The Social Context And Aesthetic Features Of Charles Lamb’s Familiar Essays

Charles Lamb, as one of the greatest essayist in the world literary history, his artistryof essay writing reaches a height that has never been reached before or since. Lambhimself lived in an era of tremendous changes and transformations. Through the socialhistorical approach, this thesis is an attempt to unveil the relationship between the socialcontext and Lamb’s literary achievements. It also tries to shed light on what is Lamb’sstance on the major events and his effort to influence the social climate.The thesis tries to answer three questions. The first is how the social context gave riseto familiar style. At the second half of the18thcentury, England witnessed a suddenincrease of population and fast development of industry. The government reorganizededucation in order to provide qualified labor force. The reorganization of education andincreased literacy produced a growing number of reading public and this changed socialbasis of literature pushed the evolution of the style of essays. And the flourishing literarymagazines provided a stage for Lamb’s literary talent. The second is how the social contextinfluenced the thematic choices of Lamb’s familiar essays and what Lamb’s attitudetowards the social unrest was. Lamb’s nostalgia, sketches of the grass roots and hissympathy for the poor showed his stance against radicalism. He hoped to soften theconfrontation of different social classes by boosting the understanding between theseclasses. The third is Lamb creatively blended the contents from the grassroots with theliterary delicacy for the elites. He combined the Biblical and mythological allusions withplain diction. The varied rhythm promoted the expressiveness of Lamb’s essays. Hecombined the classic literature with popular literature harmoniously. This also indicated hiseffort to restore peace and harmony between different social groups in an age of instability.