Matthew Arnold as a Poet and Critic - 1500 Words

Amal Mohaya AlRekabi Course : Poetry Matthew Arnold as a Poet and Critic The word criticism is derived from a Greek word that means judgment. So, criticism is basically the exercise of judgment, and literary criticism is, therefore, the exercise of judgment on works of literature. From this, it is clear that the nature of literary criticism is to examine a work of literature, and its function is to identify its points of excellence and its inadequacies, and finally to evaluate its artistic worth. Literary criticism concerns itself with asking philosophical questions about the nature of imaginative literature. It is not just surfing the literary text for answering questions about the syntactical or semantic structures of†¦show more content†¦He is considered as the father of modern criticism. His critical theories are the backbone and the cornerstone of the modern criticism that companies the focus on form and content and shows the language of the poetry and the role of the poet and the selected topics, themes and subject matter for poetry. He has several essays that considers important and influential on modern writing. The Practice to Poem is one of them, The Function of Criticism at the Present Time is another one, showing his defiance of the role of the critics. Because there is an argument who comes first the producer of the critic?, In Arnold discussion both of them in equal level, because the critics drives you to read the text by parsing or analyzing it. The critic will praise the style, structure, language and ideas which will affect the minds of the readers and the younger writers. Therefore, a critic has a very important role in shaping the minds of his readers and the younger writers and other critics in teaching them what they have to look for in any text. As a conclusion, Mathew Arnold changed a great deal in his ownShow MoreRelatedArnolds Epochs of Expansion and Epochs of Concentration2228 Words   |  9 Pagesthe world; (Leitch 824) said the Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold. Matthew Arnold, an En glish poet and critic whose work was both a representative of the Romantic ideas and of the Victorian intellectual concerns later on was the primary literary critic of his age. Arnolds critical theories is highlighted mainly through his most important critical prose The Function of Criticism at the Present Time in which he examines the role of the critic in society and presents his critical conceptRead More An Analysis of Arnolds Essay, The Function of Criticism at The Present Time1226 Words   |  5 Pagestitle of the essay. As we notice that Matthew Arnold associates criticism with one function not many functions, but which function? He also mentions that this function of criticism is limited within a specific and particular time which is the present time and the past or the future time. Therefore, answering the questions of function and time of criticism goes with analyzing Matthew Arnold‘s essay through my reading of his essay. It becomes clear that Arnold defends the imp ortance of criticism. That’sRead MoreFunction of Criticism1484 Words   |  6 PagesRichard L. W. Clarke LITS2306 Notes 05A 1 MATTHEW ARNOLD â€Å"THE FUNCTION OF CRITICISM AT THE PRESENT TIME† (1864) Arnold, Matthew. â€Å"The Function of Criticism at the Present Time.† Critical Theory Since Plato. Ed. Hazard Adams. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1971. 592-603. Pragmatic theorists from Plato onwards have emphasised the impact which literature has on the reader. Here, Arnold, arguably England’s most important cultural critic in the second half of the nineteenth century and someoneRead MorePresentation on a Short Poem Written by T. S. Eliot-Cousin Nancy1499 Words   |  6 PagesPresentation on a Short Poem Written by T. S. Eliot-Cousin Nancy First, let me talk something about T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot is considered to be one of the most prominent poets, critics and playwrights of his time and his works are said to have promoted to reshape modern literature. He was born in 1888 in St. Louis Missouri and studied at Harvard and Oxford. It was at Harvard where he met his guide Ezra Pound, and under the encouragement of Pound, Eliot expands hisRead MoreA Lecture On Chatterton, Oscar Wilde s Career738 Words   |  3 PagesOscar Wilde’s career was transforming. He was transitioning from the performances he had honed during four solid years of addressing countless audiences and was developing, with greater energy than ever before, his profile as an accomplished author, critic, and editor. His discovery of Chatterton stands at the center of these changes. Paying close attention to Chatterton enabled Wilde to understand that the astonishing inventiveness of the Rowley forgeries evinced the imaginative impulse that inspiredRead MoreAnalysis Of Matthew Arnold s Dover Beach 1264 Words   |  6 Pages (Not) Alone in the ‘Sea of Faith’ Published in 1867, Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach is short lyrical elegy that depicts a couple overlooking the English Channel, questioning the gradual, steady loss of faith of the time. Set against this backdrop of a society’s crisis of faith, Arnold artfully uses a range of literary techniques to reinforce the central theme of the poem, leading some to argue that Dover Beach was one of the first ‘free-verse’ poems of the language. Indeed, the structure and contentRead MoreMatthew Arnold s Writing Of Poetry Essay1837 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction A prominent humanist, critic, and poet of the 19th century, Matthew Arnold was a despiser of philistinism; he was a lover and sustainer of art, intellect, spirituality, and certainly the combination thereof in poetry. Matthew Arnold began his essay, â€Å"The Study of Poetry,† writing that â€Å"The future of poetry is immense,† and that â€Å"more and more of mankind† would discover poetry as a consoler, a sustainer of humanity, and an interpreter of life. He called his audience to â€Å"conceive of itRead More The Effect of John Keats Health on His Work Essay1999 Words   |  8 PagesThe Effect of John Keats Health on His Work      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his elegy for the poet John Keats, Adonais, his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley writes: With me / Died Adonais; till the Future dares / Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be / An echo and a light unto eternity (6-9).   Shelley speaks of the eternal nature of Keats poetry, which, although written at a specific time in literary history, addresses timeless issues such as life, death, love,Read MoreBiography of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury1289 Words   |  5 Pagestaking place in England during this time. After all, it was before Darwin that the Victorian poet and social critic Matthew Arnold wrote his famous poetic complaint about the decline of belief in England, Dover Beach: The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earths shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furld. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar†¦ (Arnold 214) In Shaftesburys lifetime, Christianitys social message was particularly endangered. TheRead More Matthew Arnold versus Aristotles Poetics Essay examples3833 Words   |  16 PagesThe value of imitation: a vision of Aristotles Poetics Aristotle wrote his Poetics thousands of years before Matthew Arnolds birth. His reasons for composing it were different from Arnolds reasons for using it as an element of his own poetic criticism. We can safely say that Arnold was inclined to use the Poetics as an inspiration for his own poetry, and as a cultural weapon in the fight for artistic and social renewal. Aristotle, by contrast, was more concerned with discovering general truths