_INTRODUCTORY NOTE_
_Matthew Arnold was the son of the well-known English schoolmaster,
Thomas Arnold of Rugby. He was born at Laleham in 1822, and went to
school at Winchester and Rugby. Going up to Balliol College, Oxford,
in 1841, he won a scholarship, took the Newdigate prize for English
verse, and was elected fellow of Oriel in 1845. After some years as a
private secretary, he became an Inspector of Schools and performed the
routine duties of this office for thirty-five years. For ten years he
was Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and in 1883-84 he lectured in
America. He died in 1888._
_Arnold is notable among modern men of letters as being almost equally
distinguished in poetry and prose. His poetical work belongs to the
earlier part of his career, and was practically finished by 1867. At
the time of its first publication it appealed to only a narrow public;
but it rose steadily in esteem through Arnold's life, though he ceased
to add to it, and now many critics hold that it will outlive his prose.
The best of it is refined in feeling, lofty in thought, and exquisite
in expression; its prevailing note, a subdued melancholy._
_In prose Arnold wrote on many themes--educational, social, political,
and, especially, literary and religious. His attacks on dogmatic
Christianity promise to be the most short-lived of his works; and
perhaps deservedly so, as here Arnold was dealing with technical
matters in which he was not an expert. In literary criticism he has
been and still is a vital influence, urging especially the value of an
outlook over the literatures of other countries and the cultivating of
an intimacy with the great classics of the past. In the following
essay on the "Study of Poetry," one of the most famous of his
utterances, there may be found exemplified his characteristically
vivacious and memorable style, his delicate appreciations brilliantly
and precisely expressed, his concrete and persuasive argument. Perhaps
no single critical document of our time has contributed so many phrases
to the current literary vocabulary, or has stimulated so many readers
to the use of lofty and definite standards of judgment._