Thinking Activity : The Study of Poetry by Matthew Arnold :

Thinking Activity : The Study of Poetry by Matthew Arnold :

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Here is my blog on Thinking Activity: The Study of Poetry by Matthew Arnold, this task given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. For more information visit Dilip Bard Sir's blog Click here 

Let's look at a short biography of Matthew Arnold before discussing Arnold's views on good poetry and criticism.

Matthew Arnold : Victorian poet and critic :

Born : 24th December 1822

Death : 15th April 1888

He was also an English poet, cultural critic and novelist and colonial administrator. He was elected professor of poetry at Oxford in 1857. He was called the third greatest Victorian poet. His literary career began with the release of two prize poems, "The Stride Reveler and Other Poems," in 1849, the mood of his poetry being explicit and his tendency to express emotions. He felt that poetry should be a criticism of life and expressed philosophy.

The Victorian era has produced many critics, novelists, thinkers, and philosophers. Among them, Arnold holds a respectable position as a poet and critic. We all know that Arnold was an English Victorian great writer. He was born on December 24,1822 in England. As a poet, the work which gave Arnold a high place in the history of literature and in the history of ideas, was completed in the time he was able to escape his official duties. Among the leading authors of Victoria, Matthew Arnold is unique in that his reputation falls equally on his poetry and criticism of his poetry. Many readers have come to see Arnold as the most modern in Victorian. Arnold himself defines "text" as a professor of poetry at the 1874 literature at Cassford, "on the modern element in literature". In this lecture there was a transition from Arnold's poet to social and literary critic.

His Famous poems are :

 (1) " Thyrsis " ( 1865 )

 (2) " Sohrab and Rustum " ( 1853 )

 (3) " The Scholar Gipsy " ( 1853 )

 (4) " Rugby Chapel " ( 1867 ) 

 (5) " Memorial Verses to Wordsworth  "

Matthew Arnold As a critic :

Matthew Arnold was a good critic. A critic is basically a teacher and he must bear in mind that literature is a criticism of life. Arnold tries to expand the definition of criticism by saying that,

" It is endeavour in all branches of knowledge like theology, philosophy, history, art and science to see the object as itself it is rarely".

Critic must be disinterested :

Arnold emphasizes the term ‘disinterested’, the critic should be impartial without any prejudice. Critics must take an interest in evaluating and giving judgment. Matthew Arnold had an essay called "Function Criticism". Matthew Arnold mentions that great times of creativity are not forthcoming, and he cites for example, infant was a very short period of time, and then there is the law, and in that respect Arnold mentions that the critic has a very important role and that is the role that critics have. Authors should provide new ideas.

Characteristic of Good poetry  :

Arnold's poetry is supposed to apply a different meaning to the modern term applied to the views of the critic, the reformer, and the prophet, who devoted most of his life to expanding the intellectual horizons of his countrymen, the whole English-speaking world. The poem is something more than Keats "Beauty is Truth, the Beauty of Truth." Of which Arnold was then to say that he "doesn't need to know all", though that is a lot. It is a surrogate source for moral healing and a weak Christian faith for the ages. These views echo Arnold's discourses about the translation of Hormor (1861), in which "gentlemanship" is seen as a key feature of Homer's "study of poetry" (1880), which declares that the strongest part of our religion today is its unconscious poetry.


"Poetry as a Critic of Life" Arnold describes life as an application of critical and profound ideas, criticizing the laws of life and the laws of poetic truth and the 'beauty as truth, and the seriousness of matter' and 'the fullness of honor and practice. Arnold believes that poetry does not represent life, but rather that the poet adds something from his own noble nature and contributes to his criticism of this life.

Arnold's Touchstone Method :

Arnold's touchstone method of criticism was actually a comparative method of criticism. He followed the ancient Greek, Roman and French writers, the model being followed. Old English writers such as Shakespeare, Spencer, Milton were also taken as Maswell. Arnold took the route chosen by the modern author and compared them with the ancient author and determined the merits there. This method is called the "touchstone method" of Arnold. His general theory of poetry was the "touchstone method", which presented scientific criticism for critical evaluation by comparing scientific objections and as the two primary tools for judging individual poets.