Disenchantment · Chapter
I explained
The narrator observes a widespread literature of disappointment emerging from the war, contrasting the shallow disenchantment of earlier artists like Burne-Jones, Arnold, and Rossetti with a more genuine, though less skilled, disillusionmen
What happens
The narrator observes a widespread literature of disappointment emerging from the war, contrasting the shallow disenchantment of earlier artists like Burne-Jones, Arnold, and Rossetti with a more genuine, though less skilled, disillusionment among the young today.
Themes in this chapter
Disillusionment and Disenchantment
The chapter opens with a discussion of the widespread disappointment among returning soldiers and contrasts it with earlier artistic disenchantment.
Loss of Innocence and Illusion
The narrator describes a genuine sense of brokenness and sourness among the young, suggesting a loss of previous illusions.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator reflects on the literature of disappointment and the nature of disenchantment.
- Burne-Jones
Cited as an example of earlier artists whose wan and querulous art masked a jovial personal life.
- Matthew Arnold
Mentioned for his melodious whine in verse, contrasted with his social success as a diner-out.
- Rossetti
Noted for his disenamourment and displacement in art, yet a sworn friend to plain pleasures.
Key passages
“Now that most of our men in the prime of life have been in the army we seem to be in for a goodly literature of disappointment.”
Since many young men have served in the army, we can expect many books expressing disillusionment.
Sets up the chapter's theme of post-war disenchantment.
“The young melancholiasts of today are less good at their craft, and yet they do give you a notion that some sort of silver cord really seems to them to have come loose in their insides, or some golden bowl, which mattered to them, to have been more or less broken, and that they are feeling honestly sour about it.”
Today's melancholic young people are less skilled artists, but they genuinely feel that something precious inside them has been broken, and they are honestly bitter about it.
Contrasts the genuine disillusionment of the post-war generation with the more affected melancholy of earlier artists.