The Literary Style of Thomas Page and John Crowe Ransom - Essay Example

The Literary Style of Thomas Page and John Crowe Ransom Introduction Literature from South America is intoxicating like old champagne delved deep into the earth for cooling and enchanting like that of vintage wine. The palpable landscape of the country life, the tradition and its hues evolve out largely in its literature with impeccable creation of a distinct separate genre in literary canon. Like any other literature from a different fragment of the globe, literature from Southern America also passed through much transformation in its form, texture, style and composition. This canon of English Literature also witnessed and subsequently bears the scar and effect of the time metamorphosed and evidently reflects the changes in its structure, narrative, theme and choice of setting. The Comparison John Crowe Ransom is an eminent poet, critic and editor of American Literature and his area of work is captivated within the time frame of his life span which starts from 1888 and ends in the year of 1974. Another famous writer from Southern American Literature is Thomas Nelson Page and his career revolves round the years from 1853 to 1922. From the chronological dates pertaining to the life span of these writers, it becomes quite obvious that Page spent most of his life and grew his literary career when Literature just started deviating from its romantic hangover to enter into the realism of modernism. So, in Page’s creation, the trends and style of romantic period becomes evident. But Ransom witnessed both the World Wars and spent his literary career at the time when English literature was at the prime of its modern period which is why inclination towards the modernist style became prominent in his writing. A comparative study of works of both these pioneers will not only mark out the distinct difference of romantic and modern style in American literature but also it will enable the readers to understand the effect of the respective era upon the literature and the society. ‘Marse Chan’, published in the year 1884, is a tale presented with a taste and smell of Old Virginia in particular and southern part of America in general. In fact, the title of the story is Marse Chan but from its subtitle, “A Tale Of Old Virginia”, it bears a clear hint that the story revolves round the people, tradition, life style and society of old Virginia. Marse Chan appeared in the book named “In Ole Virginia or Marse Chan and Other Stories” which is eventually Page’s first collection of short stories that was published by Charles Scribner in the year 1887. The stories appearing in this anthology is set in the background of postbellum south and often offers a retrospective of life in antebellum splendour. All these six stories captivated within the book celebrate life in South and amid these stories; Marse Chan received the critical attention most. The story not only captivates the charm of local dialect used frequently throughout the narrative but also the story typifies all the characteristics of Page’s narrative creativity. The narrative structure of the story becomes more appealing to the readers because it is presented through the eyes of a Northerner visiting Virginia in the autumn of 1872. Throughout his life, Page had been an ardent advocate defending the life in the plantation of Southern America. He was a compelling colourist who celebrated the pastoral beauty of the plantation and idealized all the noble characteristics of a human can possess in his self – created untainted Eden. Marse Chan is an epitome of all these characteristics of Page’s narrative framed within the close context of the tight-lipped plot of the story. Celebration of nature is one of the major traits of romantic style, and the story opens with the description of the extravagant pastoral beauty of Virginia and its beautiful people, “One afternoon, in the autumn of 1872, I was riding leisurely down the sandy road that winds along the top of the water-shed between two of the smaller rivers of eastern Virginia” (Page, T. “In OLE Virginia Or Marse Chan and Other Stories”). The extensive use of the local dialects and the mention of the local tradition and the typical characteristics that epitomizes romanticism like chivalry and loyalty is another indication for the inclination of Page towards romanticism. Another note-worthy point in Marse Chan is the dialogue of the Northerner narrator is general, “As soon as he came in sight, his master began” but the very continuation of this dialogue in the local dialect from the mouth of the black servant marks the distinction minutely, “Yes, dat you! You gittin’ deaf as well as bline, I s’pose ! Kyarnt heah me callin’, I reckon? Whyn’t yo’ come on, dawg?” The clear distinction of the northern dialect from the southern local dialect instigates the feel of romanticism for the southern pasture solemnly celebrating its mirth, smell and hue through its style and language. The presence of an all-powerful and enchanting lady – love in the plot of the story also indicates his earnest inclination towards the romantic era and style. On the other hand, Thomas Crowe Ransom also expressed his ardent love for the south but his presentation and the thematic culmination of his love for the land is different from that of Page. Ransom’s finest poem “Old Mansion” escaped much critical attention but is considered as one of the finest poems of him. Beautifully articulated, the poem is beyond any unnecessary critical appreciation and is one of those very few poems by Ransom that is culminated from a literary source. Based on the chapter on Charleston from Henry James’ American Scene (1907), the poem is footed on James’ return journey to United States after the huge lapse of twenty years. Before analysing the poem, Old Mansion, the subject matter of the American Scene is subjected to wide speculation. American Scene is basically a record of the response pertaining to the experience of James in the principle cities on the Eastern seaboard. The modernist characteristics which speaks mainly about falling back to the traditional aspect of life lurks large in the poem “Old Mansion”. Old Mansion is the archetypal symbol of old plantation in the south and celebration of life and past is evoked in modernist vain through this poem. The poem not only laments Old Mansion but also the poet moves his attention to the streets and the mansion actually stands for the fading beauty and the tradition that the house symbolises. The poet laments for the lost beauty, ideals and traditions of the past. He also laments for his failure to describe with any accuracy the old iconic truth. This is the reason for which the poems of the poet often become an elegy for the elegist. The poet, in a very self-conscious mode avoids the “old vulgarian/reiterations” of his predecessors from the romantic era and consciously chooses the modern style to lament the same ardent craving for the lost south and its tradition in the abbeys of its plantation life and farms. Yet the poet finds himself in a very frustrating position for the failure of his attempts to penetrate into the dark interior of his subject matter. The theme of the poem is inaccessibility to the past. The poet considers himself as the intruder, a “tired historian” who is surviving on the “crumbs of history” and he visions himself as an “antiquary.......finger[ing] the bits of shard”. The poem closes with the poets conceding defeat and trying to seek a new subject matter in the “unseemilier world” of his present time (Flora, J. & Et. Al., “The companion to Southern literature: Themes, genres, places, people, movements, and motifs”). Conclusion The story of Marse Chan and the poem Old Mansion both lament the forgotten glory and innocent life of the old plantations. But the marked difference in their respective presentation which are distinctively different from each other sets separate paradigm, a vista through which the life and tradition of the ‘ole south’ can be grasped. The romantic representation of the landscape and pastoral beauty of south by Page and the modernist treatment of the same theme by Ransom enable the readers to have a wide panorama of pasture, leisure and all that ideals imbibed in the forgotten history of the glorious life style prevailing in the old plantations in southern America. References Flora, J. & Et. Al. The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs LSU Press, 2002. Page, T. In OLE Virginia Or Marse Chan and Other Stories. Kessinger Publishing, 2005. Bibliography Andrews, W. L. The Literature of the American South: A Norton Anthology. W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. Read More