As we shall see, there is a sense in which this Tale follows on directly from Tale 14 - it too has as a central concern the effects upon a young man of having his conscience awakened. This raises again the question of the way in which certain Tales are grouped and the order in …
Continue reading Crabbe – Tale 15: Advice or, The Squire and The Priest
The Struggles of Conscience forms one of that subset of The Tales concerned with the rise and fall of young men (other prominent examples include Tale 5, The Patron, Tale 11, Edward Shore and Tale 21, The Learned Boy). Although these tales are very different in their particular protagonists and their central issues, it is …
Continue reading Crabbe – Tale 14: The Struggles of Conscience
I wrote of Tale 12 - Squire Thomas - on September 28th 2010, so my project of providing a commentary on Crabbe’s Tales is proving a protracted one, as I suspected it would! However in the 21 months since then, I have not just read the next Tale - I have read all the early …
Continue reading Crabbe – Tale 13: Jesse and Colin (and an update)
Whilst I have read, or reread, many ‘real’ books in the past 20 months, the most significant development in my reading habits has been the acquisition of a Kindle. I do not intend in future to bother specifying in which format I am reading any particular book I discuss, but did want to spend some …
'Squire Thomas (or The Precipitate Choice) is one of the Tales in which Crabbe's sometimes bleak view of humanity is revealed in its fullest extent. Every single character in this Tale is deeply unpleasant. It is this kind of Tale, and its underlying world-view, which earned Crabbe a (semi-deserved) reputation as one whose view of …
Returning to Crabbe after a long absence (10 months) I am confronted by a Tale for which I have little sympathy. However I am able to admire Crabbe's narrative skills and the power of his verse, even if I am suspicious of the ends to which they are put in this case. Edward Shore is …
Byron The Years of Fame : Peter Quennell (1943) Byron The Years of Fame covers Byron's life from 1811-1816; from his arrival back in England after his continental travels, to his departure in the wake of his divorce. As an introductory guide to Byron's character or life, let alone his verse, Quennell would be a …
Crabbe: The Critical Heritage (ed: Arthur Pollard 1972) provides the full text of a number of contemporary reviews of The Tales. The following are summaries extracting what I saw as some of the main points of interest. [This entry is far from complete but I thought it would be useful to get something down and, …
The Lover's Journey, in contrast to the three Tales which preceded it, is most definitely not part of any group in terms of its subject or theme. It is a poem which could very easily be taken out of the context of The Tales. It is also in many ways a sunny, happy poem and thus …
One thing which I have failed to comment on is the way in which certain of The Tales are grouped, or follow on from one another. There are dialogues between the Tales some of which take of the forms of oppositions, others of complements. This is most definitely true of Tales 6-9 all of which …
Moving Toyshop 