Referring closely to the essay, On Going on a Journey, discuss Hazlitt's thoughts on going on a journey.
One of the pleasantest things in the world is to Go On a Journey, but Hazlitt likes to go all by himself. He loves the company of people, but he prefers nature’s company when he is out of doors.
The fields his study, nature was his book.He is not one of those people who criticise the countryside while he is out of town or one who cannot forget his life in the town and carries his comfort with him wherever he goes. When Hazlitt travels, he forgets about his existence in the town and enjoys the vegetative aspect of rural life, Nor those he requires a companion with whom he can share his solitude. He wishes to enjoy solitude for its own sake.
He wants to be alone, all by himself and does not entertain the company of any friend as he desires to converse with the nature than to do anything else. He would indulge in day dreaming while his friend would talk to him, so instead of being a half hearted friend, breaching the manners and neglecting others it is better to be solitary. He does not want to do both walking and talking at the same time, like French men who do two things at the same time, instead, he prefers to be like English men who do one thing at a time. So, he prefers to just walk and enjoy the pleasure of being in the nature's lap. Also, if he is not alone then his companion might have a different opinion about things. He may not have the same feeling about nature and be does not want to waste his time in explaining his opinion or the beauty of nature to his companion. He rather let his ideas float and fly with them and analyse them later. lie craves for clear blue sky over his head and green grass under his feet and for this divine pleasure he is ready to forsake the city life brimming with convenience. He wants to escape all the worries of his daily city life.
He feels if he is with his friend on a journey then a difference of opinion may end up in an argument or produce ill humour. Instead, he is happy with his own opinions and does not express them strongly until he has to defend them against any objections. He prefers to be nostalgic and recall all his beautiful memories, break all barriers and flow with them without any restriction while he is in the soothing togetherness of nature.
Unlike his friend and poet, Coleridge who could get inspired by the ambience of nature and turn a landscape into an object of learning, a didactic poem, Hazlitt avoids explaining what he feels. He only wants to relish nature's beauty.
According to Hazlitt, if at all he has to have a companion then he would prefer a stranger in the place of an old friend as a stranger delivers some sort of freshness. He moves the minimum interference as there are no past memories or events that they have shared together about which they can convene or rip up old grievances and destroy the pleasure of exquisite scenic grandeur.
Hazlitt prefers to keep his identity concealed as he meets new people in the inns as he will never meet them again so he is absolutely free to either project himself as a highly respectable person or a negative person. He prefers to be a new, refreshed person all together away from all pretence. He mentions about his stay in several in which are incognito and this turns to be the unique feature as this makes him to be away from all the trammels of the world to shed his importunate and tormenting personal identity and with the elements of the nature, can live in the moment free from all ties.
He is an avid reader and loves to spend his time in reading books of his choice at length till midnight. Once he remembers to have celebrated his birthday alone at a delightful spot he had searched. The luxuriously vegetated green valleys with dim sun rays shining on them. The tender boughs in the turbulent stream. The serenity and charm of that site and inspiration withdrawn from his friend, Coleridge? poems he gets enlightened by a divine vision. An awakening which brings forth the value of liberty, genius, love and virtue. All these qualities which were sunken deep within due to the hardship of a common day, now begin to surface and enlighten him.
With friends he would not mind going to see the ruins, aqueducts, pictures as they may be budding matters of discussions. When alone he is anticipated to see new places and meet new people, but while travelling out of his country he prefers carrying a friend who can speak his own mother tongue as in a foreign land one always longs to hear voices in his own language. He seconds Dr. Johnson's opinion that travelling to foreign lands helps one to pick up an art of communicating but in this process he detaches with his own individuality and turns into a different person.
He eventually declares that although travelling can give a little breather from an overdone monotony of life but eventually one has to discharge his duties and they can be only done in one's motherland. He wishes if had one entire life that rendered him a gift to travel and then had another life which he could spend at home and shoulder his responsibilities.
One of the pleasantest things in the world is to Go On a Journey, but Hazlitt likes to go all by himself. He loves the company of people, but he prefers nature’s company when he is out of doors.
He is not one of those people who criticise the countryside while he is out of town or one who cannot forget his life in the town and carries his comfort with him wherever he goes. When Hazlitt travels, he forgets about his existence in the town and enjoys the vegetative aspect of rural life, Nor those he requires a companion with whom he can share his solitude. He wishes to enjoy solitude for its own sake.
He wants to be alone, all by himself and does not entertain the company of any friend as he desires to converse with the nature than to do anything else. He would indulge in day dreaming while his friend would talk to him, so instead of being a half hearted friend, breaching the manners and neglecting others it is better to be solitary. He does not want to do both walking and talking at the same time, like French men who do two things at the same time, instead, he prefers to be like English men who do one thing at a time. So, he prefers to just walk and enjoy the pleasure of being in the nature's lap. Also, if he is not alone then his companion might have a different opinion about things. He may not have the same feeling about nature and be does not want to waste his time in explaining his opinion or the beauty of nature to his companion. He rather let his ideas float and fly with them and analyse them later. lie craves for clear blue sky over his head and green grass under his feet and for this divine pleasure he is ready to forsake the city life brimming with convenience. He wants to escape all the worries of his daily city life.
He feels if he is with his friend on a journey then a difference of opinion may end up in an argument or produce ill humour. Instead, he is happy with his own opinions and does not express them strongly until he has to defend them against any objections. He prefers to be nostalgic and recall all his beautiful memories, break all barriers and flow with them without any restriction while he is in the soothing togetherness of nature.
Unlike his friend and poet, Coleridge who could get inspired by the ambience of nature and turn a landscape into an object of learning, a didactic poem, Hazlitt avoids explaining what he feels. He only wants to relish nature's beauty.
According to Hazlitt, if at all he has to have a companion then he would prefer a stranger in the place of an old friend as a stranger delivers some sort of freshness. He moves the minimum interference as there are no past memories or events that they have shared together about which they can convene or rip up old grievances and destroy the pleasure of exquisite scenic grandeur.
Hazlitt prefers to keep his identity concealed as he meets new people in the inns as he will never meet them again so he is absolutely free to either project himself as a highly respectable person or a negative person. He prefers to be a new, refreshed person all together away from all pretence. He mentions about his stay in several in which are incognito and this turns to be the unique feature as this makes him to be away from all the trammels of the world to shed his importunate and tormenting personal identity and with the elements of the nature, can live in the moment free from all ties.
He is an avid reader and loves to spend his time in reading books of his choice at length till midnight. Once he remembers to have celebrated his birthday alone at a delightful spot he had searched. The luxuriously vegetated green valleys with dim sun rays shining on them. The tender boughs in the turbulent stream. The serenity and charm of that site and inspiration withdrawn from his friend, Coleridge? poems he gets enlightened by a divine vision. An awakening which brings forth the value of liberty, genius, love and virtue. All these qualities which were sunken deep within due to the hardship of a common day, now begin to surface and enlighten him.
With friends he would not mind going to see the ruins, aqueducts, pictures as they may be budding matters of discussions. When alone he is anticipated to see new places and meet new people, but while travelling out of his country he prefers carrying a friend who can speak his own mother tongue as in a foreign land one always longs to hear voices in his own language. He seconds Dr. Johnson's opinion that travelling to foreign lands helps one to pick up an art of communicating but in this process he detaches with his own individuality and turns into a different person.
He eventually declares that although travelling can give a little breather from an overdone monotony of life but eventually one has to discharge his duties and they can be only done in one's motherland. He wishes if had one entire life that rendered him a gift to travel and then had another life which he could spend at home and shoulder his responsibilities.
