Carlyle Summary and Analysis

Thomas Carlyle is, first and foremost a "practical Scotchman" and then a writer and scholar of the first rank, Emerson says. Carlyle is very respected across British society for his intellect, but is a profoundly lonesome and unhappy person, according to Emerson. He is the opposite of a liberal and supports slavery, capital punishment and a protectionist economy. If elected to Parliament, Carlyle threatens to gag reporters. Strongly religious, Carlyle rejects dogma of any sort and seeks the genuine and authentic; he is like a hammer that "crushes mediocrity and pretension," Emerson says.