Matthew Arnold
Victorian poet and cultural critic whose Culture and Anarchy defined culture as 'the best that has been thought and said' and argued for its role in ameliorating the chaos of industrial society. Dover Beach is one of the great Victorian poems. His criticism shaped English literary education for a century.
Works
- Dover BeachPoem expressing doubt about faith in an uncertain modern world
- The Scholar-GipsyReflective poem about a lost youth and Oxford memories
- ThyrsisElegy mourning a friend and celebrating their shared Oxford years
- Empedocles on EtnaPhilosophical drama exploring despair and the limits of thought
- Essays in CriticismCritical essays examining standards of literary taste and judgment
- Culture and AnarchyEssays arguing for culture as a civilizing force in society
- Literature and DogmaEssays interpreting Christianity through culture and literature
- The Function of CriticismEssays on the proper method of literary and cultural criticism
- On Translating HomerEssays on principles for translating Homer's epics into English
- The Function of Criticism at the Present TimeEssay defining criticism's role in intellectual and cultural life