The Pleasure of Hating by William Hazlitt

 

Introduction: The Spider on the Floor

In his 1826 essay “On the Pleasure of Hating,” William Hazlitt, one of the great masters of the English familiar essay, delivers a blisteringly honest and psychologically astute inquiry into a forbidden facet of human nature. Moving from a simple anecdote about a spider to a sweeping condemnation of mankind’s moral and social failings, Hazlitt argues that hatred, malice, and schadenfreude are not mere aberrations but vital, energizing forces in human life. This newsletter provides a comprehensive guide to this challenging work, offering a summary, critical analysis, exploration of major themes, important quotes, and an examination of Hazlitt as a critic and prose stylist. Designed for students, literature enthusiasts, and anyone intrigued by the psychology of negativity, this deep dive explains why this nearly 200-year-old essay feels alarmingly modern.

Summary: The Argument in Brief

Hazlitt begins with a personal moment: watching a spider cross his floor. He spares it, but confesses to a lingering “mystic horror and superstitious loathing.” This leads to his central thesis: while civilisation teaches us to curb violent actions, we cannot eradicate the underlying sentiments of hostility. Hatred, he claims, is the “very spring of thought and action.” Without it, life would be a “stagnant pool.”

He then catalogs evidence for this “pleasure of hating”: animals torment each other; crowds gawk at fires and executions; society scapegoats outsiders; nations need enemies to define themselves. He extends this principle to personal relationships, showing how old friendships inevitably curdle into indifference or dislike, and how we tire of our favourite books and opinions. The essay culminates in a despairing personal and political lament. Hazlitt confesses his disillusionment with his former liberal ideals, seeing only hypocrisy and tyranny everywhere, and concludes that his greatest error was “not having hated and despised the world enough.”

Critical Analysis: Deconstructing Hazlitt’s Dark Vision

1. Structure and Rhetoric:
The essay is a masterclass in persuasive writing. It employs a associative, digressive structure typical of the Romantic familiar essay, moving seamlessly from the personal (the spider, old friends) to the universal (human nature, politics). This creates an unsettling effect: a private observation is shown to have monstrous, global implications. Hazlitt uses accumulation—piling example upon example—to overwhelm the reader with the ubiquity of malice. His rhetoric is fiercely concessive: he admits his own philosophy forbids killing the spider, yet insists the hateful impulse remains, thus disarming potential criticism.

2. Psychological Insight:
Hazlitt operates as a pre-Freudian psychologist. He identifies what we now call schadenfreude (joy in others’ misfortune), confirmation bias (seeking out news of “accidents and offences”), and the unifying power of a common enemy. His analysis of decaying friendship is painfully acute, noting how familiarity breeds contempt, and how we eventually “criticize each other’s dress, looks, general character.” He probes the addictive quality of negative emotion, comparing it to a “poisonous mineral” and noting that “we cannot bear a state of indifference and ennui.”

3. Historical and Biographical Context:
Written in the post-Napoleonic era of conservative reaction, the essay is saturated with Hazlitt’s political disillusionment. References to the “Bourbons,” the “Inquisition,” and “Legitimacy” (the restoration of monarchies) point to his despair over the defeat of revolutionary ideals. His bitterness towards former friends like Coleridge and Wordsworth, who turned conservative, fuels the sections on betrayal. The essay is thus a fusion of personal grievance and political polemic.

4. Tone and Persona:
The tone is cynical, hyperbolic, and impassioned. Hazlitt creates a persona of the disillusioned idealist, whose intellectual “philosophy” is at war with his visceral instincts. This internal conflict makes the argument more compelling; he implicates himself in the very malice he diagnoses. Moments of lyrical beauty (e.g., the description of a Titian painting) briefly relieve the gloom, only to be dismissed as unsustainable, reinforcing the core argument.

Major Themes Explored

• The Universality of Malice: Hatred is not an anomaly but a fundamental, energizing human drive. It provides the “contrast” that makes life feel vivid.

• The Hypocrisy of Civilization: Society represses overt brutality but does nothing to quell the inner spirit of hostility, which merely finds new, subtle outlets (gossip, criticism, schadenfreude).

• The Fragility of Affection: Love, friendship, and admiration are inherently unstable. They inevitably sour into indifference, envy, or hatred due to familiarity, changing circumstances, or simply the mind’s hunger for stimulation. “Old friendships are like meats served up repeatedly, cold, comfortless, and distasteful.”

• Disillusionment and Political Despair: The essay reflects a Romantic crisis of faith in progress, liberty, and human goodness. Public life is revealed as a theater of folly, knavery, and tyranny.

• The Aesthetics of Negativity: Hazlitt suggests there is a perverse artistic and intellectual pleasure in dissection, criticism, and mockery. The “decoction of spleen” keeps well; analyzing human folly is a durable pastime.

Important Quotes and Analysis

1. “We learn to curb our will and keep our overt actions within the bounds of humanity, long before we can subdue our sentiments and imaginations to the same mild tone.”

• Analysis: The essay’s cornerstone. It distinguishes civilised behaviour from innate feeling, arguing that moral progress is superficial. The real, wild self remains untamed.

2. “Without something to hate, we should lose the very spring of thought and action. Life would turn to a stagnant pool.”

• Analysis: Hazlitt’s most shocking claim. He positions hatred as a vital, animating force, the necessary friction that prevents existential inertia.

3. “Pure good soon grows insipid, wants variety and spirit. Pain is a bittersweet… hatred alone is immortal.”

• Analysis: Positions negative emotions as more complex, enduring, and stimulating than positive ones. Goodness is bland; hatred has a compelling, dramatic intensity.

4. “We hate old friends: we hate old books: we hate old opinions; and at last we come to hate ourselves.”

• Analysis: Charts the inevitable trajectory of the pleasure of hating. It is a self-consuming fire that, having exhausted external objects, turns inward, leading to self-loathing.

5. “Have I not reason to hate and to despise myself? Indeed I do; and chiefly for not having hated and despised the world enough."

• Analysis: The devastating conclusion. It inverts conventional morality. For Hazlitt, his failure was excessive idealism and trust; true wisdom would have been a more profound and protective misanthropy.

Modal Questions:

William Hazlitt as a Critic

• Key Traits: Impressionistic, passionate, and conversational. Unlike his contemporary Coleridge, who was systematic and philosophical, Hazlitt’s criticism springs from “gusto”—his term for intense, empathetic appreciation. He describes the experience of a work of art.

• Manifesto in this Essay: His approach is exemplified in his literary references. He doesn’t dryly analyse Chaucer or Spenser; he complains that liking them looks like “pedantry and egotism” in a world obsessed with fashionable trash. His criticism is always personal, engaged, and morally charged.

• Strengths: Unparalleled ability to convey the living spirit of a work. His writing on Shakespeare is some of the best ever penned.

• Weaknesses: Can be subjective, digressive, and biased by personal or political animus (as seen in his scorn for the “Lake School” poets who turned Tory).

Prose Style of William Hazlitt

• Energetic and Muscular: His sentences are periodic and cumulative, building momentum through rhythmic clauses and forceful verbs (“we throw aside the trammels… the wild beast resumes its sway”).

• Conversational Yet Eloquent: He masterfully blends the idiom of speech with literary resonance. The prose feels like passionate, intelligent talk, filled with rhetorical questions, exclamations, and direct address.

• Figurative and Vivid: Relies on powerful metaphors and similes. Hatred is a “poisonous mineral”; the mind “abhor[s] a vacuum”; a decaying friendship is a “carcase” not worth “embalming.”

• Allusive: Freely references history, literature (Shakespeare, Milton, Restoration drama), mythology, and contemporary events, assuming a literate reader.

Critical Appreciation of the Essay in British Literary Tradition

• A Peak of the Familiar Essay: Stands with the works of Charles Lamb and Thomas De Quincey in perfecting the Romantic familiar essay—subjective, reflective, and stylistically brilliant.

• Bridge Between Romanticism and Modernity: Its psychological depth and cynical modernity look forward to writers like Thomas Hardy or even 20th-century existentialists. It exposes the Romantic faith in feeling to its own darkest implications.

• A Masterpiece of Rhetoric: Despite its gloomy theme, the essay is exhilarating to read due to its uncompromising honesty, intellectual vigour, and stylistic verve. It is persuasive precisely because it is so unsettlingly enthusiastic about its own bleak thesis.

• Enduring Relevance: In an age of online vitriol, cancel culture, and polarized politics, Hazlitt’s exploration of the communal “pleasure of hating” feels more relevant than ever. It serves as a caustic mirror to our own society’s dynamics.

Conclusion: The Uncomfortable Truth

William Hazlitt’s “On the Pleasure of Hating” is not a comforting read. It is a savage, brilliant, and unforgettable tour of the human heart’s capacity for negativity. It challenges our self-conception as progressively civilized beings, suggesting instead that our social peace is a thin veneer over a seething core of ancient hostilities. While we may not accept its thesis in full, its power lies in its fearless confrontation of truths we are usually keen to avoid. As a work of literature, it remains a testament to the power of prose to explore, with glorious intensity, the most shadowy corners of our nature. It confirms Hazlitt not just as a great critic of art, but as one of humanity’s most unflinching critics.

Walt Whitman Selected Poems from Leaves of Grass (1891–1892)

Walt Whitman study guide, Leaves of Grass analysis, Song of Myself summary, free verse poetry, American transcendentalism, Whitman themes democracy, Calamus poems meaning, literary techniques parallelism cataloguing, 1891 Deathbed Edition, character sketch Whitman's persona, critical appreciation Walt Whitman, Cambridge English literature revision.

Walt Whitman Selected Poems from Leaves of Grass

(1891–1892)

This guide is designed to demystify his seminal work, Leaves of Grass, focusing on the authoritative 1891-92 "Deathbed Edition." We will break down complex literary concepts, explore major themes, and provide you with the analytical tools necessary to appreciate one of America's most foundational poetic voices. Whether you are encountering Whitman for the first time or deepening your existing knowledge, this newsletter aims to be an invaluable companion for your studies.

Walt Whitman

Before delving into the verses, it is crucial to understand the man behind the myth. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was not merely a poet; he was a cultural phenomenon who redefined American literature.

• Key Biographical Points:

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• A Self-Made Man: He had little formal education and worked as a printer, journalist, and teacher before becoming a poet. This diverse experience immersed him in the vibrant, chaotic life of 19th-century America.

• The Civil War Nurse: His volunteer work in military hospitals during the Civil War profoundly shaped his later poetry, particularly the collection Drum-Taps, which is integrated into later editions of Leaves of Grass. This experience cemented his themes of compassion, the human body, and collective suffering.

• The "Good Gray Poet": In his later years, he became a revered public figure, known for his long white beard and benevolent persona, even as his early work continued to be considered controversial.

• His Lifework: Leaves of Grass

• First published in 1855 at his own expense, Leaves of Grass was a mere twelve poems. Over his lifetime, he revised, expanded, and rearranged it through multiple editions until the final "Deathbed Edition" in 1891-92, which contained over 400 poems.

• As scholar Ed Folsom notes in his review of Whitman editions, "The Library of America Poetry and Prose... includes the 1855 Leaves, the 1891-92 Leaves, Specimen Days, and many other things as well," highlighting the importance of considering the evolution of Whitman's text (Folsom, 2003).

Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd

Understanding the 1891-92 "Deathbed Edition"

The 1891-92 edition is considered the definitive version of

Leaves of Grass, as it was the last to be overseen by Whitman himself.

• What is a "Deathbed Edition"?

• This term refers to the final authorised version of a literary work published just before or recognised after the author's death. It represents their ultimate artistic vision and intentions for the work.

• For Whitman, this edition was the culmination of a lifetime of poetic experimentation and philosophical development. It is not a single long poem but a vast anthology structured into thematic clusters.

• Key Structural Clusters in the Selected Poems:

• "Song of Myself": The epic centrepiece, a sweeping exploration of the self, democracy, and the universe.

• "Calamus": A cluster celebrating "adhesiveness" or manly love, friendship, and comradeship.

• "Drum-Taps": Poems born from his Civil War experiences, dealing with war, death, and national trauma.

• "Memories of President Lincoln": Including his great elegy, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd."

• "Sea-Drift": Poems meditating on the sea, time, and mortality.

Whitman’s Literary Techniques

Whitman’s style was a radical departure from the formal, structured poetry of his time. Understanding his techniques is key to appreciating his work.

• Free Verse

• Explanation: Poetry that does not follow a regular metre, rhyme scheme, or stanza pattern. Whitman is often called the "Father of Free Verse."

• Purpose: He used free verse to mirror the natural rhythms of speech and the vast, untamed quality of the American landscape and its people. It was a democratic form, breaking from European traditions.

• Parallelism

• Explanation: A rhetorical device involving the repetition of similar grammatical structures, sounds, or ideas to create rhythm, emphasis, and cohesion. As Prof. Manahil Ahmad Al-Nawas states, "Parallelism is a literary activity, which aims at creating patterns on the verbal level with the effect of creating texture and unity" (Al-Nawas, 2008).

• Types Found in Whitman:

• Synonymous Parallelism: Repeating the same thought with different words.

• Example: "There was never any more inception than there is now, / Nor any more youth or age than there is now" (Al-Nawas, 2008).

• Antithetic Parallelism: Using contrasting thoughts in parallel structures.

• Climactic Parallelism: Building a thought to a climax through successive parallel lines.

• Purpose: This technique creates a hypnotic, incantatory effect, mimicking the cyclical processes of nature and the cumulative experience of a modern, democratic society.

• Catalogue

• Explanation: The extensive listing of people, objects, places, or ideas. Whitman’s catalogues can run for many lines.

• Purpose: To encompass the immense diversity of American life and to suggest that every single person and thing is equally worthy of inclusion in the poetic record. It is a poetic manifestation of equality.

• Imagery

• Explanation: The use of vivid, sensory language to create mental pictures. A study by Dr. Niña Jen R. Canayong finds that Whitman’s imagery is "produced by the senses of sight, touch, taste, and sound" (Canayong, 2019).

• Purpose: His imagery is often visceral and tangible. He uses the human body—the "body electric"—as a primary image to celebrate physical existence and to break down taboos.

Major Themes Explored in Selected Poems

Whitman’s poetry is a vast tapestry woven with several interconnected themes.

• The Democratic Self

• The "I" in Whitman’s poetry, especially in "Song of Myself," is not just the individual Walt Whitman. It is a universal, democratic self that speaks for and contains multitudes. He celebrates the individual while simultaneously asserting that all individuals are connected. As Canayong’s research concludes, the persona is "a muted man speaking his right for universal freedom to his fellow oppressed and the oppressors" (Canayong, 2019).

• The Unity of All Existence

• Whitman posits that everything in the universe—people, animals, plants, the divine—is interconnected. The body and soul are one; life and death are part of a continuous cycle. This is often expressed through his parallelistic structures, which, as Al-Nawas argues, "imitate the unity that the poet wishes to impinge on his universe" (Al-Nawas, 2008).

• Celebration of the Body and Sensuality

• In a Victorian age marked by repression, Whitman celebrated the human body in all its functions without shame. His poetry is unabashedly sensual, viewing the body as sacred and sexual desire as a natural, powerful force.

• Death and Transformation

• Whitman does not treat death as an end, but as a transition. In poems like "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," death is portrayed as a "dark mother," a soothing and unifying force that returns individuals to the cycle of nature.

• National Identity and the Civil War

• Leaves of Grass is fundamentally a project about defining the American spirit. The later poems, particularly in Drum-Taps, grapple with the trauma of the Civil War, mourning the fallen while seeking a path toward national reconciliation and healing.

Character Sketch: The Persona of the Poems

Geoffrey Chaucer The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale

The speaker in Leaves of Grass is a carefully constructed persona.

• He is a Cosmic Observer: He is everywhere at once—"I am there, I help, I came stretch'd atop of the load... I am the hounded slave." He transcends time and space to empathise with all experiences.

• He is a Healer and Comforter: Drawing from Whitman's own experience, the persona offers solace and compassion, particularly in the war poems.

• He is a Prophet of Democracy: He speaks not from a position of aristocratic privilege, but as a common man, announcing a new, egalitarian age. He is, as Al-Nawas notes, "the poet of democracy," celebrating "no particular person but embraces all humanity" (Al-Nawas, 2008).

• He is Unconstrained and "Unteachable": In the final lines of "Song of Myself," he declares, "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable," asserting his refusal to be categorised or limited by conventional norms.

Critical Appreciation: Why is Whitman Still Important?

Whitman’s legacy is immense. He is a cornerstone of American literature, influencing generations of poets from the Beats to contemporary writers.

• Strengths:

• Formal Innovation: His creation of a distinct American poetic voice through free verse cannot be overstated.

• Thematic Boldness: His candid treatment of the body, sexuality, and democracy was groundbreaking.

• Cosmic Scope: His ability to weave the minutiae of daily life into a grand, cosmic vision is unparalleled.

• Challenges for the Reader:

• Length and Repetition: His catalogues and parallel structures can feel overwhelming or repetitive to modern readers. It is best to read his work in sections, allowing the cumulative effect to build.

• The Expansive "I": Understanding that the "I" is not merely autobiographical but a universal persona is key to avoiding misinterpretation.

As Ed Folsom suggests, engaging with a reliable text like the Library of America edition provides the best foundation for study, as it offers the full scope of his final vision (Folsom, 2003).

 Famous Excerpt for Analysis: From "Song of Myself"

This passage is a perfect example of Whitman’s style and themes.

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars,
And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,
And the tree-toad is a chef-d'oeuvre for the highest,
And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,
And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
And the cow crunching with depress’d head surpasses any statue,
And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels."

• Analysis:

• Theme: This exemplifies the unity of all existence. He equates the smallest, most commonplace things (a leaf of grass, a grain of sand, a mouse) with cosmic grandeur (the stars, heaven).

• Technique: It uses catalogue to list these items, creating a sense of abundance and equality.

• Technique: It employs parallelism (the repetition of the "And the..." structure) to build a rhythmic, almost religious incantation, elevating the mundane to the sacred.

• Diction: Words like "journey-work of the stars" and "chef-d'oeuvre" (masterpiece) apply grand, artistic language to nature, reinforcing his democratic vision that everything is divine.

Glossary of Key Literary & Technical Terms

• Free Verse: Poetry that does not use consistent metre patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern. It is governed by the natural rhythms of speech.

• Parallelism: A literary device where parts of the sentence are grammatically the same, or similar in construction, sound, meaning, or metre. It is used to create balance and rhythm.

• Catalogue: A stylistic device consisting of a long list of a particular object, person, or idea. In Whitman, it creates an overwhelming sense of inclusivity.

• Persona: The aspect of someone's character that is presented to or perceived by others. In poetry, it is the speaker or narrative voice adopted by the author.

• Imagery: Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work, that appeals to the senses.

• Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. In Whitman, the "leaf of grass" is a symbol for the individual and the universal, the common and the divine.

• Elegy: A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead. "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is a famous elegy for President Lincoln.

• Democratic Poetry: Poetry that seeks to break down hierarchies, celebrate the common person, and use a language and form accessible to all, mirroring the ideals of a democratic society.

Walt Whitman study guide, Leaves of Grass analysis, Song of Myself summary, free verse poetry, American transcendentalism, Whitman themes democracy, Calamus poems meaning, literary techniques parallelism cataloguing, 1891 Deathbed Edition, character sketch Whitman's persona, critical appreciation Walt Whitman, Cambridge English literature revision.