Matthew Arnold, born on December 24, 1822, in Laleham, England, was a prominent figure of the Victorian era. Renowned as a poet, critic, and cultural commentator, Arnold made significant contributions to English literature and played a crucial role in shaping his time’s intellectual and literary landscape. His profound insights, elegant prose, and reflective poetry continue to captivate readers today.
From an early age, Arnold displayed a keen intellect and a deep appreciation for literature. He was the eldest son of Thomas Arnold, a renowned educator, and headmaster of Rugby School, and his upbringing immersed him in an environment that fostered learning and critical thinking. This early exposure to education and intellectual pursuits greatly influenced Arnold’s worldview and laid the foundation for his future endeavors.
Arnold’s literary career can be broadly divided into two main areas: poetry and literary criticism. In his poetry, he tackled profound themes, exploring the complexities of human existence, the decline of faith, and the challenges posed by the rapidly changing modern world. His poems often reveal a sense of melancholy and a longing for a higher spiritual and moral purpose.
One of Arnold’s most famous poems is “Dover Beach,” written in 1851. It portrays the erosion of traditional religious beliefs and Victorian society’s prevailing sense of uncertainty. The poem’s haunting lines, such as encapsulate the pervasive feelings of disquiet and aimlessness that characterized the era.
“And we are here as on a darkling plain / Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,”
In addition to his poetic achievements, Arnold was a celebrated literary critic. His essays and reviews, collected in works such as “Essays in Criticism” (1865) and “Culture and Anarchy” (1869), offered insightful analyses of literature, society, and culture. Arnold advocated for pursuing high culture, believing that literature and art could unify in an increasingly fragmented and materialistic society.
One of Arnold’s most influential ideas was his concept of “culture.” He believed authentic culture encompassed a broad intellectual and moral development beyond mere academic knowledge. According to Arnold, culture fosters individual growth, a sense of social harmony, and a shared understanding of the best that has been thought and said. His vision of culture as a means of fostering humanistic values and personal refinement had a lasting impact on Victorian society and continues to resonate today.
Arnold’s critical works also contributed to the development of literary theory and the field of comparative literature. He championed the notion of “touchstones” or classic works of literature that could be used as benchmarks to evaluate contemporary literature. His ideas helped shape the study of literature as a discipline and influenced subsequent generations of critics.
Throughout his life, Arnold held various professional positions, including a long tenure as an inspector of schools, which allowed him to travel and observe the state of education in England. These experiences further fueled his concerns about the erosion of traditional values and the need for a broader cultural education.
Matthew Arnold’s impact on Victorian society was not limited to his literary contributions. He was also involved in social and educational reforms, advocating for improving working-class education and establishing a more egalitarian society. Arnold’s belief in the power of culture to elevate individuals and society as a whole inspired his involvement in these endeavors.
Matthew Arnold passed away on April 15, 1888, but his legacy endures. His poems and critical writings continue to be studied and appreciated for their profound insights into the human condition. Arnold’s exploration of the tensions between faith and doubt, tradition and progress, and the pursuit of intellectual and moral excellence remains relevant in our modern world.
With his unwavering commitment to culture, literature, and education, Matthew Arnold left an indelible mark on Victorian society and subsequent generations. As a poet, critic, and cultural icon, he reminds us of the enduring value of introspection, intellectual curiosity, and pursuing higher ideals in an ever-changing world.
The need of expansion is as genuine an instinct in man as the need in a plant for the light, or the need in man himself for going upright. The love of liberty is simply the instinct in man for expansion.
Matthew Arnold
It is so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done.
Matthew Arnold
Waiting for the spark from heaven to fall.
Matthew Arnold
Use your gifts faithfully, and they shall be enlarged; practice what you know, and you shall attain to higher knowledge.
Matthew Arnold
Truth sits upon the lips of dying men.
Matthew Arnold
To have the sense of creative activity is the great happiness and the great proof of being alive.
Matthew Arnold
The true meaning of religion is thus, not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion.
Matthew Arnold
The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light.
Matthew Arnold
It is almost impossible to exaggerate the proneness of the human mind to take miracles as evidence, and to seek for miracles as evidence.
Matthew Arnold
And we forget because we must and not because we will.
Matthew Arnold
Bald as the bare mountain tops are bald, with a baldness full of grandeur.
Matthew Arnold
Because thou must not dream, thou need not despair.
Matthew Arnold
Conduct is three-fourths of our life and its largest concern.
Matthew Arnold
Culture is properly described as the love of perfection; it is a study of perfection.
Matthew Arnold
Culture is to know the best that has been said and thought in the world.
Matthew Arnold
For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment.
Matthew Arnold
France, famed in all great arts, in none supreme.
Matthew Arnold
Greatness is a spiritual condition.
Matthew Arnold
Nature, with equal mind, Sees all her sons at play, Sees man control the wind, The wind sweep man away.
Matthew Arnold
Home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names, and impossible loyalties!
Matthew Arnold
The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
Matthew Arnold
Journalism is literature in a hurry.
Matthew Arnold
Not a having and a resting, but a growing and becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it.
Matthew Arnold
Our society distributes itself into Barbarians, Philistines and Populace; and America is just ourselves with the Barbarians quite left out, and the Populace nearly.
Matthew Arnold
Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things.
Matthew Arnold
Poetry; a criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.
Matthew Arnold
Resolve to be thyself: and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery.
Matthew Arnold
Sad Patience, too near neighbour to despair.
Matthew Arnold
Spare me the whispering, crowded room, the friends who come and gape and go, the ceremonious air of gloom – all, which makes death a hideous show.
Matthew Arnold
Still bent to make some port he knows not where, still standing for some false impossible shore.
Matthew Arnold
The need of expansion is as genuine an instinct in man as the need in a plant for the light, or the need in man himself for going upright. The love of liberty is simply the instinct in man for expansion.
Matthew Arnold
It is so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done.
Matthew Arnold
Waiting for the spark from heaven to fall.
Matthew Arnold
Use your gifts faithfully, and they shall be enlarged; practice what you know, and you shall attain to higher knowledge.
Matthew Arnold
Truth sits upon the lips of dying men.
Matthew Arnold
To have the sense of creative activity is the great happiness and the great proof of being alive.
Matthew Arnold
The true meaning of religion is thus, not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion.
Matthew Arnold
The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light.
Matthew Arnold
It is almost impossible to exaggerate the proneness of the human mind to take miracles as evidence, and to seek for miracles as evidence.
Matthew Arnold
And we forget because we must and not because we will.
Matthew Arnold
Bald as the bare mountain tops are bald, with a baldness full of grandeur.
Matthew Arnold
Because thou must not dream, thou need not despair.
Matthew Arnold
Conduct is three-fourths of our life and its largest concern.
Matthew Arnold
Culture is properly described as the love of perfection; it is a study of perfection.
Matthew Arnold
Culture is to know the best that has been said and thought in the world.
Matthew Arnold
For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment.
Matthew Arnold
France, famed in all great arts, in none supreme.
Matthew Arnold
Greatness is a spiritual condition.
Matthew Arnold
Nature, with equal mind, Sees all her sons at play, Sees man control the wind, The wind sweep man away.
Matthew Arnold
Home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names, and impossible loyalties!
Matthew Arnold
The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
Matthew Arnold
Journalism is literature in a hurry.
Matthew Arnold
Not a having and a resting, but a growing and becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it.
Matthew Arnold
Our society distributes itself into Barbarians, Philistines and Populace; and America is just ourselves with the Barbarians quite left out, and the Populace nearly.
Matthew Arnold
Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things.
Matthew Arnold
Poetry; a criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.
Matthew Arnold
Resolve to be thyself: and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery.
Matthew Arnold
Sad Patience, too near neighbour to despair.
Matthew Arnold
Spare me the whispering, crowded room, the friends who come and gape and go, the ceremonious air of gloom – all, which makes death a hideous show.
Matthew Arnold
Still bent to make some port he knows not where, still standing for some false impossible shore.
Matthew Arnold