Write a note on the blend of humour and pathos in 'Dream Children'.

Ans: Arnold expressed:

"Humour might be defined as extreme sensitiveness to the true proportion of things" and, "the power of imaginatively acknowledging the multiform aspects of the problems of life and thus getting oneself unfixed from one's own over-certainty and smiling at one's own over tenacity". With Charles Lamb, humour and wit is often allied to pathos. The undercurrent of pathos always flows humorously through his wit. fun, playful fancy and whimsical exaggerations. Wit is based on the intellectual apprehension of things which connotes the ability to recognise subtle resemblance in things not commonly associated. The series of portraits that he has created has a Hogarthian richness, but untouched by the satire of Hogarth.

Dream Children is full of lively sketches of Lamb's grandmother and his elder brother. He narrates the pathos in their lives. The deliberate gaiety of Lamb is mostly based upon poignant memories. In this essay Lamb unfolds the idea how a fragile, based upon poignant moment is transmuted into a tenderly pathetic reverie by Lamb. Fun is basically an innate tendency to jocoseness which presupposes that everything around us is formed for our jest, sport and amusement. Fun transforms into humour when there is a mixture of reflection. The essay is a phantasm which consists a most sincere revelation of the deeper side of Lamb's mind. It becomes nostalgic for what might have been and determines to "wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe for millions of ages" before "they can have an existence and a name". With deep sigh Lamb describes: "The children of Alice call Bartrum father" humour and pathos mix up exquisitely when Lamb's dream children utter: “ We are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been.”

Lamb's urge for freedom and his interest in life are expressed in Dream Children and at the same time it portrays his agony at being denied the joys and wishes of life. He was conscious of the morbid melancholy he suffered from, and his manly spirit often made him assume a gay exterior just to ward off undesired sympathy.

He looked upon the world at large and saw in men much to sorrow for, which made his heart weep. He overlaid the pathos with fun and wit in order to save his own identity from becoming sentimental. These criteria are evident in his address to the India House, where he confesses "unhealthy contributor to my weal. stern fosterer of my living farewell! In thee remain, not in the obscure collection of some wondering book sellers, my works!"

Lamb's grandmother. elder brother, might-have-been wife and dream children are dealt with sympathy, as well as sensitiveness.