Matthew Arnold
General information:
came from a family already distinguished
his father-- Thomas Arnold, was headmaster of Rugby School; had changed the poor educational system ("sound mind and sound body"); revolutionized the system-- setting examples, positive reinforcement
at the same time, the philosophy of "Muscular Christianity", which sought to avoid the effete attitude and encourage the physical; (cf. Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes)
son reacted against father's seriousness by being a fop and a dandy; this was a facade to keep people from getting to close to him; it shocked some when he published a volume of poetry which was marked with images of despair
later he stopped writing poetry to write criticism; lived a life of work, as a school inspector, that neither Tennyson nor Browning had known
Culture and Anarchy-- England in the present age has not enough culture (the best of what has been though and said) and too much anarchy
he married, had three sons (one of whom died in infancy, two died as young men)
he began to feel that his poetry was not doing what it should (he wasn't feeding souls), and so he quit writing it
Arnold's major theme is isolation or estrangement
from our own selves-- "The Buried Life"
from others-- "Isolation: To Marguerite "
from God-- "Dover Beach"
"Isolation: To Marguerite" (1478)
Addresses both his heart and Marguerite. The poem is certainly about isolation, a major theme in Arnold's poetry.
What has he, in the first stanza, told his heart to do?
What does the speaker mean by "faith may oft be unreturned" (10)?
What does he tell his heart to do in the third stanza?
In the following stanza, he makes a connection to the godess Luna. How is he like her? How unlike her?
In the next stanza, we are told that if the heart is not alone, that those things that touch it are not "mating things" (32). What does that mean?
Why are other men happier? What do they not know?
"The Buried Life" (1480)
Here we see the idea that we are isolated even from ourselves but that we can find connection.
The speaker addresses his lover in the first stanza. Why does he want to look into her eyes?
In the following stanzas we note that people (men, particularly) hide their deepest thoughts from others and from themselves. What lines bring this idea out?
Starting with line 45, we see that Arnold feels something within ourselves calls to us or makes us desire to know our inner self. But we also see that "none ever mines" (56) for it. People don't take the time to trouble to dig for it.
In the last two stanzas, gives hope of some connection. What is it?
"Dover Beach" (1492)
A history of how the poem works:
from Christ on, we have a geo-centered universe; earth in middle; "showed" that man is important and that salvation of his soul is his most important concern
Copernicus challenged this; we have a helio-centered universe; church reacted against this strongly with censure and punishment; Galileo was the most famous to be censured
church was losing the battle and the helio-centered assumption prevailed; church assimilated this but said we (people) are still important and unique
then comes Freud and the determinists (Skinner, Jung, etc.); your mind is not under your control; your mental attitudes are shaped
Read the first stanza. What is "the eternal note of sadness"?
Stanza 2. Sophocles connected the sound with human misery. ["We" (he and the woman he is speaking to) connect it to our thoughts.]
Stanza 3. Note the phrase, "Sea of Faith": Could he mean that faith no longer comforts or brings people together (or keeps people connected to the universe and not alienated)?
Read the last stanza. Why must the two lovers be true to each other? {The world has nothing and fights itself.}
"Thyrsis" (1498) -- skipped