The Victorian sage: studies in argument

[Carlyle]

'Life-philosophy' knowledge

The live cosmos

The ocean rolling around the islet

Shams and diabolisms

The growth of metaphor

The control of meaning

Paradox and truism

[Carlyle as prophet-historian]

Didactic history

The French Revolution

Frederick the Great

[Disraeli]

Is Disraeli a Sage at all?

Tradition and change

'A motley sparkling multitude'

Ideals and realities

[George Eliot]

Preliminary : Silas Marner

General features of the novels

The basic selection

The ethics

The methods : character

Incident and scene

Situation and dialogue

Metaphor

The control of meaning

[Newman]

The system of reality and knowledge

The course of things

Newman's personality and tone

Forms of argument

Illustrations : the Church and the world.

Imagery in Newman

Suggestive example

Control of meaning in Newman

[Matthew Arnold]

Arnold's doctrine and temper

Forms of argument

The value frame

Definitions

Articulating the argument : Arnold and his opponents

Irony

[Hardy]

Introduction

The course of things

The system of nature

Man and the system of nature

Society, a microcosm of nature

The human deviation

Conclusion.