charles lamb best essays

10 Best Charles Lamb Essays You Should Read

Charles Lamb, one of the most prominent essayists of the 19th century, possessed an uncanny ability to blend personal anecdotes, humour, and thoughtful observations into engaging prose. His essays, most famously collected in “Essays of Elia,” offer a window into his soul, his environment, and the society he lived in. Lamb’s style is notable for its intimacy, charm, and accessibility, which not only captivated his contemporaries but continues to enchant modern readers.

Lamb’s works often transcend the mundane, transforming ordinary subjects into profound literary explorations. Whether he is humorously dissecting the discovery of a roast pig or poignantly dreaming of the children he never had, Lamb’s essays resonate with an emotional depth that is both entertaining and insightful. He wrote during a period of significant societal changes in England, and his works reflect a keen awareness of the evolving human condition, interweaving personal experiences with broader social commentary.

To immerse oneself in Lamb’s essays is to take a delightful journey through a landscape filled with wit, wisdom, and warmth. The following list of his best essays showcases the range and richness of his talent. From nostalgia for his school days to reflections on retirement, Lamb’s essays offer a multifaceted view of a man deeply engaged with the world around him. Readers will find humour, empathy, and profound reflections on life, all crafted with the gentle touch of a master essayist.

1. Dream-Children: A Reverie

In “Dream-Children: A Reverie,” Lamb engages in a fanciful dialogue with children he never had. He paints an idyllic picture of family life, filled with love and tender moments, only to reveal in the end that the children are mere figments of his imagination. The delicate fantasy is constructed with a wistful longing that reaches out and touches the reader’s heart.

The essay is deeply autobiographical and provides insight into Lamb’s personal life and his unfulfilled desire for a family of his own. It’s an exploration of dreams and reality, a melancholic yet beautiful reverie that stands as a testament to Lamb’s ability to move his readers.

2. A Dissertation upon Roast Pig

In this whimsical essay, Lamb concocts a fictional origin story for mankind’s love of a roasted pig. It’s a delightful tale that is at once absurd and profound, bringing together cultural commentary, satire, and humour in a way that only Lamb could.

“A Dissertation upon Roast Pig” serves as a humorous reflection on culinary tastes, human discovery, and societal norms. Lamb’s masterful storytelling and playful language make this essay a feast for the literary palate, engaging readers with its inventive narrative and underlying wisdom.

3. Old China

“Old China” is a delicate and sentimental reflection on Lamb’s past, viewed through the lens of his favourite china pieces. He explores the connection between these material objects and the memories they evoke, weaving a rich tapestry of emotions, thoughts, and experiences.

The narrative also delves into a dialogue between Lamb and his sister, touching on themes of wealth, simplicity, and change. Through “Old China,” Lamb provides a touching portrayal of the human tendency to cling to the past and the often complex relationship we have with the objects around us.

4. The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers

Lamb’s compassionate view of society shines through in “The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers.” This essay paints a vivid picture of the young chimney sweepers, acknowledging their hardship while celebrating their innocence and joy.

What sets this essay apart is Lamb’s humanizing portrayal of these children, often overlooked and marginalized in society. By offering praise and understanding, he gives dignity to their existence and invites readers to reflect on social injustices and our shared humanity.

5. The Superannuated Man

Retirement and freedom are at the core of “The Superannuated Man.” In this reflective piece, Lamb examines the transition from a life of labour to one of leisure, articulating both the joys and anxieties that accompany this significant life change.

His profound insights into the human need for purpose and balance provide a timeless meditation on aging, work, and personal fulfilment. It’s a contemplative essay that speaks to anyone who has ever pondered the complex relationship between work and identity.

6. The South-Sea House

“The South-Sea House” is a vibrant depiction of the London South Sea House, where Lamb briefly worked. Through keen observations and intricate details, he paints a vivid image of this place and its peculiar inhabitants, making it come alive for readers.

This essay showcases Lamb’s descriptive prowess and his talent for capturing the essence of places and people. It’s more than a mere description; it’s a window into a world filled with character and history, reflecting Lamb’s astute understanding of human nature.

7. The Old and the New Schoolmaster

In “The Old and the New Schoolmaster,” Lamb contrasts two types of educators: the stern, traditional teacher and the modern, compassionate figure. Through this comparison, he explores changes in educational philosophy and practice, highlighting the evolving needs of students.

The essay serves as both a social critique and a personal reflection on education. Lamb’s thoughtful observations and engaging style allow readers to ponder the essential qualities of good education and the role of the teacher in shaping young minds.

8. Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago

Christ’s Hospital, where Lamb was educated, is fondly remembered in “Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago.” The essay is imbued with nostalgia as Lamb recounts the customs, traditions, and people that shaped his formative years.

With a deep sense of affection for his alma mater, Lamb provides a rich historical perspective, weaving personal anecdotes with broader insights. It’s a loving tribute to a place that was integral to his development as a writer and a human being.

9. New Year’s Eve

In “New Year’s Eve,” Lamb muses on the passage of time, eloquently reflecting on the bittersweet nature of saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new. His contemplative voice resonates with readers as he explores themes of hope, continuity, and the inexorable march of time.

This essay, rich in metaphor and emotional depth, is a timeless meditation on the human condition. It encapsulates the feelings that many experience as one year transitions into the next, making it a piece that continues to resonate with readers of all ages.

10. The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple

“The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple” brings to life the legal figures of London’s Inner Temple. Lamb’s descriptive skill and keen eye for detail present these characters with warmth, humour, and humanity, turning what might be a dry subject into a delightful narrative.

Each character in the essay is carefully sketched, creating a colourful portrait of this unique legal community. Through this essay, Lamb not only offers a glimpse into the legal world of his time but also showcases his exceptional talent for turning ordinary subjects into engaging literary explorations.

Charles Lamb’s essays are a masterful collection of literary art, filled with personal reflections, humour, social commentary, and timeless wisdom. From whimsical tales to profound musings, his works reveal an author deeply in tune with the human condition, capable of transforming ordinary experiences into extraordinary narratives. His keen observations, empathetic portrayals, and elegant prose continue to make his essays relevant and resonant.

The essays highlighted in this article offer a comprehensive view of Lamb’s literary genius, showcasing his ability to engage, entertain, and enlighten readers. Whether exploring societal norms or delving into personal dreams and memories, Lamb’s essays invite readers into a world filled with insight and imagination. His legacy as an essayist is a testament to the power of words to transcend time and place, providing a bridge between the author’s 19th-century England and the universal human experience. His works continue to be a source of inspiration and enjoyment for readers, confirming his place among the great English writers.

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• Charles Lamb as an essayist

Charles Lamb, born in 1775, is a distinguished English essayist whose life and work left an indelible mark on the literary landscape of the 18th century. Amidst personal challenges such as familial responsibilities and intermittent struggles with mental health, Lamb found a creative outlet in collaboration with his sister, Mary Lamb. Together, they produced a collection of essays that showcased Lamb’s unique blend of wit, humor, and profound insights into human nature. Lamb’s essays, notably compiled in “Essays of Elia,” reflect a personal touch, weaving autobiography seamlessly with literary criticism and social commentary. His writing style is characterized by a warmth and intimacy that draws readers into his reflections on everyday life. As an essayist, Lamb’s contributions transcend his era, capturing the complexities of the human experience with eloquence and enduring relevance.

Table of Contents

Essays of Elia

Charles Lamb’s collection “Essays of Elia,” which was published in the early 1800s, is regarded as a literary masterpiece that perfectly captures the spirit of Lamb’s unique essayistic approach. Published under the pseudonym Elia, the collection provides a varied and detailed examination of Lamb’s social observations, literary criticism, and personal views. The essays in this collection, which range from lighthearted tales to deep reflections, give readers a multifaceted and frequently funny viewpoint on the complexity of human existence.

Read More: Romanticism in English Literature

A few of the essays in “Essays of Elia” have received special recognition for their literary value. Notable examples are “A Dissertation upon Roast Pig,” a charming and sarcastic investigation of culinary indulgence, and “Dream-Children: A Reverie,” where Lamb expertly combines fiction and meditation on the truths of life. Lamb’s ability to combine a charming sense of humor with deep intellectual insight is evident in these and other essays, which have left a lasting impression on the literary world and solidified his reputation as one of the greatest essayists of all time.

Use of humor and wit

One thing that unites Charles Lamb’s essays is his grasp of wit and comedy. This sets his works apart in the field of English literature. One of Lamb’s best examples of humor is in his essay “A Dissertation upon Roast Pig.” In this essay, Lamb investigates the Chinese guy Bo-bo’s inadvertent discovery of roasted meat in a hilarious way. Along with engaging readers with a subtle sarcastic remark on human indulgence, Lamb’s humorous narrative and the strangeness of the circumstance produce a hilarious effect.

Lamb’s essay “Mrs. Battle’s Opinions on Whist” is another excellent illustration of his wit. In this essay, he humanizes the game of whist by giving the cards human traits and viewpoints. In addition to being witty, Lamb’s deft use of satire offers a funny reflection on the societal conventions surrounding card games in his day. The essay turns into a lighthearted investigation of how we prefer to give inanimate objects meaning and personality.

Personal and autobiographical elements

Essays by Charles Lamb are distinguished by an overabundance of autobiographical and personal details, which give his work a cohesive and approachable feel. An important illustration of this is the essay “Dream-Children: A Reverie.” In order to explore the issue of unmet familial bonds, Lamb imagines a fictional family and muses on his own childless state. As Lamb struggles with his own circumstances, the autobiographical touch is evident and adds an emotional mix of longing and nostalgia to this narrative. Lamb crafts a thorough examination of the intricacies of family and human connection by incorporating his personal experiences into the essay’s narrative.

Read More: Romantic Age in English Literature

Lamb’s personal touch can also be seen in “Old China.” He recalls his bonding with an antique set of china dishes in this essay. Lamb expresses his emotive attachment to inanimate objects through this seemingly unimportant topic, giving readers a peek into his distinct outlook on life. This essay’s autobiographical components highlight Lamb’s gift for seeing the meaningful in the everyday.

Reflection on everyday life and human experiences

Charles Lamb’s essays demonstrate his astute ability to analyze the broader context of daily existence and draw lessons from seemingly ordinary events. In the essay “The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers,” Lamb raises a mundane occupation—that of the chimney sweeper—to the level of a metaphor for childhood’s innate innocence and purity. He provides a moving remark on social perceptions of labor and the strength of the human spirit. An other example of Lamb’s contemplation on ordinary existence can be found in “New Year’s Eve.” Here, reflecting on the change from one year to the next, he thinks on the passage of time and the cyclical nature of human existence. Lamb’s findings are universally resonant because of his introspective examination of the temporal flow, which captures the essence of shared human experiences.

Use of allusion and symbolism

A master of literary style, Charles Lamb uses a range of techniques to enhance his writings and leave a lasting impression on the readers. In “Dream-Children: A Reverie,” he emphasizes the concept of unachievable familial pleasure by referencing biblical and classical themes, such as the weddings of cousins Adam and Eve. The subtle anchors provided by these allusions encourage readers to explore wider cultural and philosophical settings, which enriches Lamb’s narrative. His works are also full of symbolism. For example, in “Old China,” the ancient china dishes have a symbolic meaning that relates to the enduring connections he discovers in inanimate items. 

Exploration of Lamb’s use of irony and satire

Lamb’s essays are further characterized by a clever use of satire and irony that lends a degree of complexity and critique to his reflections. In “A Dissertation upon Roast Pig,” Lamb uses satire to ironically examine social conventions related to food preparation, parodying human nature and excesses through accidental discovery of roasted pig. His use of irony is particularly evident in “The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers,” in which he satirically extols the merits of chimney sweepers to draw attention to the social inequities these unrecognized laborers endure. By using these techniques, Lamb shows that he has a deep understanding of the ability of satire and irony to reveal more profound truths while also drawing readers into a thought-provoking investigation of human behavior and cultural standards.

Examination of his prose style and language choice

Furthermore, a close reading of Lamb’s language choice and prose style reveals a unique and compelling narrative voice. The conversational tone of Lamb’s writing entices readers into an intimate and personal interaction. His use of words demonstrates a wide vocabulary and a deft touch between eloquence and simplicity, resulting in a literary texture that appeals to readers of all ages. Lamb’s ability to seamlessly blend literary devices with a captivating prose style contributes to the enduring appeal of his essays as both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant works of literature.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Charles Lamb emerges as a distinguished essayist whose influence echoes down the halls of literary history. His essays, which stand out for their singular fusion of wit, humor, and deep reflection, have left a lasting impression on the annals of literature. Lamb’s examination of both the common and extraordinary, along with his astute observations of human nature, established his position as a key figure in the development of the essay as a literary form. 

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Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb – review

A humble clerk with the East India Company for much of his life, Charles Lamb (1775-1834) came into his own writing essays "under the phantom cloud of Elia". This assumed name, borrowed from another clerk, enabled him to put the full resources of his wit at the service of a form to which he was temperamentally suited, and made his own.

Tragic domestic circumstances bound Charles to his sister Mary, with whom he lived "in a sort of double singleness", after she stabbed their mother to death in a fit of madness. Contrasting his tastes in reading with those of his sister, who "must have a story – well, ill, or indifferently told", Lamb confides that "out-of-the-way humours and opinion – heads with some diverting twist in them – the oddities of authorship please me most". Montaigne, whose presence hovers over the Essays of Elia (1823), would have approved.

Lamb's nimble, cadenced prose, with its occasional antiquated turn of phrase, exhibits the same curious mixture of erudition and colloquialism, of seriousness and jest, as that of his French predecessor. For his unruly "little sketches", Lamb, like Montaigne, quarries his own experience, his circle of acquaintances and relatives thinly disguised beneath initials and pseudonyms, just like Elia himself.

Evoked with rare sensuality, the minutiae of everyday life – a card game in "Mrs Battle's Opinions on Whist", the ritual of saying "Grace Before Meat", the perils of lending books in "The Two Races of Men" – are all grist to his mill. Essays of Elia certainly lends itself to repeated reading, and when Lamb's popularity was at its height, his Victorian and Edwardian readers could recite entire passages. Thanks to this elegant new Hesperus edition, Charles Lamb's forgotten masterpiece is ripe for rediscovery.

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New Year's Eve, by Charles Lamb

'I am content to stand still at the age to which I am arrived'

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

An accountant in India House in London for more than 30 years and caregiver for his sister Mary (who, in a fit of mania, had stabbed their mother to death), Charles Lamb was one of the great masters of the English essay .

The most intimate of the early-19th-century essayists, Lamb relied on stylistic artifice ("whim-whams," as he referred to his antique diction and far-fetched comparisons ) and a contrived persona known as "Elia." As George L. Barnett has observed, "Lamb's egoism suggests more than Lamb's person: it awakens in the reader reflections of kindred feelings and affections" ( Charles Lamb: The Evolution of Elia , 1964).

In the essay "New Year's Eve," which first appeared in the January 1821 issue of The London Magazine , Lamb reflects wistfully on the passage of time. You may find it interesting to compare Lamb's essay with three others in our collection:

• "At the Turn of the Year," by Fiona Macleod (William Sharp)
• "Last Year," by Horace Smith
• " The New Year," by George William Curtis
• "January in the Sussex Woods," by Richard Jefferies

New Year's Eve

by Charles Lamb

1 Every man hath two birth-days: two days, at least, in every year, which set him upon revolving the lapse of time, as it affects his mortal duration. The one is that which in an especial manner he termeth his . In the gradual desuetude of old observances, this custom of solemnizing our proper birth-day hath nearly passed away, or is left to children, who reflect nothing at all about the matter, nor understand any thing in it beyond cake and orange. But the birth of a New Year is of an interest too wide to be pretermitted by king or cobbler. No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference. It is that from which all date their time, and count upon what is left. It is the nativity of our common Adam.

2 Of all sounds of all bells--(bells, the music nighest bordering upon heaven)--most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year. I never hear it without a gathering-up of my mind to a concentration of all the images that have been diffused over the past twelvemonth; all I have done or suffered, performed or neglected--in that regretted time. I begin to know its worth, as when a person dies. It takes a personal colour; nor was it a poetical flight in a contemporary, when he exclaimed

I saw the skirts of the departing Year.

It is no more than what in sober sadness every one of us seems to be conscious of, in that awful leave-taking. I am sure I felt it, and all felt it with me, last night; though some of my companions affected rather to manifest an exhilaration at the birth of the coming year, than any very tender regrets for the decease of its predecessor. But I am none of those who--

Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.

I am naturally, beforehand, shy of novelties; new books, new faces, new years, from some mental twist which makes it difficult in me to face the prospective. I have almost ceased to hope; and am sanguine only in the prospects of other (former) years. I plunge into foregone visions and conclusions. I encounter pell-mell with past disappointments. I am armour-proof against old discouragements. I forgive, or overcome in fancy, old adversaries. I play over again for love , as the gamesters phrase it, games, for which I once paid so dear. I would scarce now have any of those untoward accidents and events of my life reversed. I would no more alter them than the incidents of some well-contrived novel. Methinks, it is better that I should have pined away seven of my goldenest years, when I was thrall to the fair hair, and fairer eyes, of Alice W----n, than that so passionate a love-adventure should be lost. It was better that our family should have missed that legacy, which old Dorrell cheated us of, than that I should have at this moment two thousand pounds in banco , and be without the idea of that specious old rogue.

3 In a degree beneath manhood, it is my infirmity to look back upon those early days. Do I advance a paradox , when I say, that, skipping over the intervention of forty years, a man may have leave to love himself , without the imputation of self-love?

4 If I know aught of myself, no one whose mind is introspective--and mine is painfully so--can have a less respect for his present identity, than I have for the man Elia. I know him to be light, and vain, and humorsome; a notorious ***; addicted to ****: averse from counsel, neither taking it, nor offering it;--*** besides; a stammering buffoon; what you will; lay it on, and spare not; I subscribe to it all, and much more, than thou canst be willing to lay at his door--but for the child Elia--that "other me," there, in the back-ground--I must take leave to cherish the remembrance of that young master--with as little reference, I protest, to this stupid changeling of five-and-forty, as if it had been a child of some other house, and not of my parents. I can cry over its patient small-pox at five, and rougher medicaments. I can lay its poor fevered head upon the sick pillow at Christ's, and wake with it in surprise at the gentle posture of maternal tenderness hanging over it, that unknown had watched its sleep. I know how it shrank from any the least colour of falsehood. God help thee, Elia, how art thou changed! Thou art sophisticated. I know how honest, how courageous (for a weakling) it was--how religious, how imaginative, how hopeful! From what have I not fallen, if the child I remember was indeed myself, and not some dissembling guardian, presenting a false identity, to give the rule to my unpractised steps, and regulate the tone of my moral being!

5 That I am fond of indulging, beyond a hope of sympathy, in such retrospection, may be the symptom of some sickly idiosyncrasy. Or is it owing to another cause; simply, that being without wife or family, I have not learned to project myself enough out of myself; and having no offspring of my own to dally with, I turn back upon memory and adopt my own early idea, as my heir and favourite? If these speculations seem fantastical to thee, reader (a busy man, perchance), if I tread out of the way of thy sympathy, and am singularly-conceited only, I retire, impenetrable to ridicule, under the phantom cloud of Elia.

6 The elders, with whom I was brought up, were of a character not likely to let slip the sacred observance of any old institution; and the ringing out of the Old Year was kept by them with circumstances of peculiar ceremony. In those days the sound of those midnight chimes, though it seemed to raise hilarity in all around me, never failed to bring a train of pensive imagery into my fancy. Yet I then scarce conceived what it meant, or thought of it as a reckoning that concerned me. Not childhood alone, but the young man till thirty, never feels practically that he is mortal. He knows it indeed, and, if need were, he could preach a homily on the fragility of life; but he brings it not home to himself, any more than in a hot June we can appropriate to our imagination the freezing days of December. But now, shall I confess a truth? I feel these audits but too powerfully. I begin to count the probabilities of my duration, and to grudge at the expenditure of moments and shortest periods, like miser's farthings. In proportion as the years both lessen and shorten, I set more count upon their periods, and would fain lay my ineffectual finger upon the spoke of the great wheel. I am not content to pass away "like a weaver's shuttle." Those  metaphors  solace me not, nor sweeten the unpalatable draught of mortality. I care not to be carried with the tide, that smoothly bears human life to eternity; and reluct at the inevitable course of destiny. I am in love with this green earth; the face of town and country; the unspeakable rural solitudes, and the sweet security of streets. I would set up my tabernacle here. I am content to stand still at the age to which I am arrived; I, and my friends: to be no younger, no richer, no handsomer. I do not want to be weaned by age; or drop, like mellow fruit, as they say, into the grave. Any alteration, on this earth of mine, in diet or in lodging, puzzles and discomposes me. My household-gods plant a terrible fixed foot, and are not rooted up without blood. They do not willingly seek Lavinian shores. A new state of being staggers me.

7  Sun, and sky, and breeze, and solitary walks, and summer holidays, and the greenness of fields, and the delicious juices of meats and fishes, and society, and the cheerful glass, and candle-light, and fire-side conversations, and innocent vanities, and jests, and  irony itself --do these things go out with life?

8  Can a ghost laugh, or shake his gaunt sides, when you are pleasant with him?

9  And you, my midnight darlings, my Folios! must I part with the intense delight of having you (huge armfuls) in my embraces? Must knowledge come to me, if it come at all, by some awkward experiment of intuition, and no longer by this familiar process of reading?

10  Shall I enjoy friendships there, wanting the smiling indications which point me to them here,--the recognisable face--the "sweet assurance of a look"--?

11  In winter this intolerable disinclination to dying--to give it its mildest name--does more especially haunt and beset me. In a genial August noon, beneath a sweltering sky, death is almost problematic. At those times do such poor snakes as myself enjoy an immortality. Then we expand and burgeon. Then are we as strong again, as valiant again, as wise again, and a great deal taller. The blast that nips and shrinks me, puts me in thoughts of death. All things allied to the insubstantial, wait upon that master feeling; cold, numbness, dreams, perplexity; moonlight itself, with its shadowy and spectral appearances,--that cold ghost of the sun, or Phoebus' sickly sister, like that innutritious one denounced in the Canticles:--I am none of her minions--I hold with the Persian.

12  Whatsoever thwarts, or puts me out of my way, brings death into my mind. All partial evils, like humours, run into that capital plague-sore. I have heard some profess an indifference to life. Such hail the end of their existence as a port of refuge; and speak of the grave as of some soft arms, in which they may slumber as on a pillow. Some have wooed death--but out upon thee, I say, thou foul, ugly phantom! I detest, abhor, execrate, and (with Friar John) give thee to six-score thousand devils, as in no instance to be excused or tolerated, but shunned as a universal viper; to be branded, proscribed, and spoken evil of! In no way can I be brought to digest thee, thou thin, melancholy  Privation , or more frightful and confounding  Positive!

13  Those antidotes, prescribed against the fear of thee, are altogether frigid and insulting, like thyself. For what satisfaction hath a man, that he shall "lie down with kings and emperors in death," who in his life-time never greatly coveted the society of such bed-fellows?--or, forsooth, that "so shall the fairest face appear?"--why, to comfort me, must Alice W----n be a goblin? More than all, I conceive disgust at those impertinent and misbecoming familiarities, inscribed upon your ordinary tombstones. Every dead man must take upon himself to be lecturing me with his odious truism, that "such as he now is, I must shortly be." Not so shortly, friend, perhaps, as thou imaginest. In the meantime I am alive. I move about. I am worth twenty of thee. Know thy betters! Thy New Years' Days are past. I survive, a jolly candidate for 1821. Another cup of wine--and while that turn-coat bell, that just now mournfully chanted the obsequies of 1820 departed, with changed notes lustily rings in a successor, let us attune to its peal the song made on a like occasion, by hearty, cheerful Mr. Cotton.--

"Hark, the cock crows, and yon bright star Tells us, the day himself's not far; And see where, breaking from the night, He gilds the western hills with light. With him old Janus doth appear, Peeping into the future year, With such a look as seems to say, The prospect is not good that way. Thus do we rise ill sights to see, And 'gainst ourselves to prophesy; When the prophetic fear of things A more tormenting mischief brings, More full of soul-tormenting gall, Than direst mischiefs can befall. But stay! but stay! methinks my sight, Better inform'd by clearer light, Discerns sereneness in that brow, That all contracted seem'd but now. His revers'd face may show distaste, And frown upon the ills are past; But that which this way looks is clear, And smiles upon the New-born Year. He looks too from a place so high, The Year lies open to his eye; And all the moments open are To the exact discoverer. Yet more and more he smiles upon The happy revolution. Why should we then suspect or fear The influences of a year, So smiles upon us the first morn, And speaks us good so soon as born? Plague on't! the last was ill enough, This cannot but make better proof; Or, at the worst, as we brush'd through The last, why so we may this too; And then the next in reason shou'd Be superexcellently good: For the worst ills (we daily see) Have no more perpetuity, Than the best fortunes that do fall; Which also bring us wherewithal Longer their being to support, Than those do of the other sort: And who has one good year in three, And yet repines at destiny, Appears ungrateful in the case, And merits not the good he has. Then let us welcome the New Guest With lusty brimmers of the best; Mirth always should Good Fortune meet, And renders e'en Disaster sweet: And though the Princess turn her back, Let us but line ourselves with sack, We better shall by far hold out, Till the next Year she face about."

14  How say you, reader--do not these verses smack of the rough magnanimity of the old English  vein? Do they not fortify like a cordial ; enlarging the heart, and productive of sweet blood, and generous spirits, in the concoction? Where be those puling fears of death, just now expressed or affected? Passed like a cloud--absorbed in the purging sunlight of clear poetry--clean washed away by a wave of genuine Helicon, your only Spa for these hypochondries--And now another cup of the generous! and a merry New Year , and many of them, to you all, my masters!

"New Year's Eve," by Charles Lamb, was first published in the January 1821 issue of  The London Magazine  and was included in  Essays of Elia , 1823 (reprinted by Pomona Press in 2006).

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Charles and Mary Lamb

Introduction, general overviews.

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Charles and Mary Lamb by Felicity James LAST REVIEWED: 12 April 2019 LAST MODIFIED: 30 September 2013 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846719-0035

From the beginning of his literary career, Charles Lamb’s writing has proved hard to categorize and to critique. His writing, and the writing of his sister, spans period and genre, from the 1790s to the 1830s: it reflects 18th-century literature, responding to Cowper and to earlier essayists, but it is also in dialogue with Romantic contemporaries and was also important for Victorian writers and even modernist authors. The Lambs’ writing cuts across different categories: essays, children’s writing, poetry, and drama. If the Lambs are tricky to categorize in literary terms, their politics, similarly, are hard to define. An Anti-Jacobin cartoon of 1798 by Gillray, accompanying a poem entitled “New Morality,” famously places Lamb and his poetic collaborator Charles Lloyd at the center of a bestiary of radical thinkers and writers: Lamb and Lloyd are transmuted into a small frog and toad, clutching a copy of their volume Blank Verse while Jacobin sympathizers caper around them. Yet Robert Southey, also featured in the cartoon, expressed amazement at finding his friend Lamb in such company and wondered what he was doing to be “croaking” there. This confusion over where and how to place Lamb has resonated through criticism ever since, and has, to some extent, also affected his sister Mary’s writing. Lamb is of the same generation as the Lake School, a Christ’s Hospital boy alongside Samuel Taylor Coleridge, early reader of Lyrical Ballads , as well as visitor and critic of Wordsworth and Southey. Yet he also has allegiances to the second generation of Romantics: Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, and Keats in particular. While he occasionally makes trenchant political statements and is responsible for some fierce satirical verse, his politics are always evasive. The genre which made his name, the familiar essay, is similarly difficult to categorize and has endured a long period of neglect, little-known to general readers and rarely taught. The Lambs’ cultural and social position, as the well-educated children of servants, is equally difficult to read. Victorian readers tended to deal with the critical difficulties Lamb posed by turning him into a secular saint and reading his work through the lens of his self-sacrifice. Some 20th-century readers turned against him for the same reason (notably, the Leavisite Denys Thompson in a chapter in Determinations: Critical Essays [1934]) seeing him as shrinking away from real engagement with political and social issues. More recently, however, the Lambs have attracted a new wave of critical attention that has grown steadily stronger in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This emphasizes their interactions with contemporaries and shaping influence over Romanticism, asking how we might profitably re-read the Lambs’ writing in a broader 18th-century and Romantic context. Mary Lamb has been the subject of rediscovery alongside other women writers, while Charles Lamb has been recontextualized as a periodical writer, politicized and metropolitan, engaging both with the local urban scene and its wider global repercussions. The time is right for a reevaluation of the Lambs’ critical heritage.

This is a selective article, and so focuses on groundbreaking late-20th- and early-21st- century work in Lamb studies rather than giving an overview of critical developments. Riehl 1998 provides a comprehensive guide to the different phases in Lamb criticism. Also important for Lamb scholarship is the Charles Lamb Bulletin , now with a website reproducing Bulletin issues from 1935–1977.

Charles Lamb Bulletin .

An invaluable source of Lamb scholarship from its inception in 1935. The online edition features a wide range of articles on Lamb and his circle by leading scholars from journal issues pre-1977; post-1977 editions are not yet digitized.

Riehl, Joseph E. That Dangerous Figure: Charles Lamb and the Critics . Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1998.

Essential reading for those seeking to understand the longer critical history of writing on the Lambs.

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Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb was an English poet, essayist, antiquarian. He is famous for his essays Elia and books tales of children from Shakespeare. He co-authored Tales of Shakespeare with his sister, Mary Lamb.

Lamb was a prominent figure of major literary circles in England. He was a friend with notable literary celebrities such as Robert Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Hazlitt, and William Wordsworth. His principal biographer E. V. Lucas referred to him as “the most lovable figure in English literature.”

Charles Lamb Biography

Charles Lamb was born on 10 th February 1775, in London. In 1782, he attended Christ’s Hospital at the age of seven. It was a free boarding school to educate poor children. He befriended his school mate Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In 1789, he left school. He was appointed as a clerk in the East India Company, and he worked there for the next thirty-three years of his life.  

Lamb’s sister Mary Lamb stabbed their mother who died in a moment of fretful anger on 22nd September 1796. Mary was temporarily insane and put her in the custody of Charles. In 1799, their father died, and Mary Lamb started living with Charles Lamb for the rest of her life. The only time when Mary was not living with Charles was when she was put in the asylum for the treatment whenever her illness recurred. Lamb was a lifelong guardian of Mary and did not marry because of her. In 1795, he also spent six weeks in an asylum during the winter. His life was badly shattered, and he became an alcoholic. It was his guardianship and responsibility to his sister that he could get a hold on his own sanity.

In 1796, Lamb started his literary career with the publication of his four sonnets by Coleridge in his first volume, Poem on Various Subjects . Lamb published A Tale of Rosamund Gray, a sentimental romance, in 1798 with Charles Lloyd in a volume Blank Verse . Lamb started contributing short articles to newspapers in London by 1901. He had also started writing plays in an attempt to overcome his poverty. He published a blank verse play John Woodville   in 1802, which was not successful. In December 1806, Lamb’s two-act circus play, Mr. H. , met great admiration at the Drury Lane Theatre.

Charles and Mary together published a collection Tale from Shakespeare in 1807. The collection was a prose adaptation of the plays of Shakespeare for children. The collection was admired by both young and old readers. With the success of this collection, Charles published a children’s version of Homer’s Odyssey and The Adventures of Ulysses in 1808. Another collection in collaboration with Mary was published in 1809 titled Mrs. Leicester’s School, and Poetry for Children .

In 1808, Charles Lamb started a new career by editing the collection Specimens of the English Dramatic Poets Who Lived About the Time of Shakespeare. His comments on this work established his reputation as a critic, and revival in the study of Shakespeare’s contemporaries was started. In 1881, he published other critical books such as “The Tragedies of Shakespeare,” and “On the Genius and Character of Hogarth” in the journal of Leigh Hunt. He published a two-volume collection, The Works of Charles Lamb, in 1818. It is ironic that his literary career has not begun yet.

Lamb has not yet achieved his literary fame; he and Mary were much happy with life. They would invite their friends at their place at Inner Temple Lane to late Wednesday night gatherings. The gatherings would include the Romantic authors William Wordsworth, Coleridge, William Hazlitt, Robert Southey, and Hunt. Lamb also wrote the best letters to these friends in the same year that later got published. These letters were filled with critical comments and revealed the humoristic personality of Lamb.

It was these letters that prepare him for the forthcoming fame as an essayist. He wrote a series of immensely popular essays from 1820 to 1825 in London Magazine. The essays were written under a pseudonym Elia. These essays, like his letters, reveal his humorist personality, emotions, thoughts, and his experiences of life and literature. He also writes on disturbing subjects. His writing deals with past memories to create a sense of stability, calmness, and changelessness in his personality. His essays are implicitly nostalgic and melancholic, along with explicit humor, wit, and humanity. He has a bittersweet tone and remains the hallmark of his literary style. The famous essays he wrote in this time were “Witches and Other Night-Fears,” “A Dissertation upon Roast Pig,” and “Dream Children.”

Mary and Lamb adopted an orphan girl Emma Isola in 1823. Lamb shifted to London for the first time in August 1823. His health was continuously deteriorating, and his prolonged illness during 1824 caused him to retire from the East India Company. He spent his time with Emma Isola on walking trips around Hertfordshire. 

In 1833, Lamb shifted to Edmonton to take care of his sister Mary who had been receiving frequent mental attacks. In the same year, Lamb also ended his literary career by writing the last Essay of Elia. Emma Isola married Edward Moxon, a friend of Charles, in the same year, leaving him lonely and depressed. The depression and loneliness got intense with the death of his friend Coleridge in 1834. After five weeks of Coleridge’s death, Lamb also died on 27 th December 1834. 

Charles Lamb’s Writing style:

The French writer, Montaigne, was the father of the essay, and in the English language, essay writing was introduced by Francis Bacon. The essays of Bacon are very different from that of his model Montaigne. The essays of Montaigne are self-revelatory, tolerant, and humoristic. Whereas, Bacon’s essays are didactic with serious and objective style.  

With Bacon, the essay writing in England took the wrong direction, and for almost two centuries, it was slowly moving towards the original pattern set by Montaigne. However, with the essays of Romantic essayists, the essay writing became highly personal, lyrical in nature, and humoristic. And there has been no significant change in essay writing from then onwards.

Charles Lamb is one of the eminent romantic essayists . He has been referred to as the “ prince of all essayists ” of England. He is called essayist par excellence by Hugh Walker, whose essays must be taken as a model for writing essays. The existing definition of an essay is derived from the essays of Lamb, and his essay is put into criteria for judging the excellence and merit of any essayist . Though he is not as genius as Bacon, brilliant as Thomas Browne, clear as Addison, and energetic as Dr. Johnson, he is most charming of the essayists and excelled from all the essayist’s inability to catch the attention of readers.

A well-known literary figure of the 19 th century Romanticism, Charles Lamb is primarily known for his essays of “Elia.” His essays are well-known for irony and wit of common subjects . His works were noticeably known throughout the 19 th century and the 20 th century for his humorous peculiarities and nostalgia. With his essays, he brought unique warmth in prose of the English Language, which was previously considered to be dull and boring. He uses intense, screaming, and sneering sentences with rounded glow, which makes it melancholic and welcoming at the same time. Lamb uses the genre of prose for his “ personal essays .” He wrote about those things which tormented him most and extracted literary delightfulness from it. He talked about his drunkenness and resentment in beautiful sentences.

Charles’s land has a “quaint” or old fashioned style because of its strangeness. He imitated the style of 16th and 17 th writers like Milton, Fuller, Burton, Sir Thomas, and Isaac Walton. He also uses the diction and rhythm of these writing according to the subject he is dealing with, due to which, the style of every essay of Lamb is changed. He makes his style charming and prevents it from becoming tiresome and boring. Due to the continuously varying mood, his style is surprising. The following are the distinctive characteristics of Charles Lamb.

Self-revelation in Charles Lamb’s Essays

Charles persistently reveals everything about him to his readers in his essays. This is the striking feature of Bacon’s essays. The shift, from Bacon to Lamb, in the style of essays lies primarily in the shift from formality to informality and objectivity to subjectivity.

Among all of the essays, Charles Lamb is the most autobiographical. For him, his life is full of content to write the essays on. He would repeatedly say the Montaigne words about himself: -“I myself am the subject of my book”. Though, the evolution from objectivity to subjectivity in the essays was initiated by Abraham Cowley by writing the essay “Of Myself,” Charles Lamb completed the evolution. 

His essays contain the bits of his life and mending together these bits, an authentic picture of his life can be obtained. There is no essayist born yet who is more personal than Charles Lamb. His essays fully revealed the experiences, whims, past associates and prejudices that he discussed. In the essay “Night Fear,” Lamb portrayed himself as a superstitious and timid boy. Likewise in his essay, “Christ’s hospital,” he revealed his disgusting experiences of school.  

He introduced his various family members in his essay “My Relation,” Poor Relations,” and the Old Benchers in the Inner Temple. He discusses his time of adolescence in the essay “Mockery End in Hertfordshire”; professional life in “The, Superannuated Man” and “The South-Sea House.” His essay “Dream Children” is full of his sentimental memories of pathos.

 He talks about his predispositions in the essay “The Confessions of a Drunkard” and “Imperfect Sympathies.” His essays “Grace before Meat,” and “A Dissertation upon Roast Pig” are his humoristic essays on gourmandize. In the essay “Dream Children,” Lamb is having a reverie about his imagined children that would have been born if he married his beloved Alice, referring to his attachments with Ann Simmons. When the reverie ends, he says that he found himself sitting quietly in his bachelor arm-chair. He had fallen asleep in the chair with a devoted Briget sitting unchanged from his side but his brother John L was gone forever. 

In his essays, Lamb is excessively obsessed with himself that made readers assume that he is egocentric, selfish, and his writing is inartistic and vulgar. Apart from this, Lamb is also egotist, which makes him write offensive accounts. However, his egotism does not have any vulgarity.

Indeed, Lamb is egotist; however, he is not aggressive. He only talks about himself in his essay because it is the only subject he knows closely, not because it assumes himself to be more important than any other subject. Therefore, the egotism of Charles Lamb is not because of arrogance, but because of humility.

The familiarity of Tone in Charles Lamb’s Writings

Charles Lamb started a trend of using Familiar tone in English essays than a formal tone. This trend was then followed by almost all of the essayists. Campton-Rickett says that there was not any other man famous in print media that Lamb and he turned the ordinary conversation into fine art. 

The button holding familiarity with Charles Lamb greatly charms the readers. He writes as if he is playing with his readers in a naughty manner, always takes his readers into confidence, and shares his feelings with them. Before Charles Lamb, there is an obvious distance between the writer and readers in the essays. Addison and Francis Bacon wrote his essays as if they were delivering the sermon to the readers standing below them. In the essays of Cowley, the distance between the readers and writer was significantly reduced; Charles Lamb completely eliminated the distance. Charles Lamb addresses his readers as “dear readers.” It appears as if he is addressing his friends.  It mocks the familiar English narrow-mindedness and talks to his readers, treating them as men and his friends. His tone of familiarity makes his essay pleasant and Lamb best of associates.

No Didacticism in Essays of Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb does not use his essays for teaching didactic purposes. Essayist before Lamb would use prose mainly for didactic purposes; however, Lamb completely shed this approach in his essays. Because of the didactic nature, Bacon calls his essays counsel civil and moral. The didacticism of Bacon is intense and needs explanations. However, Lamb does not offer nor pretend to offer moral and civil counsels. Lamb’s essays do not carry any “philosophy of life.” He gives personal opinions and views, but they are not on purpose to be examined but just to give an insight into his mind.

Camnian, in his views about Charles Lamb, says that Lamb is neither a psychologist nor a moralist; his purpose of writing not analysse, research or confess. He is nothing but an artist. By his writing, he does not aim to save the pleasure of his readers but himself. 

Lamb is not an absolute educator or didactic. However, he does have sound wisdom that he concealed under the good tolerant nature. He appears to be a fool in the play King Lear and Twelfth Night , whose apparently funny and weird words are saturated with surprising sanity. A critic states that though Lamb often put the cap and bells, he was more than a joker or jester; his jokes were full of wisdom. 

In his essay “Character of Late Elia,” Charles Lamb gives a character sketch of apparently dead Elia saying that he would include a light humor or joke in the serious decision, however, the jokes would not be irrelevant or hard to understand. 

The confused Nature of Charles Lamb’s Essays

Charles lamb essays are of confusing nature and light in touch. This marks his essay distinguished from the rest of the essayist. Charles Lamb does not adhere to the point. He is continuously moving from one point to another. He sometimes ends his essay at a point, which is totally surprising for the readers. He could easily end his essay at any point. Critics and readers criticize Francis Bacon for his distributed thought in essays. However, Lamb knocks down everyone in his outrageous freeness.

His essay “The Old and the New School-master” is the best example of his outrageous freeness in essays. The essay is apparently written to compare the new and the old schoolmaster; the first two pages of the essay are an exaggerated and outrageous description of Lamb’s own ignorance. The point to ponder is what is the connection between Lamb’s ignorance and the subject of the essay? 

Similarly, in the essay “Oxford in the Vacation,” a great portion is dedicated to the account of Dyer, his friend. The essay of Charles Lamb is hardly well-patterned and artistic wholes. His essays do not have a proper beginning, middle, and end. Lamb describes his essays as “ a sort of unlocked inundated thing.”

Though the essays do not have artistic designs, they have a touch of spontaneity. This makes his essays lyrical and appealing to the readers.

Humor, Pathos, and Humanity

The humor, pathos, and his sense of humanity in Charles Lamb’s essays are the distinctive features that make him different from his contemporary writers. Lamb’s essays are rich in humor, fun, and wit. In the edition of the Introduction to Essays of Elia , the critics, Hill and Hallward, write that the terms humour, wit, and fun are confused most of the time, however, they are completely different in meaning. Wit is based in intellect, humous on sympathy, and fun is based on activeness and freshness of both mind and body. The writing of lamb has all these three qualities, however, what distinguishes him most is his humor. His sympathy is always strong and vigorous. 

A charming atmosphere is created in the Lamb’s essays with humor and associated sweetness drawn along with. The fluctuating style of essays ranges from Rabelaisian verboseness, mischievous attempts at mystification, playful pun, and ridiculous frivolity to the subtle irony which penetrates the heart of readers. The best example of his wit and humor is his essay “Poor Relation.” In the book English Humor, J. B. Priestly says that he has embodied the English humor deeply and tenderously. He does not master humor easily, but it is as if he has plucked the white flower from a dangerous nettle.

Humor is also part of the writings of other writers, however, Lamb’s humor is closely aligned with the pathos that mark it distinguishes from others. He is making fun of things, but he is also aware of the tragic nature of life (life in general, not particularly his own). That is why he has a “tearful smile.” He has witnessed the hard and struggling lives of chimney sweepers and the boys at Christ’s Hospital, which made him deeply humanistic. His descriptions of these events are really touching. However, it is also accompanied by humor, and therefore, it has prismatic effects. His treatment of events in such a way momentarily washes away the tragedy of real life. The overall effect of his essays is confusing as the readers do not know what id tragedy and what comedy is.

 Charles Lamb as a Remarkable Borrower

Another peculiarity of Lamb’s style, which belongs to him but is not his own. He remarkably borrowed his style from his predecessors. Lambs were greatly influenced by the writers of the “old world.” These writers include Sir Thomas Browne and Fuller. Though his style is archaic, it is natural. He used elongated and rambling sentences like the writers of the 17 th century. He, most of the time, uses old words if not out-dated. Charles has borrowed style, but his borrowed style belongs to him. A critic comments about his style as: “The blossoms are culled from other men’s gardens, but their blending is all Lamb’s own.”

The Chemistry of Lamb’s Literary Style

Ideas that passed through the imaginations of Lamb turned out to be fresh and unique. The style of Lamb is a mixture of many styles, and this mixture is not a mechanical mixture but a chemical mixture. His writing style extracts romantic colors from the inspiration of old writers, which is then intensified by strong imagination.

Like Wordsworth, he chooses his ordinary subject and with fanciful imagination makes it interesting and romantic. It is the process of “romanticizing” his subject that makes his essays interesting. Otherwise, the subject of everyday life would make his essays boring. He is not only a romantic essayist but also a romantic poet.