagnaasambhandi Hindu Lokanchay Moorkhapana are the well

known essays published in Dynoday.

Digdarshan marked the way of Marathi essay through its

informative prose writing. Prabhakar decorated this information with

independent attitude and fearlessness. Darpan made this artificial

language lucid and pure. It also published the stern views regarding

religion as an obstacle to social reformation. Shastre Va Parloksiddhi,

Hindu Dharma Aani Sati, Ishwar Aahe Yaavishai Praman are some

examples. Social issues were raised by Punarvivah Prakaran,

Manushay Jaatichay Bhed, Striyaas Vidya Abbhas, Munj Mulichi

Kaa Naahi ? etc. Prabhakar published essays on English politics and

social reformation.

Dyanprasarak published a number of selected essays on

contemporary religious tactics and politics. It also published essays

written by the contemporary writers like – Shrasthisaundarayavishay

by Bhaskar Damodar Palonde, Rasianshastravishay by Vasudev Bapu,

Maraathanchay Utkarshhavishay by Laxman Narsing Joshi,

Hindulokanchay Trikaalsthitivishay by Sakharam Manohar Dixit,

65

Shristhimadhay Parmashwarachi Shakti Drushtigochar Hote

Yaavishay by Dagi Parshuram, Udgogaavishay by Vishnu Amratrao,

Vavhaarshastrachay Uddesh Aani Laabh by Vishvanath Narayan,

Hindusthanatil Strayaanchay Sthitivishay by Narayan Vishnu,

Yaakipaasun Laabh by Bal Bhaskar, Hindusthanatil Vidya va Kala

Yaavishay by Vinayak Harishchandra, Satyavishay by Bhikaagi

Bhaskar, and Vidyavishay by Babaji Krishnanath.

L.N. Joshi and S.M. Dixit were the two prominent essayists

amongst them. L.N. Joshi emphasized the necessity of historical

knowledge for an essayist. He criticized English Rule in India for

exploiting the poor masses. S.M. Dixit accused Marathi people for their

growing ignorance. In Hindulokanchay Trikaal Sthitivishai, he

welcomed Swadeshi.

In 1865, Mahadev Govind Ranade wrote Prajavriddhi Va

Tijpasun Honara Parinaam. He suggested youngsters not to marry till

they get stability and maturity in their life. Ranade wrote Tarun

Shikalalaa Lokanchi Kartavay, Marathi Rajerajwade, Marathi Va

Bangali Lokanchay Baavi Utkaarsaachi Chinhay,

Strishikshanaavishay Vichar and Strishikshan.

A magazine Chandrika published the essays like Shikshan

Paadhativishai Vichar, Rajsattak Va Lokmatanusari Raajatil

Saukaryaavishai Vichar, Nirichataavishai Nibhandh, Native Lokans

66

Aabruchay Va Jabaabdarichay Jaaga Dyaavaat Kinva Naahi,

Deshachi Uttam Sthiti and Gooraa Lokanchaa Kalepana in 1854.

Another magazine entitled Pune Paathshaala Patrak published

Krushnashastri Chiplunkar’s 25 essays under the title Marathi

Vyakranavar Nibandh in 1861. For the first time, Krushnashastri

Chiplunkar published long essays in series in this magazine, which

became the trend of the times. Engrajannchay Sarvaanshi Aanukaran

Karne Ayogay Hoay, Vaasanaavishai, Kavitayvishai, Marathi

Bhashavishai are some of its examples.

Magazine Vivadhdyanvistar was published in 1867, which

drastically changed Marathi essay. During 1867-68 Kaanadi Bhasha,

Engrgee Shabdaanchay Uttachar, Rajaslaanvishai Vichar were

published. Magazines like Dambhharak (1871) and Dyansangrah

(1872) also contributed to the form. Since 1850, Marathi essay began to

receive recognition as separate gener of literature. Marathi

Dyanprasarak, a magazine used the word Essay. The magazine brought

into limelight the prominent essayists like L.N. Joshi, S.M. Dixit and

G.N. Madgaonkar.

In 1872, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar wrote three poetic essays in

Pune-Pathshala-Patrak. Lokhitwadi wrote 108 essays under the title

Shatpatre in Mumbai’s periodical Prabhakar. Later on, these essays

67

were published in a book named Nibhandhsangrah in the year 1866.

These essays are political, religious, cultural and social in nature.

Reputed English periodicals also contributed to the development of

Marathi essay. Robert Nigbilt, a Christian missionary wrote

Bhagwadgitachay Saar and Brahminchay Mahatwa in 1832. In 1835

Misses Ferrar wrote a book titled Kutumbpravartanniti containing

eleven chapters. Simian Benjamin wrote a long essay of 45 pages entitled

Moolans Wagavnaahchi Riti. Apart from them, other Christian writers

were John Wilson, Madam Wilson, R. A. White who also contributed to

Marathi essays.

Baba Padmanji was a well known Christian writer. He was a

teacher and patron of a free Church in Pune. He was a propagandist who

devoted his whole life to spread Christianity. He published periodicals

Aikyavardak Patrika and Satyadeepika. He wrote around 100 books

which dealt with the gospel of Christianity.

Stri-Vidyaabhaas (1852), Hindulokanchaya Sanaanvishai

Nibhandh (1853), Vaabhicharnishadhak Bodth (1854), Kutumb-

Sudharna (1855), Khistilokanchay Kavyasaar (1856), Yamuna

Paryatan (1857), Shabadratnavali, (1860), Nibandhmala (1860),

Aamchi Bhaktisambandhi Pape Vahanara Upadhaya (1862),

Engragee-Marathi Kosh (1863), Marathi-Engargee Kosh (1863),

Mulankarta Pustak 1,2,3,4 (1861-65), Maharashtra Deshacha

68

Sanshipt Itihaas (1866), Aatrampant Aani Mruitshipai (1867),

Stri Kanthbhushan (1868), Krishna Aani Khrist Yaanchi Tulna

(1871), Satik Marathi Navakarar (1874), Saahitya Shatak (1876),

Muktimarg Mimansa (1878), Jagatshatacha Putra Narnayak (1879),

Nutan Jalmn (1879), Arunodoi (1879), Murtipujavaril Sanwad

(1881), Khristi Va Hindu Jivit Yaanchi Tulna (1881), Hindu

Dharmachay Swarup-Bhaag 1,2 (1883-84), Hindu Aani Khristian

Yaanchay Dharma Pustakaat Varninela Swarg (1884), Sah

Bhojanacha (Khristacha) Sahchar (1889), Sanskrit-Marathi-Kosh

(1891), Vaidik Hindu Dharma (1892), Pavitra Shastra Viruddh

Kaahi Brahminiya Bhoogarbhshastravishyak Va Devatavishyak

Aakshapancha Vichar (1892), Nisima (1893), Laabhalaabh (1895),

Anubhavsangrah, Bhaag I, II (1895-1904), Hindudharma

Va Khristidharma Yaanchi Tulna (1903), Baapakade Jaane (1904),

Nepoleon Bonapart Yaachi Shakunvanti, Jaatibhad Vivachan and

Bhodpar Nibhandh are some of his books.

Govind Narayan Madgaonkar (Shenvi) wrote Aachat Khaane

Masnaat Jaane, Aati Sarwatra Vaarajait, Aanaa, Kaapus,

Kaavlaancha Ghatra Va Madhachay Pol, Dravan Survey Vasha, Bali

To Kaan Pilli, Bharat Khandatil Kaaragir, Reshmi Rumal, which

were published in Dyaanprasarak.

69

Vishwanath Narayan Mandilik (1883 - 1989) – He was a government

servant. He left the service after 12 years and became an advocate after

compleing his law. He wrote essays and books on history and grammar.

He welcomed British Rule in India. He expected the British Rule to fulfil

the shortcomings in Indian polity and spread education among the

Marathi people. His essays are published in Dyaanprasarak and his own

periodical Native Opinion. His essays are Vahavardyanshastrachay

Uddesh Aani Laabh, Jatibhadiwar Nibandh, Strishikshan, Vidwa

Vivah, Shimga, Ummarkothyathil Sodth Raje, Murudcha Itihaas,

Pashim Hindusthanaatil Nagpuja, Mahabaleshwar Yaathil Krishna

Nadicha Ugham, Shaliwahan Va Taachi Saptsati, Sangameshwar

Mahatmaya etc.

Vishnubua Brahmachary (1825-1871) who is also known by the name

Bhikaji Gokhale, was a preacher. He explicated progressive philosophy in

his books. Bhavarthsindhu (1856), Vedokct Dharmaprakash (1859),

Sukhdayak Rajyaprakarni Nibandh (1867), Chaturslowky Bhagwat

Yaacha Aarth (1867), Sahajstithicha Nibandh (1868),

Samudrakinaricha Vaadvivaad (1872) Vedokt Dharmacha Vicchar

Va Khristi Matkhandan (1874), Satubhandhani Teeka (1890).

70

Ramkrishna Vishwanath, Dadoba Pandurang, Kashinath Balkrishna

Marathe, Krishnashastri Chiplunkar are the noteworthy essayists of the

later period.

Balgangadhar Tilak and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar were inspired and

influenced by Vishnushastri Chiplunkar’s Nibandhmala. Tilak and

Agarkar were intimate friends. Both were idealists, outspoken and

impartial in nature. Lokmanya Tilak was a realist, religious, proud,

political and an extremist like Chiplunkar. Like Tilak, Agarkar was

honest, self-disciplined and unselfish in nature. Political revolution was

the aim of Tilak while social awakening was Agarkar’s priority.

Balgangadhar Tilak (1856 - 1920) - was born in Konkan region of

Maharashtra but educated in Pune. He passed B.A. in 1879 and Law in

1880. In 1880, he became a teacher in New English High School. In

1885, he became a lecturer in Fergusson College, Pune but due to some

differences he left it in 1892 and started daily Kesari in Marathi and

daily Maratha in English language. Both these dailies raised voices

against exploitation by the British in India and played a vital role in

provoking Maharashtrian people against it.

He was not only a political leader but also an original thinker and

an independent essayist. He vehemently condemned British injustice in

his essays. In 1893, he wrote Orion. In 1901 he wrote The Arctic Home

71

in the Vedas. When Tilak was in Mandalay jail for six years under the

allegation of sedition, he wrote world famous book Geeta Rahasay. He

tried to make people realize about their religion and country.

Gopal Ganesh Agarkar (1856 - 1895) - started Sudharak on parting

with Kesari in 1888. His essays are published in Sudharak which were

later published in three books.

S.M. Paranjape (1864 – 1929) - was inspired by Vishnushastri

Chiplunkar and Lokmanya Tilak. Paranjape wrote patriotic essays in

Kaal. They were divided into ten parts. Unfortunately were banned by

then British Government. Kaal was closed and Swaraj, a new periodical

was started in 1910.

N.C. Kelkar, A.B. Kolhatkar, Ranade, Bhandarkar and Rajwade also

contributed to the development of this genre of literature.

Vinayak Damodhar Sawarkar (1883 - 1966) - his literary effort which

started in 1894 continued unabated for the next 65 years and during this

period, he enriched Marathi Literature by its resplendency. He wrote

around 40 essays. He represents a brilliant combination of thinker and

activist, amongst leading Indian politicians and intellectuals. He is the

one who analysed in depth various political, social and religious riddles

with profound practical insight and also initiated action in several areas.

72

“ An outstanding revolutionary who underwent tremendous hardships; a

brilliant poet, novelist, essayist and dramatist; a social and religious

reformer who aimed at eradicating untouchability and caste as well as

outdated social and religious customs; a visionary of modern Hinduism

adapted to 20th century industrial society; an orator who left his audience

spellbound; a reformer of Devanagari script and Indian languages and an

inspiring politician and organizer ” ( Dusange : 2004 : 10 ).

The social reform movement of 19th century Maharashtra was a

result of the combinations of indigenous traditions and Western

education. The impact of Western education was evident on the educated

people of metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Pune. The mass movement

inspired by traditions of saints like Dnyaneshwar, Eknath, Chakradhar,

Tukaram and Maharaj Shivaji Bhosle was carried by others.

In 19th century Maharashtra, reformists tried to examine critically

their social system and religious beliefs and gave priority to social reform

as against political freedom. In their reform efforts, they had to contend

with stiff opposition from the conservatives. Foremost among the

reformists were Balshastri Jambhekar (1810–1846), who condemned the

evil customs of sati and female infanticide, Gopal Hari Deshmukh

(1823–1892) who, through his Shatpatre, attacked orthodox Brahmins

who opposed social and religious reforms and Jyotirao Govindrao Phule

(1827–1890) who revolted against the unjust and exploitative caste

73

system, and upheld the cause of untouchables and education of women of

lower castes.

Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925) and Justice Ranade

(1842–1901) were the pioneers of Prarthana Samaj, an organisation for

social and religious reform. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar (1856–1895) gave

priority to social reform. Dhondo Keshav Karve (1858–1962) devoted his

whole life to the cause of women’s education. Behramji Malbari (1853–

1912), a Parsi of Mumbai, started Seva Sadan for the care of women of

all castes.

Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922) founded the Sharada Sadan in 1890

to help upper class widows. Mahatma Jyotirao Phule established

Satyashodhak Samaj, Vitthal Ramji Shinde (1873–1944), fought for the

eradication of untouchability through his Depressed Classes Mission.

Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur (1874–1922) also plunged into

this movement and defied the caste system, championed the cause of the

untouchables and promoted education to all castes in his princely state.

Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil (1887–1959), the architect of the Rayat

Shikshan Sanstha and champion of the upliftment of downtrodden classes

followed the footprints of Phule, V.R. Shinde and Shahu Maharaj.

Maharashtra will always remain proud of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji

Ambedkar (1891–1956), the chief architect of the Indian Constution and

74

the creator of social and political awareness among the untouchables of

India.

The social reform measures of above mentioned social thinkers

brought about a renaissance and social awakening in Maharashtra. The

efforts of D.K. Karve to improve women’s education, of Bhaurao Patil,

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh and Dr. Abasaheb

Gopalrao Khedkar who championed the cause of downtrodden people.

Tarabai Modak in Vidarbha and Anutai Wagh in the Adivasi areas, have

set an example for other states. The services rendered to victims of

leprosy by Dr. Shivaji Patwardhan and Baba Amte perhaps have no

parallel. Vijay Merchant fought relentlessly for facilities for physically

handicapped. Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual heir of Gandhi, devoted his life

for Sarvodaya i.e. upliftment of all.

The efforts for social awakening of these reformers inspired the

writers in Maharashtra. Thus, the comprehensive works of the saint poets,

the social reformers and the social constructive workers brought

Maharashtra on a progressive path.

The research project makes an attempt to comparatively reveal the

various selected dormant aspects in the essays of A.G. Gardiner and

Lokhitwadi in order to bring out the useful elements like educational,

75

socio-political, and socio-economic, which will be a consciousness

raising efforts for the generations to come.

The First Chapter of this thesis aims to throw light on the

mindscape of the two literarias to enable the young and fostering

generation to beacon the spirit of their thoughts in their life to achieve

success and prosperity.

The Second Chapter discusses the educational elements in the

essays of A.G. Gardiner and Lokhitwadi. It highlights the significance of

education to acquire knowledge and wisdom. The thoughts of the two

essayists on contemporary education and the need for better learning are

analysed.

The Third Chapter attempts to find out the socio-political factors

in their selected essays. Their views on the aftermath of wars, the impact

of political activities on common man all over the world are considered.

Their suggestions on the removal of political evils are also discussed.

The Fourth Chapter examines the socio-economic elements in

their essays. Their thoughts on economic policies of their rulers and their

impact on the countrymen are taken into account. It also studies their

analysis and criticism of contemporary economic policies.

76

The Fifth Chapter analyses the similarities and dissimilarities in

the essays of the two essayists.

The Sixth Chapter is conclusion. Looking into the analogy and

controversy of the essayists on the social evils, traditions, customs and

rituals held during the period, the researcher attempts to point out how

these essayists tried to bring the people out of the quagmire of

superstitions and pioneered their way to ‘Modernism’. The work of these

essayists deserves attention as no attempt has been made so far to bring

out the invaluable contribution made by them in the realm of literature.