The impact of poetry and literature on the father-son relationship in John Stuart Mill’s ‘Autobiography’ and Edmund Gosse’s ‘Father and Son’

Type :

Book review

Pages :

9 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

03/18/2009

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Literature

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Summary :

Introduction
Mill's and Gosse's: Futures predestined by their fathers
James Mill as a big part of his son's
1. Mill's claims about the education he received from his father
2. James Mill's influence in his son's life
Gosse's life
1. Religious yet confining upbringing
2. Emily Gosse's dying wishes
3. The death of his mother
4. The move to Devonshire
5. The analysis of Father and Son and the relationship between Edmund Gosse and his father
John Stuart Mill's partial separation from his father and Utilitarianism
Reading Wordsworth and other romantics
L. A. Paul's description of how Mill 'weaves' poetry
Edmund Gosse's transition away from his father and his father's mode of thought
Goose's rejection of his father's 'Great Scheme' for him
Conclusion
Works cited

Abstract

When comparing john stuart mill's autobiography and edmund gosse's father and son, one cannot ignore the fact that the two are very similar with respect to the strong father-son relationship that both James mill and Phillip gosse had with their sons. mill's and gosse's primary influence in their early childhood and education was from their father as both James mill and Phillip gosse spent a large amount of time in solitude with their son. The reason for the intense seclusion is that each father had certain expectations and ambitions for his son and wanted no outside influences to interrupt or interfere with his design. James mill went to great lengths to bestow "the highest order of intellectual education" (27) in order for his young son to grow as an intellectual thinker, a rational logician and an apostle for Benthamite Utilitarianism: a philosophy of social reform partially conceived by James mill. Phillip gosse also had a plan for his impressionable son, edmund.