English Literature
his last volume of poetry. Compared with the early work of Tennyson, these
works met with little favor, and Arnold practically abandoned poetry in
favor of critical writing.
The chief works of his critical period are the lectures _On Translating
Homer_ (1861) and the two volumes of _Essays in Criticism_ (1865-1888),
which made Arnold one of the best known literary men in England. Then, like
Ruskin, he turned to practical questions, and his _Friendship's Garland_
(1871) was intended to satirize and perhaps reform the great middle class
of England, whom he called the Philistines. _Culture and Anarchy_, the most
characteristic work of his practical period, appeared in 1869. These were
followed by four books on religious subjects,--_St. Paul and Protestantism_
(1870), _Literature and Dogma_ (1873), _God and the Bible_ (1875), and
_Last Essays on Church and Religion_ (1877). The _Discourses in America_
(1885) completes the list of his important works. At the height of his fame
and influence he died suddenly, in 1888, and was buried in the churchyard
at Laleham. The spirit of his whole life is well expressed in a few lines
of one of his own early sonnets:
One lesson, Nature, let me learn of thee,
One lesson which in every wind is blown,
One lesson of two duties kept at one
Though the loud world proclaim their enmity--
Of toil unsever'd from tranquillity;
Of labour, that in lasting fruit outgrows
Far noisier schemes, accomplish'd in repose,
Too great for haste, too high for rivalry.
WORKS OF MATTHEW ARNOLD. We shall better appreciate Arnold's poetry if we
remember two things: First, he had been taught in his home a simple and
devout faith in revealed religion, and in college he was thrown into a
world of doubt and questioning. He faced these doubts honestly,
reverently,--in his heart longing to accept the faith of his fathers, but
in his head demanding proof and scientific exactness. The same struggle
between head and heart, between reason and intuition, goes on to-day, and
that is one reason why Arnold's poetry, which wavers on the borderland
between doubt and faith, is a favorite with many readers. Second, Arnold,
as shown in his essay on _The Study of Poetry_, regarded poetry as "a
criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such criticism by the laws
of poetic truth and poetic beauty." Naturally, one who regards poetry as a
"criticism" will write very differently from one who regards poetry as the
natural language of the soul. He will write for the head rather than for
the heart, and will be cold and critical rather than enthusiastic.
According to Arnold, each poem should be a unit, and he protested against
the tendency of English poets to use brilliant phrases and figures of
speech which only detract attention from the poem as a whole. For his
models he went to Greek poetry, which he regarded as "the only sure
guidance to what is sound and true in poetical art." Arnold is, however,
more indebted than he thinks to English masters, especially to Wordsworth
and Milton, whose influence is noticeable in a large part of his poetry.
Of Arnold's narrative poems the two best known are _Balder Dead_ (1855), an
incursion into the field of Norse mythology which is suggestive of Gray,
and _Sohrab and Rustum_ (1853), which takes us into the field of legendary
Persian history. The theme of the latter poem is taken from the _Shah-
Namah_ (Book of Kings) of the Persian poet Firdausi, who lived and wrote in
the eleventh century.
Briefly, the story is of one Rustem or Rustum, a Persian Achilles, who fell
asleep one day when he had grown weary of hunting. While he slept a band of
robbers stole his favorite horse, Ruksh. In trailing the robbers Rustum
came to the palace of the king of Samengan, where he was royally welcomed,
and where he fell in love with the king's daughter, Temineh, and married
her. But he was of a roving, adventurous disposition, and soon went back to
fight among his own people, the Persians. While he was gone his son Sohrab
was born, grew to manhood, and became the hero of the Turan army. War arose
between the two peoples, and two hostile armies were encamped by the Oxus.
Each army chose a champion, and Rustum and Sohrab found themselves matched
in mortal combat between the lines. At this point Sohrab, whose chief
interest in life was to find his father, demanded to know if his enemy were
not Rustum; but the latter was disguised and denied his identity. On the
first day of the fight Rustum was overcome, but his life was spared by a
trick and by the generosity of Sohrab. On the second day Rustum prevailed,
and mortally wounded his antagonist. Then he recognized his own son by a
gold bracelet which he had long ago given to his wife Temineh. The two
armies, rushing into battle, were stopped by the sight of father and son
weeping in each other's arms. Sohrab died, the war ceased, and Rustum went
home to a life of sorrow and remorse.
Using this interesting material, Arnold produced a poem which has the rare
and difficult combination of classic reserve and romantic feeling. It is
written in blank verse, and one has only to read the first few lines to see
that the poet is not a master of his instrument. The lines are seldom
harmonious, and we must frequently change the accent of common words, or
lay stress on unimportant particles, to show the rhythm. Arnold frequently
copies Milton, especially in his repetition of ideas and phrases; but the
poem as a whole is lacking in Milton's wonderful melody.
The classic influence on _Sohrab and Rustum_ is especially noticeable in
Arnold's use of materials. Fights are short; grief is long; therefore the
poet gives few lines to the combat, but lingers over the son's joy at
finding his father, and the father's quenchless sorrow at the death of his
son. The last lines especially, with their "passionate grief set to solemn
music," make this poem one of the best, on the whole, that Arnold has
written. And the exquisite ending, where the Oxus, unmindful of the trivial
strifes of men, flows on sedately to join "his luminous home of waters" is
most suggestive of the poet's conception of the orderly life of nature, in
contrast with the doubt and restlessness of human life.
Next in importance to the narrative poems are the elegies, "Thyrsis," "The
Scholar-Gipsy," "Memorial Verses," "A Southern Night," "Obermann," "Stanzas
from the Grande Chartreuse," and "Rugby Chapel." All these are worthy of
careful reading, but the best is "Thyrsis," a lament for the poet Clough,
which is sometimes classed with Milton's _Lycidas_ and Shelley's _Adonais_.
Among the minor poems the reader will find the best expression of Arnold's
ideals and methods in "Dover Beach," the love lyrics entitled
"Switzerland," "Requiescat," "Shakespeare," "The Future," "Kensington
Gardens," "Philomela," "Human Life," "Callicles's Song," "Morality," and
"Geist's Grave."--the last being an exquisite tribute to a little dog
which, like all his kind, had repaid our scant crumbs of affection with a
whole life's devotion.
The first place among Arnold's prose works must be given to the _Essays in
Criticism_, which raised the author to the front rank of living critics.
His fundamental idea of criticism appeals to us strongly. The business of
criticism, he says, is neither to find fault nor to display the critic's
own learning or influence; it is to know "the best which has been thought
and said in the world," and by using this knowledge to create a current of
fresh and free thought. If a choice must be made among these essays, which
are all worthy of study, we would suggest "The Study of Poetry,"
"Wordsworth," "Byron," and "Emerson." The last-named essay, which is found
in the _Discourses in America_, is hardly a satisfactory estimate of
Emerson, but its singular charm of manner and its atmosphere of
intellectual culture make it perhaps the most characteristic of Arnold's
prose writings.
Among the works of Arnold's practical period there are two which may be
taken as typical of all the rest. _Literature and Dogma_ (1873) is, in
general, a plea for liberality in religion. Arnold would have us read the
Bible, for instance, as we would read any other great work, and apply to it
the ordinary standards of literary criticism.
_Culture and Anarchy_ (1869) contains most of the terms--culture, sweetness
and light, Barbarian, Philistine, Hebraism, and many others--which are now
associated with Arnold's work and influence. The term "Barbarian" refers to
the aristocratic classes, whom Arnold thought to be essentially crude in
soul, notwithstanding their good clothes and superficial graces.
"Philistine" refers to the middle classes,--narrow-minded and
self-satisfied people, according to Arnold, whom he satirizes with the idea
of opening their minds to new ideas. "Hebraism" is Arnold's term for moral
education. Carlyle had emphasized the Hebraic or moral element in life, and
Arnold undertook to preach the Hellenic or intellectual element, which
welcomes new ideas, and delights in the arts that reflect the beauty of the
world. "The uppermost idea with. Hellenism," he says, "is to see things as
they are; the uppermost idea with Hebraism is conduct and obedience." With
great clearness, sometimes with great force, and always with a play of
humor and raillery aimed at the "Philistines," Arnold pleads for both these
elements in life which together aim at "Culture," that is, at moral and
intellectual perfection.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. Arnold's influence in our literature may be summed
up, in a word, as intellectual rather than inspirational. One cannot be
enthusiastic over his poetry, for the simple reason that he himself lacked
enthusiasm. He is, however, a true reflection of a very real mood of the
past century, the mood of doubt and sorrow; and a future generation may
give him a higher place than he now holds as a poet. Though marked by "the
elemental note of sadness," all Arnold's poems are distinguished by
clearness, simplicity, and the restrained emotion of his classic models.
As a prose writer the cold intellectual quality, which mars his poetry by
restraining romantic feeling, is of first importance, since it leads him to
approach literature with an open mind and with the single desire to find
"the best which has been thought and said in the world." We cannot yet
speak with confidence of his rank in literature; but by his crystal-clear
style, his scientific spirit of inquiry and comparison, illumined here and
there by the play of humor, and especially by his broad sympathy and
intellectual culture, he seems destined to occupy a very high place among
the masters of literary criticism.
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN (1801-1890)
Any record of the prose literature of the Victorian era, which includes the
historical essays of Macaulay and the art criticism of Ruskin, should
contain also some notice of its spiritual leaders. For there was never a
time when the religious ideals that inspire the race were kept more
constantly before men's minds through the medium of literature.
Among the religious writers of the age the first place belongs
unquestionably to Cardinal Newman. Whether we consider him as a man, with
his powerful yet gracious personality, or as a religious reformer, who did
much to break down old religious prejudices by showing the underlying
beauty and consistency of the Roman church, or as a prose writer whose
style is as near perfection as we have ever reached, Newman is one of the
most interesting figures of the whole nineteenth century.
LIFE. Three things stand out clearly in Newman's life: first, his unshaken
faith in the divine companionship and guidance; second, his desire to find
and to teach the truth of revealed religion; third, his quest of an