Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnoldwas an English 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 characterised as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth24 December 1822
cannot fire heart kindle mystery soul spirit
We cannot kindle when we will / The fire which in the heart resides, / The spirit bloweth and is still, / In mystery our soul abides.
spiritual men law
Poetry interprets in two ways: it interprets by expressing, with magical felicity, the physiognomy and movements of the outward world; and it interprets by expressing, with inspired conviction, the ideas and laws of the inward world of man's moral and spiritual nature. In other words, poetry is interpretative both by having natural magic in it, and by having moral profundity.
spiritual men style
Style ... is a peculiar recasting and heightening, under a certain condition of spiritual excitement, of what a man has to say, in such a manner as to add dignity and distinction to it.
spiritual greatness conditions
Greatness is a spiritual condition.
life spiritual greatness
Greatness is a spiritual condition worthy to excite love, interest, and admiration; and the outward proof of possessing greatness is that we excite love, interest, and admiration.
near neighbor patience sad
With close-lipped Patience for our only friend, Sad Patience, too near neighbor to Despair.
governing
The governing idea of Hellenism is spontaneity of consciousness; that of Hebraism, strictness of conscience.
arises grand nature noble serious severity simplicity style subject treats
The grand style arises in poetry, when a noble nature, treats with simplicity or with severity a serious subject
expressive eyes lovely
Eyes too expressive to be blue, / Too lovely to be grey.
hum land low majestic mist river solitary
But the majestic river floated on, / Out of the mist and hum of that low land, / Into the frosty starlight, and there moved, / Rejoicing, through the hushed Chorasmian waste, / Under the solitary moon.
demands effort greatest teach
...what thwarts us and demands of us the greatest effort is also what can teach us most.
bottom criticism poetry
Poetry is at bottom a criticism of life.
beauty conditions criticism critics-and-criticism fixed laws life poetic truth
(Poetry) a criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty
brings dust forget memory petty souls
But each day brings its petty dust our soon-choked souls to fill, and we forget because we must, and not because we will.