English Literature

Charles Lamb is a great artist in showing humour and pathos in a single row. He had as keen a perception of the funny side of life as he had of the tragic. The funny side and the sense of humour never desert him. And we find a curious mingling of there two (humour and pathos) ingredients in his works. Laughter is followed by tears of sympathy in many of his essays. Moreover, humour may be described as an extreme sensitiveness to the true proportion of things and pathos that appeals to our feelings of compassion and evokes sympathy. In some essays, we have Pathos and Humour alternating each other, in others we have the two elements coexisting in the same passion that we see pathos and humour as facts of the same thing. In the essays "South Sea House", we see humour and pathos existing side by side. Here we find the touch of humour and pathos at the same time. Here we have a melancholy note in his wistful description of the decaying building. We, the readers, feel sorry for it...

Autobiographical elements in Charles Lamb�s essays Charles Lamb's attitude in his essays is autobiographical-for his essays convey such elements from where we get to know his personality, nature, character, relatives, work places and people around him. Thus the subjective note in his essays is vital. As he belongs to the romantic age, the personal �I� is prominent is his essays. In almost all the essays, we find and we learn something about his life. Thus he speaks about his life, likings, whims and feelings. Lamb talks to the reader as if he were his friend and confesses and confider in him. Lamb's own personality is the basis for most of his essays. His own memories are reflected in them. Actually autobiography is that kind of writing in which the writer's states, life and conditions are delineated. His personal experiences are revealed in autobiography. Moreover, the facts of personal life of the writer and the activities, relatives, friends, likings, dislikings, charact...