Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnoldwas an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator. Matthew Arnold has been characterised as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth24 December 1822
strength kings soul
For this is the true strength of guilty kings, When they corrupt the souls of those they rule.
loyalty home names
Home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names, and impossible loyalties!
genius may energy
Genius is mainly an affair of energy, and poetry is mainly an affair of genius; therefore a nation whose spirit is characterized by energy may well be imminent in poetry - and we have Shakespeare.
intellectual culture moral
Culture is both an intellectual phenomenon and a moral one
miracle happens
Miracles do not happen.
writing men two
For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment.
passion light culture
Culture is the passion for sweetness and light, and (what is more) the passion for making them prevail.
death dark soul
Unquiet souls. In the dark fermentation of earth, in the never idle workshop of nature, in the eternal movement, yea shall find yourselves again.
criticism world definitions
I am bound by my own definition of criticism : a disinterested endeavour to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world.
knowledge knowing bent
The bent of our time is towards science, towards knowing things as they are ...
fate chance
They... who await. No gifts from Chance, have conquered Fate.
happiness beautiful dream
Ah love, let us be true to one another, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams; so various, so beautiful, so new, hath really neither joy nor love nor life.
happiness joy world
The world hath failed to impart the joy our youth forebodes; failed to fill up the void which in our breasts we bear.
sun aging enjoyed
Is it so small a thing To have enjoyed the sun...