Matthew Arnold defines poetry as a "criticism of life" that addresses life's problems under conditions of poetic truth and beauty. Poetry must have a noble and profound application of ideas to real life. It is a superior form of knowledge to philosophy, science, and religion because it provides a sound representation of life and ideas without falsifying facts. To Arnold, the greatest poetry, like that of Homer, Dante, and Milton, has high seriousness that gives their criticism of life profound power through absolute sincerity.

1. 2. Poetry as a Criticism of Life
“Poetry is at bottom criticism of life”
- Matthew Arnold
Introduction:
Poetry is one of the most prestigious forms of writing. It is a literary work in verse writing of a
high quality which shows deep feelings with beauty and elegance. It’s an art that lies in the soul
and spirit of man. To enhance the beauty and broadening its scope, the critics are just as
important poetry as poets are. One of those critics is Matthew Arnold. The ‘first modern critic'
Matthew Arnold is a distinguished twentieth century English poet and critic who brought about
a revolution in the world of English literature with his critical essays, prose and poetry. He is
deemed as the third great Victorian poet after Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning.
Arnold’s one of the most famous pieces of literary criticism is in his essay “The Study of Poetry”,
which opens his Essays in Criticism: Second Series. It is Arnold’s attempt to establish criteria for
what poetry ought to be.
Poetry according to Matthew Arnold:
According to Matthew Arnold, poetry is “simply the most delightful and perfect form of
utterance that human words can reach”; It is, “a criticism of life under the conditions fixed for
such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.”
The “Criticism of Life”:
Arnold defines poetry as a criticism of life. Poetry, in other words, it must concern itself with life
and its problems. The idea, the subject-matter, the theme of poetry should be relevant to the
lives of people. It should not be far-fetched in a way that has no direct connection to our lives.
The phrase “criticism of life” is further elaborated by Arnold with the phrase “noble and
profound application of ideas to life under the conditions fixed by the laws of poetic truth and
poetic beauty.” A noble and profound application of ideas to life is what Arnold means by the

2. ‘criticism of life’. The greatness of a poet lies in his powerful and beautiful application of ideas
to life. The more powerful the application of ideas, the greater will the resulting poetry is.
However, the application must be under conditions fixed by the laws of poetic truth and poetic
beauty. Homer, Dante, and John Milton are the poets whose application of ideas is noble and
profound in poetry, while the metaphysical poetry of poets like John Donne is not.
Matthew Arnold’s own poetry fulfills the condition of ‘criticism of life’ to a large extent. His
poem “Dover Beach” appears as a fitting example of it. The poem presents two major themes.
First, it expresses the poet’s hopelessness and despair in the face of both his own spiritual
crisis and that of his society. It then proposes true love as a relief to support this loss of faith.
In the same way, in his other poems such as “To Marguerite”, “Resignation”, “A Southern Night”,
and “The Scholar-Gipsy,” Arnold is passing judgment on the life of his age, the life of his
country, the lives of individual men. They all represent criticism of life because they address
issues that are essential to the human being.
Poetic Truth & Poetic Beauty:
According to Arnold, poetry is a criticism of life under the conditions fixed by “the laws of
poetic truth and poetic beauty”. By ‘poetic truth’ Arnold means representation of life in a true
way, and by the ‘poetic beauty’ he means the manner and style of poetry.
The matter of the best poetry is characterized by truth, and seriousness to an eminent degree,
and the manner is characterized by superiority of diction and of movement. So, the matter and
style must have the accent of high beauty, worth and power. But Arnold does not define what
this mark or accent is. He says we would ourselves feel it, for it is the mark or accent of all high
poetry.
Arnold asserts that characteristic of truth and seriousness, which makes poetry superior, is
inseparable from the superiority of diction and movement marking its style and manner. If the
matter of a poet has truth and high seriousness, the manner and diction also acquire the accent
of superiority.

3. High Seriousness:
The laws of the poetic truth and poetic beauty insist on the condition of “high seriousness” in
poetry. This is the quality that gives poetry its power. It comes from absolute sincerity that the
poet feels for his subject. A poet’s sincerity consists in his speaking from his very inmost soul,
from his very depths. The quality of high seriousness is found in the poetry of Dante, Homer
and Milton. It is the power of sincerity that gives their criticism of life the power that they have.
Poetry’s Superiority over Other Forms of Knowledge:
According to Arnold, as a criticism of life, poetry has a high destiny. He claims that poetry is
superior to philosophy, science and religion. Philosophy relies on reason, which is a false show
of knowledge. Science is soulless, artificial and is incomplete without poetry. Religion attaches
its emotion to supposed facts, and the supposed facts are failing it, but poetry attaches its
emotion to ideas and ideas are infallible. It provides a sound representation of life and ideas
without attempting to falsify the facts.
Arnold is of the view that poetry can be our sustenance. The best poetry has a power of
forming, sustaining and delighting us as nothing else can. With the passing of time mankind
will discover that they have to turn to poetry in other to interpret life, and to console and
sustain themselves as science, religion and philosophy will eventually prove to be fragile and
unstable.
Conclusion:
To sum up, we can say that poetry is the criticism of life. It is the critic’s duty is to examine
both poetry and life at the same time. Analyzed thoroughly, there is much that is useful which
can be found in Arnold’s conception of poetry. Truth, high seriousness, a powerful application
of ideas to life, absolute sincerity, excellence of diction and movement in the matter of style,
these are the essential requirements of great poetry. As we understand, Mathew Arnold had a
broad conception of criticism and poetry.