Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold

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1

From Dr. Stanley's Lectures on the Jewish Church, Macmillan's Magazine, February, 1863, vol. 7, p. 336.

2

~Poetry and the Classics~. Published as Preface to Poems: 1853 (dated Fox How, Ambleside, October 1, 1853). It was reprinted in Irish Essays, 1882.

3

~the poem~. Empedocles on Etna.

4

~the Sophists~. "A name given by the Greeks about the middle of the fifth century B.C. to certain teachers of a superior grade who, distinguishing themselves from philosophers on the one hand and from artists and craftsmen on the other, claimed to prepare their pupils, not for any particular study or profession, but for civic life." Encyclopædia Britannica.

5

Poetics, 4.

6

Theognis, ll. 54-56.

7

~"The poet," it is said~. In the Spectator of April 2, 1853. The words quoted were not used with reference to poems of mine.[Arnold.]

8

~Dido~. See the Iliad, the Oresteia (Agamemnon, Choëpharæ, and Eumenides) of Æschylus, and the Æneid.

9

~Hermann and Dorothea, Childe Harold, Jocelyn, the Excursion~. Long narrative poems by Goethe, Byron, Lamartine, and Wordsworth.

10

~Oedipus~. See the Oedipus Tyrannus and Oedipus Coloneus of Sophocles.

11

~grand style~. Arnold, while admitting that the term ~grand~ style, which he repeatedly uses, is incapable of exact verbal definition, describes it most adequately in the essay On Translating Homer: "I think it will be found that the grand style arises in poetry when a noble nature, poetically gifted, treats with simplicity or with severity a serious subject." See On the Study of Celtic Literature and on Translating Homer, ed. 1895, pp. 264-69.

12

~Orestes, or Merope, or Alcmæon~. The story of ~Orestes~ was dramatized by Æschylus, by Sophocles, and by Euripides. Merope was the subject of a lost tragedy by Euripides and of several modern plays, including one by Matthew Arnold himself. The story of ~Alcmæon~ was the subject of several tragedies which have not been preserved.

13

~Polybius~. A Greek historian (c. 204-122 B.C.)

14

. ~Menander~. See Contribution of the Celts, Selections, Note 3, p. 177.[Transcriber's note: this is Footnote 255 in this e-text.]

15

~rien à dire~. He says all that he wishes to, but unfortunately he has nothing to say.

16

Boccaccio's Decameron, 4th day, 5th novel.

17

~Henry Hallam~ (1777-1859). English historian. See his Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, chap. 23, §§ 51, 52.

18

~François Pierre Guillaume Guizot~ (1787-1874), historian, orator, and statesman of France.

19

~Pittacus~, of Mytilene in Lesbos (c. 650-569 B.C.), was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. His favorite sayings were: "It is hard to be excellent" ([Greek: chalepon esthlon emenai]), and "Know when to act."

20

~Barthold Georg Niebuhr~ (1776-1831) was a German statesman and historian. His Roman History (1827-32) is an epoch-making work. For his opinion of his age see his Life and Letters, London, 1852, II, 396.

21

Æneid, XII, 894-95.

22

Reprinted from The National Review, November, 1864, in the Essays in Criticism, Macmillan & Co., 1865.

23

In On Translating Homer, ed. 1903, pp. 216-17.

24

An essay called Wordsworth: The Man and the Poet, published in The North British Review for August, 1864, vol. 41. ~John Campbell Shairp~ (1819-85), Scottish critic and man of letters, was professor of poetry at Oxford from 1877 to 1884. The best of his lectures from this chair were published in 1881 as Aspects of Poetry.

25

I cannot help thinking that a practice, common in England during the last century, and still followed in France, of printing a notice of this kind,—a notice by a competent critic,—to serve as an introduction to an eminent author's works, might be revived among us with advantage. To introduce all succeeding editions of Wordsworth, Mr. Shairp's notice might, it seems to me, excellently serve; it is written from the point of view of an admirer, nay, of a disciple, and that is right; but then the disciple must be also, as in this case he is, a critic, a man of letters, not, as too often happens, some relation or friend with no qualification for his task except affection for his author.[Arnold.]

26

See Memoirs of William Wordsworth, ed. 1851, II, 151, letter to Bernard Barton.

27

~Irene~. An unsuccessful play of Dr. Johnson's.

28

~Preface~. Prefixed to the second edition (1800) of the Lyrical Ballads.

29

~The old woman~. At the first attempt to read the newly prescribed liturgy in St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, on July 23, 1637, a riot took place, in which the "fauld-stools," or folding stools, of the congregation were hurled as missiles. An untrustworthy tradition attributes the flinging of the first stool to a certain Jenny or Janet Geddes.

30

Pensées de J. Joubert, ed. 1850, I, 355, titre 15, 2.

31

~French Revolution~. The latter part of Burke's life was largely devoted to a conflict with the upholders of the French Revolution. Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790, and Letters on a Regicide Peace, 1796, are his most famous writings in this cause.

32

~Richard Price, D.D.~ (1723-91), was strongly opposed to the war with America and in sympathy with the French revolutionists.

33

From Goldsmith's epitaph on Burke in the Retaliation.

34

~Num. XXII~, 35.

35

~William Eden, First Baron Auckland~ (1745-1814), English statesman. Among other services he represented English interests in Holland during the critical years 1790-93.

36

~Revue des deux Mondes~. The best-known of the French magazines devoted to literature, art, and general criticism, founded in Paris in 1831 by Francois Buloz.

37

~Home and Foreign Review~. Published in London 1862-64.

38

~Charles Bowyer Adderley, First Baron Norton~ (1814-1905), English politician, inherited valuable estates in Warwickshire. He was a strong churchman and especially interested in education and the colonies.

39

~John Arthur Roebuck~ (1801-79), a leading radical and utilitarian reformer, conspicuous for his eloquence, honesty, and strong hostility to the government of his day. He held a seat for Sheffield from 1849 until his death.

40

From Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris, I, ii, 91-92.

41

~detachment~. In the Buddhistic religion salvation is found through an emancipation from the craving for the gratification of the senses, for a future life, and for prosperity.

42

~John Somers, Baron Somers~ (1651-1716), was the most trusted minister of William III, and a stanch supporter of the English Constitution. See Addison, The Freeholder, May 14, 1716, and Macauley's History, iv, 53.

43

~William Cobbett~ (1762-1835). English politician and writer. As a pamphleteer his reputation was injured by his pugnacity, self-esteem, and virulence of language. See Heine, Selections, p. 120, [Transcriber's note: This is Footnote 144 in this e-text] and The Contribution of the Celts, Selections, p. 179.[Transcriber's note: This is Footnote 257 in this e-text.]

44

~Carlyle's~ Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850) contain much violent denunciation of the society of his day.

45

~Ruskin~ turned to political economy about 1860. In 1862, he published Unto this Last, followed by other works of similar nature.

46

~terrae filii~. Sons of Mother Earth; hence, obscure, mean persons.

47

See Heine, Selections, Note 2, p. 117.[Transcriber's note: This is Footnote 140 in this e-text.]

48

~To think is so hard~. Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Book VII, chap. IX.

49

See Sénancour's Obermann, letter 90. Arnold was much influenced by this remarkable book. For an account of the author (1770-1846) and the book see Arnold's Stanzas in Memory of the Author of "Obermann," with note on the poem, and the essay on Obermann in Essays in Criticism, third series.

50

So sincere is my dislike to all personal attack and controversy, that I abstain from reprinting, at this distance of time from the occasion which called them forth, the essays in which I criticized Dr. Colenso's book; I feel bound, however, after all that has passed, to make here a final declaration of my sincere impenitence for having published them. Nay, I cannot forbear repeating yet once more, for his benefit and that of his readers, this sentence from my original remarks upon him; There is truth of science and truth of religion; truth of science does not become truth of religion till it is made religious. And I will add: Let us have all the science there is from the men of science; from the men of religion let us have religion.[Arnold.]

~John William Colenso~ (1814-83), Bishop of Natal, published a series of treatises on the Pentateuch, extending from 1862-1879, opposing the traditional views about the literal inspiration of the Scriptures and the actual historical character of the Mosaic story. Arnold's censorious criticism of the first volume of this work is entitled The Bishop and the Philosopher (Macmillan's Magazine, January, 1863). As an example of the Bishop's cheap "arithmetical demonstrations" he describes him as presenting the case of Leviticus as follows: "'If three priests have to eat 264 pigeons a day, how many must each priest eat?' That disposes of Leviticus." The essay is devoted chiefly to contrasting Bishop Colenso's unedifying methods with those of the philosopher Spinoza. In passing, Arnold refers also to Dr. Stanley's Sinai and Palestine (1856), quotations from which are characterized as "the refreshing spots" in the Bishop's volume.

51

It has been said I make it "a crime against literary criticism and the higher culture to attempt to inform the ignorant." Need I point out that the ignorant are not informed by being confirmed in a confusion? [Arnold.]

52

Joubert's Pensées, ed. 1850, II, 102, titre 23, 54.

53

~Arthur Penrhyn Stanley~ (1815-81), Dean of Westminster. He was the author of a Life of (Thomas) Arnold, 1844. In university politics and in religious discussions he was a Liberal and the advocate of toleration and comprehension.

54

~Frances Power Cobbe~ (1822-1904), a prominent English philanthropist and woman of letters. The quotation below is from Broken Lights (1864), p. 134. Her Religious Duty (1857), referred to on p. 46, is a book of religious and ethical instruction written from the Unitarian point of view.

55

~Ernest Renan~ (1823-92), French philosopher and Orientalist. The Vie de Jésus (1863), here referred to, was begun in Syria and is filled with the atmosphere of the East, but is a work of literary rather than of scholarly importance.

56

~David Friedrich Strauss~ (1808-74), German theologian and man of letters. The work referred to is the Leben Jesu 1835. A popular edition was published in 1864.

57

From "Fleury (Preface) on the Gospel."—Arnold's Note Book.

58

Cicero's Att. 16. 7. 3.

59

~Coleridge's happy phrase~. Coleridge's Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit, letter 2.

60

~Luther's theory of grace~. The question concerning the "means of grace," i.e. whether the efficacy of the sacraments as channels of the divine grace is ex opere operato, or dependent on the faith of the recipient, was the chief subject of controversy between Catholics and Protestants during the period of the Reformation.

61

~Jacques Bénigne Bossuet~ (1627-1704), French divine, orator, and writer. His Discours sur l'histoire universelle (1681) was an attempt to provide ecclesiastical authority with a rational basis. It is dominated by the conviction that "the establishment of Christianity was the one point of real importance in the whole history of the world."

62

From Virgil's Eclogues, iv, 5. Translated in Shelley's Hellas: "The world's great age begins anew."

63

Published in 1880 as the General Introduction to The English Poets, edited by T.H. Ward. Reprinted in Essays in Criticism, Second Series, Macmillan & Co., 1888.

64

This quotation is taken, slightly condensed, from the closing paragraph of a short introduction contributed by Arnold to The Hundred Greatest Men, Sampson, Low & Co., London, 1885.

65

From the Preface to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, 1800.

66

From the Preface to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, 1800.

67

~Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve~ (1804-69), French critic, was looked upon by Arnold as in certain respects his master in the art of criticism.

68

~a criticism of life~. This celebrated phrase was first used by Arnold in the essay on Joubert (1864), though the theory is implied in On Translating Homer, 1861. In Joubert it is applied to literature: "The end and aim of all literature, if one considers it attentively, is, in truth, nothing but that." It was much attacked, especially as applied to poetry, and is defended as so applied in the essay on Byron (1881). See also Wordsworth, Selections, p. 230.[Transcriber's note: This is Footnote 371 in this e-text.]

69

Compare Arnold's definition of the function of criticism, Selections, p. 52.[Transcriber's note: This approximates to the section following the text reference for Footnote 61 in this e-text.]

70

~Paul Pellisson~ (1624-93). French author, friend of Mlle. Scudéry, and historiographer to the king.

71

Barren and servile civility.

72

~M. Charles d' Hericault~ was joint editor of the Jannet edition (1868-72) of the poems of ~Clément Marot~ (1496-1544).

73

Imitation of Christ, Book III, chap. 43, 2.

74

~Cædmon~. The first important religious poet in Old English literature. Died about 680 A.D.

75

~Ludovic Vitet~ (1802-73). French dramatist and politician.

76

~Chanson de Roland~. The greatest of the Chansons des Gestes, long narrative poems dealing with warfare and adventure popular in France during the Middle Ages. It was composed in the eleventh century. Taillefer was the surname of a bard and warrior of the eleventh century. The tradition concerning him is related by Wace, Roman de Rou, third part, v., 8035-62, ed. Andreson, Heilbronn, 1879. The Bodleian Roland ends with the words: "ci folt la geste, que Turoldus declinet." Turold has not been identified.

77

"Then began he to call many things to remembrance,—all the lands which his valor conquered, and pleasant France, and the men of his lineage, and Charlemagne his liege lord who nourished him."—Chanson de Roland, III, 939-42.[Arnold.]

78

79

"Ah, unhappy pair, why gave we you to King Peleus, to a mortal? but ye are without old age, and immortal. Was it that with men born to misery ye might have sorrow?"—Iliad, XVII, 443-445.[Arnold.]

80

"Nay, and thou too, old man, in former days wast, as we hear, happy."—Iliad, XXIV, 543.[Arnold.]

81

"I wailed not, so of stone grew I within;—they wailed."– Inferno, XXXIII, 39, 40.[Arnold.]

82

"Of such sort hath God, thanked be His mercy, made me, that your misery toucheth me not, neither doth the flame of this fire strike me." —Inferno, II, 91-93.[Arnold.]

83

"In His will is our peace."—Paradiso, III, 85.[Arnold.]

84

Henry IV, part 2, III, i, 18-20.

85

Hamlet, V, ii, 361-62.

86

Paradise Lost, I, 599-602.

87

Ibid., I, 108-9.

88

Ibid., IV, 271.

89

Poetics, § 9.

90

~Provençal~, the language of southern France, from the southern French oc instead of the northern oïl for "yes."

91

Dante acknowledges his debt to ~Latini~ (c. 1230-c. 1294), but the latter was probably not his tutor. He is the author of the Tesoretto, a heptasyllabic Italian poem, and the prose Livres dou Trésor, a sort of encyclopedia of medieval lore, written in French because that language "is more delightful and more widely known."

92

~Christian of Troyes~. A French poet of the second half of the twelfth century, author of numerous narrative poems dealing with legends of the Round Table. The present quotation is from the Cligés, ll. 30-39.

93

Chaucer's two favorite stanzas, the seven-line and eight-line stanzas in heroic verse, were imitated from Old French poetry. See B. ten Brink's The Language and Meter of Chaucer, 1901, pp. 353-57.

94

~Wolfram von Eschenbach~. A medieval German poet, born in the end of the twelfth century. His best-known poem is the epic Parzival.