1234 Essays - Matthew Arnold, Arnold, E. K. Brown, Dover Beach

Answer: Introduction: Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), the Victorian poet and critic, was 'the first modern critic' [1], and could be called 'the critic's critic', being a champion not only of great poetry, but of literary criticism itself. The purpose of literary criticism, in his view, was 'to know the best that is known and thought in the world, and by in its turn making this known, to create a current of true and fresh ideas', and he has influenced a whole school of critics including new critics such as T. S. Eliot, F. R. Leavis, and Allen Tate. He was the founder of the sociological school of criticism, and through his touchstone method introduced scientific objectivity to critical evaluation by providing comparison and analysis as the two primary tools of criticism. Arnold's evaluations of the Romantic poets such as Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats are landmarks in descriptive criticism, and as a poet-critic he occupies an eminent position in the rich galaxy of poet-critics of English literature. T. S. Eliot praised Arnold's objective approach to critical evaluation, particularly his tools of comparison and analysis, and Allen Tate in his essay Tension in Poetry imitates Arnold's touchstone method to discover 'tension', or the proper balance between connotation and denotation, in poetry. These new critics have come a long way from the Romantic approach to poetry, and this change in attitude could be attributed to Arnold, who comes midway between the two schools. 1st stanza- Remember, this poem is written about Shakespeare, so Arnold istalking about Will when is speaks of "his majesty." The first lines talk of how people search for high knowledge, or "the loftiest hill," but their knowledge can never compare to Will's. 2nd stanza- Arnold puts Will on a pedistoll; he is pretty much calling him a God, and that the only thing that stopped him from becoming one was death. 3rd stanza- Shakespeare spoke of nature so well that he was intimate with it. He had no school'd knowledge of such things, but that allowed him to be taught by nature itself. 4th stanza- All the sorrows of life, all the pain and suffering; all the emotions that most people can not speak, Shakespeare spoke for them. Will was the well versed spokesmen for a people who knew what to say but didn't know how to say it.