Course Code 9064

BS English Prose
 Unit 4: John Ruskin
The Writing Style of John Ruskin
In the history of English Prose, Ruskin occupies a prominent
position. Certainly, Ruskin is the utmost mastery of the style
of English prose. In the Victorian era, grand style and grand
language in prose and poetry were widely used.
John Ruskin was an English art critic, draughtsman, social
thinker, watercolorist, and philanthropist. He was a leading
figure in the Victorian period. He wrote on various topics and
subjects that include literature, education, geology, myth,
architecture, botany, ornithology, and political economy.
 Style of Ruskin
• Ruskin elaborated style in his earlier works of art and then gradually

changed to a more understandable language. He used everyday

language to communicate his ideas effectively. He focuses on the

connection between art, nature, and society.

• Flexible Knowledge: Ruskin employed an elastic language and bent

it according to his use. He used simple language in the eulogy,

picture description, argument, personal appeal, and persuasion. Even

though he had carefully read Dr. Johnson, Alexander Pope, and

Hooker, Ruskin sustained the uniqueness and individuality in his

style. Now, he is regarded as the master of the English language.

 Ornamental Language
• The earlier prose writing of Ruskin is ornamental and gorgeous. He
employed outstanding descriptive passages. These passages
demonstrate his tendency and feeling for the beauty of color and
form and use of superlatives.
• Ruskin started his literary career as art-critic. In literary expressions,
he could not avoid employing picturesque. For example, in his book
Modern Painters, he employed a rhetorical and poetic touch. He
used phrases such as “flashing fullness of dazzling light,” “waves
drink, and the clouds breathe,” and “bounding and burning in the
intensity of Joy” for ornamentation. In his later works, there is no
obscurity or vagueness. Hu puts facts forwards in a more
convincing and dynamic manner.
 Rhythmic Quality
• The principle style Ruskin employed in his works is in

rhythm. The rhythmic quality of Ruskin is admired by Saints

bury by saying that his works often cross the boundary

between meter and rhythm, thus creating willful lawlessness

and want of self-criticism.

• Therefore, his work turns out to be blank verse. The

rhythmic flow of his sentences is influenced by the Bible.

Rhythm is created in his works because of his choice of

words and imagery.

 Lengthy Sentences
• The length of sentences is another distinguishing quality of Ruskin’s
style. Since the seventeenth century, Ruskin is the first writer who
wrote sentences of almost twenty or thirty lines, even of one page. His
sentences contain 200, 250, or 280 words with a single pause.
• Each sentence contains more than 50 commas, semi-colons, and
colon. Despite the long sentences, his sentences have a symphonious
flow, blended images, and harmony of tone. The words are simple and
complete and the passage is read without any difficulty in
comprehension. His book Work is filled with examples of long
sentences
 Language of the Bible
• In his works, Ruskin shows biases towards the scriptural
allusions and phrases and the language of the Bible. His
style and diction are made through this biasedness. His
works are saturated with the phrases from the Bible, and
he employed them without any effort.
• The reading and interpreting the Bible in his childhood
influenced his writing style greatly. He had remembered
verses of the Bible and relates those verses with everyday
life.
 Descriptive
• Ruskin employed an extraordinary descriptive
power. His style of description is not equal to any
other English prose writer.
• The employment of such a description is only
possible for the landscape artist, a painter. His
description of landscape and nature is the result of
his poetic imagination.
 Use of Sarcasm and Irony
The writing style of Ruskin also contains sarcasm and irony. Though Ruskin
employed keen irony, ‘it is not as harsh as swifts’. He employed sweet,
gentle, and tolerant irony like Addison and Chaucer. In his lecture on the
book Work, Ruskin shows his discontent with wealthy British citizens to
carry their well dressed children to church.

He asserts that these people should also have sympathy for the poor little
children on the streets. Ruskin employed the irony of the Christian Justice to
say that it is blind and mute; if it is not blind, it is dilapidated; at day time, she
does not perform her job but does it at night. Satire is another powerful
element in prose writing. He time and again criticizes London in his works by
calling it a cricket ground of Lord without turf, clothless billiard table, and it
has deep pockets without a pit at the bottom. He also satirizes by saying
that the foul city of London is pouring out the poison from every pore
 Shortcomings of Ruskin’s Style
• Though there are certain shortcomings of Ruskin’s style, it is self revelatory,
like Montaigne and Charles Lamb. Unlike Cowper and Charles Lamb, it
lacks laughter, good humor, and agreeable nonsense. His style is didactic.
He writes as if he is delivering a sermon. His construction of style is quite
often complicated. His works become ambiguous and boring by employing
a lot of references from the Bible. Ruskin’s thoughts do not appear to be in
steady order, which makes his writing style inherently diffused.
• To achieve perfect style, Dr. Johnson suggested readers and writers spend
their days and nights studying the style of Addison. Though Ruskin has 78
studied Addison quite in detail, his works do not seem to hold his style. The
style of Ruskin is the bow of Ulysses, which cannot be bent by anyone.
 Major Works
• The dominant tone of Ruskin's writings on art and architecture was
established in ‘The Poetry of Architecture’, a series of articles
published while he was a student at Oxford, in which he wrote: "Our
object, let it always be remembered, is not the attainment of
architectural data, but the formation of taste".‘
• The Poetry of Architecture’ also introduced Ruskin's concept of an
intrinsic relationship between art and morality, which formed the
basis of the doctrines developed in his most important study of
aesthetics, ‘Modern Painters’. In Ruskin's view, moral virtue and
beauty were inseparable, and the success of a work of art was at
least partially a reflection of the integrity of the artist.
 Major Works
• Critics often cite ‘Modern Painters’ for intentional digressions from the subject of
Turner's artwork to such topics as the nature of truth and beauty and for the
internal contradictions arising from the evolution of author's thought during the
work's eighteen-year composition. Critics also object to contradictions in the
work resulting from Ruskin's apparent compulsion to legitimize his personal
aesthetic prejudices through elaborate theoretical justifications. At the same
time, at least one critic attributes the strength of Ruskin's works to the apparent
chaos the other critics find so repellent in ‘Modern Painters’.
• Robert Hewisohn asserts that "it is precisely his refusal to distinguish between
the normally accepted divisions of thought—aesthetic, ethical, social, economic,
philosophical and personal—that is the source of his most important insights"
 Essay (Work)

• Ruskin’s style has been commented by Harrison by saying that indeed

his style is not perfect; it is a model style that can be studied, followed,
and cultivated. Regardless of many defects, Ruskin is regarded as the
master of English prose style, of simplicity, and of faultless ease. By
adding harmony, animation, coloring, and resources of rich
imagination, Ruskin extended the range of English Prose.
• Ruskin delivered his lecture “Work” before the working men’s institute,
at Camber Well. In this speech he addresses the working people there
at the institution of working men. This speech is a socio-economic
criticism on the contemporary life of England.
 Work
• In the very beginning of his speech he tries to bring forward all the

harsh realities and destruction of industrial revolution in the life of

working class. He talks about the class distinction caused by this

industrial revolution. Ruskin takes up some glaring issues of poor

people. He doesn’t care for that society in which the poor end up

noticeably poorer and the rich wealthier.

• The upper class enjoys by making poor people work for them and to

accommodate them. So far as poor working people concern there is no

contrast between male ruler of ancient time and modern aristocratic

class. He develops several analogies to differentiate between idle men

and working men, upper class and lower class.

 Work
• He tries to make distinction between idle poor and idle rich,
busy poor and busy rich. He says that there are many
beggars; they are as lazy as they have ten thousand a
years and many there are rich men as busier than their
servants.
• Here he gives a few recommendations for healthy society
as he says if rich idle people observed and admonished the
idle rich people, all would be correct. If the busy deprived
people took notice and reprimanded idle poor, all would be
okay.
 Work
• But unfortunately these classes only look for the faults of the other
class. Only the depraved poor consider rich as their enemy and
want to sack their houses, divide their wealth. Only the dissolute
rich people use disgusting language of the wrong doings and
follies of the poor people.
• Here he criticizes the industrious people and points out the
tremendous existing distinction among industrious people; the
distinction of low and high, lost and won etc. Ruskin draws
distinctions between the two classes in the following four major
respective:  work and play  poor and rich  work by hand and
brain  wise work and foolish work
 Work
• The lawful basis of wealth is that the working man should
be paid the handful value of his work and should be given a
complete liberty over his possession. If today he does not
spend, the day after he will spend it. The lazy people who
do not work but stay at home only breaking bread in the
end will be doubly poor with nothing in possession
 Work
• The next he talks about the power of capital and the disadvantages of
capital in first priority. He says that when the principle object of life becomes
the fee or capital of any nation or man, “it is both got ill and spent ill”; and it
does hurt in spending and getting both. When money becomes the
principle object of life, it becomes a curse for the man and nation.
• Next, Ruskin talks about the work by hand and work by head. Both types of
work are important and necessary for the maintenance of life. Everyone
should be honest to his work. Rough work can be done by rough men and
gentle work can be done by gentle people. The same men cannot do both
work at a time.
 War
• Ruskin call was as the foundation of all arts. He means to say
that it is the foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of
men. It is a practical fact that peace and vices of civil life flourish
together. All nations realized the truth that war nourishes and
invigorates them whereas peace wastes and debilitates them.
• But Ruskin does not refer to the wars of barbarians or the
Scotch border feuds or the Napoleonic war, because such wars
build nothing except tombs. He refers to creative or ‘noble war’
which disciplines love and ambition and kills evil. In such wars
the natural instincts of self-defense are sanctified by the
nobleness of the institutions and purity of the households which
they are called upon to defend.
• Ruskin divides this ‘noble war’ into three kinds:
 War
1.War for Exercise or Play
• Ruskin condemns war for the sake of war. He
justifies that war which is undertaken more as a
play or exercise of the personal power of human
creatures than a tool of vengeance upon
innocent people.
• In the past war used to be more an exercise
than anything else among the classes who
caused and proclaimed it. To the governor and
the soldier, it had always been a grand pastime.
 War
2. War of Dominion
• This is the commonest type of war. The real motive for
such wars is not unholy because human nature is
essentially noble. But when this nobility is forgotten, man
begins to commit follies and sins.
• Ruskin says that the kings and 84 princes are free to
extend their dominion, but they should be gentlest and the
most generous of all nobles.
• If the rulers had any idea of welfare for their subjects, the
wars for the increase of power would not have taken place.
• If the ruler neglects his subjects and revels only in
extending his territory, he is failing in his duty
 War
3. War for Defense
• The third kind of war that Ruskin calls a ‘noble deed’ is the
war for defense.
• Most men joining the army consider themselves bound to
duty. These persons should act as sentimental beings,
because it is on the whole, the love of adventure, love of
fine dress, love of the pride of fame which chiefly makes a
boy like going into the Guards better than into a counting
house.
• Therefore, for their honour and that of their families, they
should choose brave death in a red coat in preference to
brave life in a black coat.
 Traffic
• “Traffic” is the script of a lecture given by Ruskin
in 1864 near Manchester. The whole thing is a
sort of grouchy ecclesiastical rambling on the
harmful effects of capitalism and the industrial
revolution on the English mind.
• Traffic consists of different pieces. It is a speech
where John Rushkin is asked to talk about an
Exchange but he just tells them he couldn't care
less and talks about other things instead.
 Traffic
• Traffic – A lecture given to the students for an Exchange
program. He speaks about good taste, then about churches
and the difference in the architecture of churches and our
houses.
• He emphasizes about good architecture being the work of
good and believing men.
• He goes on to speak about Gothic architecture and its
origin.
• Then he comes to the three great religions of Europe –
Greek (worshiping the god of wisdom & power), Medieval
(worshiping the god of judgment and consolation) and
renaissance (worshiping the god of pride and beauty).
 Traffic
• He concludes by getting the context of his lecture ‘the
exchange program’ (although the connection was rather
vague/forced – or so I felt), he strongly suggests that we as
on date worship a different Goddess.
• We worship the Goddess of Getting on. Getting on – but
where to? Gathering together – but how much? Do you mean
to gather always – never to spend?
• The point he wants to make is the fact that art can only
emerge from ‘goodness’ and that morality and goodness have
been lost with each passing generation.
• He urges his audience to realize and not believe in this false
deity/goddess, to determine the honest and simple order of
existence and live in harmony.
 Conclusion
• In short, this unit is a detailed description on John Ruskin’s
personality, his versatile writing styles as well as his well-
appreciated prose writing style which make him one of the very
popular essayists of the era.
• Though criticized for his negative aspects of his works yet he
remained one of the masters of the English prose. To
appreciate him well and to understand the complex nature of
his prose works, dear students, go through the unit completely,
critically analyze his essays and speech, included in the unit 4
as well as complete your suggested reading at the end of this
unit.
 Summary Points
• The English critic and social theorist, John Ruskin (1819-1900) was the
literary representative of Victorian England.
• His prose writings are reflection of his massive sensitivity, human empathy
and moral values.
• John Ruskin's chief acumen was that art was an expression of the values of
a society.
• Despite having read Dr. Johnson, Alexander Pope, Ruskin maintained his
own unique and individualized style of writing prose.
• In his earlier prose works Ruskin illustrates his mastery of motion, sound,
color of words and illustrative richness of scenic beauty. However, in his
later prose works, he employed simpler sentences while employing clear-cut
and plain style.
 Summary Points
• The writing style of Ruskin is incisive, effective, and imaginative making his writings
simple but sublime, grand, and complex.
• Sarcasm, persuasiveness, expository elements, rhythmic and sonorous qualities as
well as irony are characteristic features of his prose style.
• To add to it, John Ruskin’s prose writing style is composed of flexible knowledge,
ornamental language, rhythmic quality, lengthy sentences, language of the Bible
and descriptive quality.
• Besides having many positive features, Ruskin’s prose works have certain
shortcoming also like it is didactic, complicated as well as ambiguous because of
employing many references. Moreover, it lacks laughter and good humor.
• ‘The Poetry of Architecture’, depicting a relationship between art and morality,
‘Modern Painters’ are his major works.
• His marvelous prose work includes ‘Work, ‘War’ and ‘Traffic’