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MATHEW ARNOLD (1822-88)

Biography
Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 15 April 1888) 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. Matthew Arnold has been characterized as a
sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on
contemporary social issues.
3. Marriage and Career
Wishing to marry, but unable to support a family on the wages of a
private secretary, Arnold sought the position of, and was appointed, in
April 1851, one of Her Majestys Inspector of Schools. Two months later, he
married Frances Lucy, daughter of Sir William Wightman, Justice of the
Queens Bench. The Arnolds had six children: Thomas (1852 1868);
Trevenen William (18531872); Richard Penrose (1855 1908), an inspector
of factories; Lucy Charlotte (18581934) who married Frederick W.
Whitridge of New York, whom she had met during Arnolds American
lecture tour; Eleanore Mary Caroline (18611936) married Hon. Armine
Wodehouse (MP) in 1889, William Mansfield, 1st Viscount Sandhurst, in
1909; Basil Francis (18661868).
Literary Career
In 1852, Arnold published his second volume of poems, Empedocles on
Etna, and Other Poems. In 1853, he published Poems: A New Edition, a
selection from the two earlier volumes famously excluding Empedocles on
Etna, but adding new poems, Sohrab and Rustum and The Scholar Gipsy.
In 1854, Poems: Second Series appeared; also a selection, it included the
new poem, Balder Dead.
Arnold was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1857. He was the
first to deliver his lectures in English rather than Latin. He was re-elected
in 1862. On Translating Homer (1861) and the initial thoughts that Arnold
would transform into Culture and Anarchy were among the fruits of the
Oxford lectures. In 1859, he conducted the first of three trips to the
continent at the behest of parliament to study European educational
practices. He self-published The Popular Education of France (1861), the
introduction to which was later published under the title Democracy
(1879).
Poetry

Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with
Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning
The mood of Arnolds poetry tends to be of plaintive reflection, and he is
restrained in expressing emotion. He felt that poetry should be the
criticism of life and express a philosophy. Arnolds philosophy is that true
happiness comes from within, and that people should seek within
themselves for good, while being resigned in acceptance of outward
things and avoiding the pointless turmoil of the world. However, he argues
that we should not live in the belief that we shall one day inherit eternal
bliss. If we are not happy on earth, we should moderate our desires rather
than live in dreams of something that may never be attained.
Prose
Arnolds career as a prose writer divided into three phases: 1) early
literary criticism that begins with his preface to the 1853 edition of his
poems and ends with the first series of Essays in Criticism (1865); 2) a
prolonged middle period (overlapping the first and third phases)
characterized by social, political and religious writing (roughly 1860
1875); 3) a return to literary criticism with the selecting and editing of
collections of Wordsworths and Byrons poetry and the second series of
Essays in Criticism.
Literary Critic
Arnolds work as a literary critic began with the 1853 "Preface to the
Poems". In it, he attempted to explain his extreme act of self-censorship in
excluding the dramatic poem "Empedocles on Etna". With its emphasis on
the importance of subject in poetry, on "clearness of arrangement, rigor of
development, simplicity of style" learned from the Greeks, and in the
strong imprint of Goethe and Wordsworth, may be observed nearly all the
essential elements in his critical theory. George Watson described the
preface, written by the thirty-one year old Arnold, as "oddly stiff and
graceless when we think of the elegance of his later prose."
Death
He died suddenly in 1888 while walking with his wife to catch a tram in
Liverpool to meet his daughter, who was arriving on a boat from the USA.
Arnolds most famous piece of literary criticism is his essay The Study of
Poetry. In this work, Arnold is fundamentally concerned with poetrys
high destiny; he believes that mankind will discover that we have to
turn to poetry to interpret life for us, to console us, to sustain us as
science and philosophy will eventually prove flimsy and unstable.

4. At the root of Arnolds argument is his desire to illuminate and preserve

the poets he believes to be the touchstones of literature, and to ask
questions about the moral value of poetry that does not champion truth,
beauty, valor, and clarity.
5. According to Arnold The future of poetry is immense, because in poetry,
where it is worthy of its high destinies, our race, as time goes on, will find
an ever surer and surer stay. There is not a creed which is not shaken, not
an accredited dogma which is not shown to be questionable, not a
received tradition which does not threaten to dissolve. Our religion has
materialized itself in the fact, in the supposed fact; it has attachedits
emotion to the fact, and now the fact is failing it. But for poetry the idea is
everything; the rest is a world of illusion, of divine illusion.Poetry attaches
its emotion to the idea; the idea is the fact.The strongest part of our
religion to-day is its unconscious poetry
6. Victorian CriticismArt and Morality: Art for Arts sakeCarlyle Ruskin :
Moral view should be the benchmark to judge thework of literature. Art
should be for the betterment of life.Art and Aesthetic pleasure: Art for
Arts sakeWalter Pater and Oscar Wilde: Aesthetic and artistic delight
should be thebenchmark to judge the work of literature. Art should be for
delight andpleasure of mankind.
7. Mathew Arnold The CriticThe business of criticism, is not to find fault
nor to display the critics own learningor influence, but it is to know the
best which has been thought and said in theworld and by using this
knowledge to create a current of fresh and free thought.The Study of
Poetry: The first essay in the 1888 volume was originally published as
thegeneral introduction to T.H. Wards anthology, The English Poets
( 1880)His Classicism: He did not like the spasmodic expression of
Romanticism. He advocateddiscipline in writing and recommended the
classical writers.
8. He says-We should conceive of it as capable of higher uses, and called
to higherdestinies, than those which in general men have assigned to it
hitherto. Moreand more mankind will discover that we have to turn to
poetry to interpretlife for us, to console us, to sustain us.Without poetry,
our science will appear incomplete; and most of what nowpasses with us
for religion and philosophy will be replaced by poetry.If we conceive thus
highly of the destinies of poetry, we must also set ourstandard for poetry
high, since poetry, to be capable of fulfilling such highdestinies, must be
poetry of a high order of excellence. We must accustomourselves to a high
standard and to a strict judgment.

9. A MoralistAs a critic Arnold is essentially a moralist, and has very

definite ideas aboutwhat poetry should and should not be. A poetry of
revolt against moral ideas,he says, is a poetry of revolt against life, and a
poetry of indifference tomoral ideas is a poetry of indifference to life.
10. Aristotle says that poetry is superior toHistory since it bears the
stamp of highseriousness and truth. If truth andseriousness are wanting
in the subject matterof a poem, so will the true poetic stamp ofdiction and
movement be found wanting inits style and manner. Hence the two,
thenobility of subject matter, and thesuperiority of style and manner,
areproportional and cannot occur independently.Arnold took up Aristotles
view, asserting thattrue greatness in poetry is given by the truthand
seriousness of its subject matter, and bythe high diction and movement in
its styleand manner, and although indebted to JoshuaReynolds for the
expression grand style,Arnold gave it a new meaning when he usedit in his
lecture On Translating Homer (1861): I think it will be found that that the
grandstyle arises in poetry when a noble nature,poetically gifted, treats
with simplicity orwith a severity a serious subject. According to Arnold,
Homer is the best modelof a simple grand style, while Milton is thebest
model of severe grand style. Dante,however, is an example of both.
11. Future of Poetry
The future of poetry is immense, because in poetry, our race, as time
goeson, will find an even surer and surer stay. There is not a creed which
is notshaken. But for poetry, the idea is everything; the rest is a world
ofilluision, of divine illusion. Poetry attaches emotion to the idea,; the idea
isa fact. The strongest part of our religion, to-day is its unconscrious
poetry.We have to turn to poetry to interpret life for us, to console us, to
sustainus. Without poetry, our science will appear incomplete, and most of
whatnow passes with us for religion and philosophy will be replaced by
poetry.
12. Poetry is Criticism of Life
-Arnold asserts that literature, and especially poetry, isCriticism of life.In poetry, this criticism of life must conform to the laws of poetic truthand
poetic beautyTruth and seriousness of matter, felicity and perfection of
diction andmanner, as are exhibited in the best poets, are what
constitutes acriticism of life.
13. Key components of Poetry
Thus, the superior character of truth and seriousness, in the matter
andsubstance of the best poetry, is inseparable from the superiority of
diction andmovement marking its style and manner

Even Chaucer, in Arnolds view, in spite of his virtues such asbenignity,

largeness, and spontaneity, lacks seriousness.Burns too lacks sufficient
seriousness, because he was hypocriticalin that while he adopted a moral
stance in some of his poems, in hisprivate life he flouted morality.
. Return to Classical values
Arnold believed that a modern writer should be aware that contemporary
literature is builton the foundations of the past, and should contribute to
the future by continuing a firmtradition. Quoting Goethe and Niebuhr in
support of his view, he asserts that his age suffersfrom spiritual weakness
because it thrives on self-interest and scientific materialism, andtherefore
cannot provide noble characters such as those found in Classical
literature.He urged modern poets to look to the ancients and their great
characters and themes forguidance and inspiration. Classical literature, in
his view, possess pathos, moral profundityand noble simplicity, while
modern themes, arising from an age of spiritual weakness, aresuitable for
only comic and lighter kinds of poetry, and dont possess the loftiness to
supportepic or heroic poetry.Arnold turns his back on the prevailing
Romantic view of poetry and seeks to revive theClassical values of
objectivity, urbanity, and architectonics. He denounces the Romantics
forignoring the Classical writers for the sake of novelty, and for their
allusive (Arnold uses theword suggestive) writing which defies easy
comprehension.