thomas carlyle

English - English

Definition of thomas carlyle in English English dictionary: {i} (1795-1881) Scottish born English essayist and historian who wrote about the French Revolution in 1837; a Scottish writer on political and social subjects, who wrote a famous history of the French Revolution (1795-1881). born Dec. 4, 1795, Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, Scot. died Feb. 5, 1881, London, Eng. Scottish historian and essayist. The son of a mason, Carlyle was reared in a strict Calvinist household and educated at the University of Edinburgh. He moved to London in 1834. An energetic, irritable, fiercely independent idealist, he became a leading moral force in Victorian literature. His humorous essay "Sartor Resartus" (1836) is a fantastic hodgepodge of autobiography and German philosophy. The French Revolution, 3 vol. (1837), perhaps his greatest achievement, contains outstanding set pieces and character studies. On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1841) showed his reverence for strength, particularly when combined with the conviction of a God-given mission. He later published a study of Oliver Cromwell (1845) and a huge biography of Frederick the Great, 6 vol. (1858-65)

thomas carlyle