Sweetness and light
Encyclopedia
Sweetness and light is an English idiom
that indicates a person's friendliness and ease. Today, it is generally used ironically to describe insincere courtesy. For example: The two had been fighting for a month, but around others it was all sweetness and light.
Jonathan Swift
coined the term in his 1704 essay, "The Battle of the Books
". Matthew Arnold
popularized it in his 1869 essay "Culture and Anarchy."
Midway through, one of Swift's Ancients, Aesop
, stumbles on a bee and a spider arguing about who is better. The bee had just ruined the spider's web while trying to escape. The spider claims that the bee is useless because he has no property of his own. The bee counters, saying that the spider's web only consists of dirt, and that all he really owns is the poison. Aesop judges the argument, equating the spider to the Moderns, and the bee to the Ancients. The ancient way, he says, is to fill their "hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light." The ancients are able to do this, Aesop says, because they "are content with the bee to pretend to nothing of [their] own, beyond…flights and…language." That is to say, that the ancients are happy with the continuation of a larger tradition, even though they have no personal ownership, because of the sweetness and light they gain.
. Arnold claims that every culture strives for sweetness and light, which is the ideal combination of beauty and intelligence. Sweetness is beauty, and light is intelligence. He argues that culture moves to continually perfect itself, and that sweetness and light are the outcome of any good culture. He says that sweetness and light are "the essential character of human perfection."
The phrase came into regular use after Arnold's essay, and crept into the English language as an idiom.
In recent years, the phrase has started being used when pleasantness is unexpected or insincere. The novel's tense moments are offset by long passages of sweetness and light. Or: Fred was all sweetness and light around his ex-wife.
The single "Sweetness and Light" was released by Australian electronic dance outfit Itch-E and Scratch-E
on their 1994 album. The single reached the twenty-first place on the 1994 Triple J Hottest 100, and led to a 1995 Australian Recording Industry Association award for best dance single. The duo caused a brief controversy during the presentation of their award on national television, Mac and Sheriff Lindo (Little known 3rd member of the band for a few years), thanked "the ecstasy dealers of Sydney", which was subsequently bleeped out of the telecast.
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
that indicates a person's friendliness and ease. Today, it is generally used ironically to describe insincere courtesy. For example: The two had been fighting for a month, but around others it was all sweetness and light.
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
coined the term in his 1704 essay, "The Battle of the Books
The Battle of the Books
The Battle of the Books is the name of a short satire written by Jonathan Swift and published as part of the prolegomena to his A Tale of a Tub in 1704. It depicts a literal battle between books in the King's Library , as ideas and authors struggle for supremacy...
". Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...
popularized it in his 1869 essay "Culture and Anarchy."
Coining
Jonathan Swift's "Battle of the Books" pits cultural ideas against each other in winding satirical narratives. His main groups are the "Ancients" and the "Moderns." Swift's important thinkers fight amongst themselves for superiority.Midway through, one of Swift's Ancients, Aesop
Aesop
Aesop was a Greek writer credited with a number of popular fables. Older spellings of his name have included Esop and Isope. Although his existence remains uncertain and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a...
, stumbles on a bee and a spider arguing about who is better. The bee had just ruined the spider's web while trying to escape. The spider claims that the bee is useless because he has no property of his own. The bee counters, saying that the spider's web only consists of dirt, and that all he really owns is the poison. Aesop judges the argument, equating the spider to the Moderns, and the bee to the Ancients. The ancient way, he says, is to fill their "hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light." The ancients are able to do this, Aesop says, because they "are content with the bee to pretend to nothing of [their] own, beyond…flights and…language." That is to say, that the ancients are happy with the continuation of a larger tradition, even though they have no personal ownership, because of the sweetness and light they gain.
Popularization
Matthew Arnold popularized Swift's phrase in an essay entitled "Sweetness and Light," one of the essays collected in Culture and AnarchyCulture and Anarchy
Culture and Anarchy is a series of periodical essays by Matthew Arnold, first published in Cornhill Magazine 1867-68 and collected as a book in 1869...
. Arnold claims that every culture strives for sweetness and light, which is the ideal combination of beauty and intelligence. Sweetness is beauty, and light is intelligence. He argues that culture moves to continually perfect itself, and that sweetness and light are the outcome of any good culture. He says that sweetness and light are "the essential character of human perfection."
The phrase came into regular use after Arnold's essay, and crept into the English language as an idiom.
Modern use
The use of the phrase has changed a great deal since its original meaning out of Arnold's essay. During the 20th century, it was used when someone exhibited an individual friendliness, or when a situation was especially pleasant. Bob's close friends knew he wasn't all sweetness and light. Or: Our time at the opera was all sweetness and light.In recent years, the phrase has started being used when pleasantness is unexpected or insincere. The novel's tense moments are offset by long passages of sweetness and light. Or: Fred was all sweetness and light around his ex-wife.
The single "Sweetness and Light" was released by Australian electronic dance outfit Itch-E and Scratch-E
Itch-E and Scratch-E
Not to be confused with the fictional characters Itchy and Scratchy from The Simpsons.Itch-E and Scratch-E is an Australian electronic music group formed by Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen in Sydney in the early 1990s initially recording on the Volition label...
on their 1994 album. The single reached the twenty-first place on the 1994 Triple J Hottest 100, and led to a 1995 Australian Recording Industry Association award for best dance single. The duo caused a brief controversy during the presentation of their award on national television, Mac and Sheriff Lindo (Little known 3rd member of the band for a few years), thanked "the ecstasy dealers of Sydney", which was subsequently bleeped out of the telecast.