Robert Lynd as an Essayist
Robert Lynd, who began his career as a Journalist, was one of the most famous writers of the Modern age. He was born in Belfast in 1879 and lived a life full of 70 years and dominated the prose writing of this age. He started his essays under the pseudonym of Y.Y.
A Versatile Genius:
Robert Lynd was a versatile genius. He was a great thinker, a great critic, a great essayist and a great journalist. He also possessed the heart of a poet. His style is the poetic style of an essayist-cum-journalist-cum a critical philosopher.
Robert Lynd Essays:
The essays of Lynd were mostly, published in the 'New Statesman', 'The Nation' the 'Daily Newspaper' and the 'Daily News', which were edited by himself. Most of his essays are found in the name of 'Pleasure of Ignorance', "The Money Box", "The Green Man", and "The Art of Letters'. The Essays of Lynd are personal in character. They reveal his likes and dislikes. He writes on a variety of subjects. The essays are marked with a note of sincerity.
The Quality of His Essays: As an essayist, Robert Lynd picks up ordinary subjects. He starts his essays with a tale. He is a tale-teller having a fine gift of narration. The essays are loaded with a touch of humour in the stories, events and incidents, which he introduces into his essays.
His essays are not limited to one kind of topic. There is a variety of subjects on which he writes. His essays have the following qualities-
1. He deals with trifling things but he combines pleasures with profit.
2. He makes the ordinary look.
3. His essays have a running flow of humour in them.
4. They are absolutely innovative and full of novel ideas.
5. The tendencies in his essays are of philosophising and moralising. In short, they are both amusive and instructive.
As a Narrator:
Lynd starts his essay, 'The Scandal Monger', with a story that a clergyman in the provinces who founded a league for the suppression of scandal. The members took a pledge neither to talk scandal nor to listen to scandal for the next twelve months.
It is the mentality of certain people, who are fond of talking scandals. Lynd goes deep into this trifling matter and touches the very core of it that scandal is the perverted expression of the desire for equality.
In another essay, 'On Not Being A Philosopher', the writer follows the same pattern. He wants to say that there is a line of demarcation between the philosophic point of view and the practical point of view in the affairs of daily life. The philosopher Epictetus pointed out that joy and sorrow are within the control of man.
In actual life, when one is surrounded by dangers, he cannot leave himself solely to the teaching of the philosopher. In another interesting essay, 'Disappointed Man', the writer again starts his essay with the story of the man, who after his successful operations of the eye was very sad to see the world because he did not find the world as he had imagined into his mind.
He had imagined to his mind the bigness of a lion, the king of the animal far bigger than an elephant. He was shocked to see the littleness of the lion in comparison to an elephant. As a moralist, he teaches us to treat a subject on its intrinsic level rather than having an exaggerated idea of the same. Over-estimation is the root of disappointment.
In another essay, 'A Window View', the writer again starts with the story of a lady, who travelling through a London bus occupies the opposite seat so that she might see the world outside the window on her way.
The writer means to say that the world looks different and much more enjoyable from the distance than it actually is from the inside. This is also true of our painful experiences belonging to the past. They appear something delightful when they appear next time in memory.
A Criticism of Life:
Lynd's essays besides their delightful nature also present a criticism of life. He explains how the people of the world live in a world of dreams and disillusion on account of their total neglect of the real and the actual. Lynd is a critic of life and a critic of literature also.
Praise of His Style:
The style of Robert Lynd has received high praise. "Style is the man" was told by the French writer. The same can be said about Lynd. A.S. Collins refers to the note of sincerity to be found in the style of Lynd.
"Those, who know him have testified
to the natural sincerity and stealing worth
of the man and his essays are the man."
There was no conflict in his personality. He knew himself. He was at ease with himself and the world. He wrote with ease and with detachment which gives a timeless wisdom to his commentary on life. He did not like to condemn the world.
He liked to encourage it to live decently, happily and gently. Lynd's criticism was fair and a specimen of sound judgment. He writes on Walter Dela Mare of all contemporary poets there is no one obviously the poet of home-sickness as Mr. Dela Mare.
Lynd's Prose:
Lynd writes in the style of Charles Lamb. He touches the commonplace topics with significance. He transmutes the simplest experiences with a fancy-like beautiful and romantic blow.
He could jump from one word to another, pass from one theme to another, from one mood to another lightly and easily without break. His style is simple, humorous, reflective and sympathetic. He has made use of similies in his essays. His use of similes in his essays is remarkable. He talks about small children.
"To Listen to them is like listening
to the first birds, to see them
is to be back in a world of apples live in flowers."
The style of Lynd is full of figures, wit and epigrams. He was a follower of G.K. Chesterton, who was a master of epigrams, proverbs, witty sayings and fine paradoxes. For example - He uses pradox.
1. "Every wise man loves his own cat but even the foolish love other people's kittens."
2. "There were noises that produced an impression of all-pervading peace."
3. "The superiority of a child to the grown man is the observation."
In short, Lynd's prose is easy. His language has equable beauty. There are no purple colours. Whatever there is, is proper and suiting to the atmosphere. His essays are perfect and lyrical.
