Mathew arnold

Literary Criticism II
ENG- 332
Lecture No: 07
“Mathew Arnold’s Study of Poetry”
Course: Literary Criticism II- ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: siraj.khan@kust.edu.pk
By: Siraj Khan
Lecturer in English
KUST

Outlines
Poet’s Biography
The Study of Poetry
His Theory of Poetry
Touchstone Theory
High Seriousness
The Three Estimates
His Views On Poets
Criticism On Arnolds Views
Topic: Mathew Arnold’s Study of Poetry
Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: siraj.khan@kust.edu.pk

Mathew Arnold
(December 24, 1822 – April15, 1888 )
 English Victorian Poet
 Winner of Newdigate Prize
 His first Volume was The Strayed Reveller
 Literary and Social Critic
 Dover Beach/ Rustam and Suhrab
 Influenced by Thomas Arnold. Age, Classicals

The Study of Poetry
•Poetry is Criticism of Life
•The Future of Poetry is immense
•Without Poetry, Science is Incomplete
•Readers should insist on real estimate
•Shakespeare & Milton, Dryden & Pope
•Thomas Gray
•Genuine and Artificial Poetry
•Scottish Poems Like Burns
•High Seriousness

Theory of Poetry
 Greek Art and, Culture and Literature
 Suitable Action
 Subject of Poetry
 Manner and Style
 Ancients are safe models or guides
 The Grand Style

Mathew Arnold’s Views on Criticism
Importance of Critic & Criticism
Personal and Historical Judgement
Touchstone Method

High Seriousness
 High Seriousness
 Truth and Serious
 Geoffery Chaucer
 Beauty and Valor
 Feeling and Sincerity

 Comparison of Poetry with other Sciences
 Standard Comparison
 Truth and Serious
Touchstone Theory

Three Estimates
Historical Estimate Personal Estimate
Real Estimate

Praised his Excellent Style
He is not Classic
Lack of High Seriousness
Unlike Homer, Virgil and Shakespeare
His Views on Chaucer

Views on Dryden and Pope
 Dryden the Glorious Founder
 Pope the Splendid High Priest
 They were not Poet Classics
 Prose Classics
 The Age of Prose Reason

His Views on Thomas Gray
The Classic of the 18th Century
 Inherited Poetic Class
 A Poet of Classical Ideals
 Scanties, Frailest Classic

His Views on Robert Burns
 Lacks High Seriousness
 Unlike Chaucer in all Cadres of Poetic Style
 Largeness , Benighnity, Freedom and
Spontaneity
 Superior than all except Shakespeare

His Views on Shakespeare
• In his sonnet On Shakespeare he says;
• “Others abide our question.
Thou are free.
We ask and ask
Thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge'.

• Arnold's criticism of life is often marred by his naive moralizing,
by his inadequate perception of the relation between art and
morality, and by his uncritical admiration of what he regarded as
the golden sanity of the ancient Greeks.
• For all his championing of disinterestedness, Arnold was unable
to practice disinterestedness in all his essays.
• In his essay on Shelley particularly, he displayed a lamentable
lack of disinterestedness. Shelley's moral views were too much for
the Victorian Arnold.
• In his essay on Keats too Arnold failed to be disinterested. The
sentimental letters of Keats to Fanny Brawne were too much for
him. But Arnold's insistence on the standards and his concern over
the relation between poetry and life make him one of the great
modern critics.
Criticism On Arnold’s Views

 George Sainsburry: A History of English
Criticism:
“all literature is the application of ideas of
life and to say that poetry is the application of
ideas to life under conditions fixed for poetry, is
simply a vain repetition.
 T.S.Eliot: ‘His observation that ‘poetry is
criticism of life’ is repeating Aristotle. Nothing
novel is contributed as a critic.’

Mathew arnold

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