Volume : VII, Issue : VIII, August - 2018

Matthew Arnold's Theory of Poetry And Its implementation in his poems

Kalyan Kishor Barman

Abstract :

 Great service to English Poetry has been done by Matthew Arnolds as because he was a critic also. He has rendered

great services to English Poetry. He lived in a period which was facing turmoil due to scienti􀃶c and material
progress of England. The people of that period were 􀃸uctuating between two worlds one is dead and other is to born. Many moral as well as
religious codes have been changed rapidly and people become frustrated. In this condition Arnold came before the tormented public with
his poetry which proved to be a ray of hope. Arnold with his fellow countrymen craved for life in the age of darkness, longed for sweetness in
world of bitterness and he has incarnate an Apostle of Culture trying to lure his fellowmen in a radiant realm where thought and life blossom
like roses. Arnold has been recognized universally that he is a great poet not only of Victorian age (1831-1901) but also the whole gamut
English Literature. He made poetry not a mere means of expressing emotion but as a mirror of life where the wounds of social life clearly
visible. In the age of turmoil Arnold offered people safe ground poetry based on moral values of life. G.K. Chesterton said that Arnold was
‘even in the age of Carlyle and Ruskin, perhaps the most serious man alive‘. H. J. Muller declares that “if in an age of violence the attitudes he
endangers cannot alone save civilization, it was worth saving chieô€ƒ¸y because of such attitudes.” Arnold‘s poetry “must be called modern
because that applied to the ideas of critic, reformer, and prophet who dedicated most of his life to oadening the intellectual horizons of
his countrymen.” Arnold‘s poetry still being read and has many contemporary elements. These are as valid today as in Victorian age. Kenneth
Allott said, “if a poet can never teach us to understand what we feel and how to live with our feelings, then Arnold is a contemporary.”

Keywords :

Article: Download PDF    DOI : https://www.doi.org/10.36106/gjra  

Cite This Article:

Kalyan Kishor Barman, Matthew Arnold's Theory of Poetry And Its implementation in his poems, GLOBAL JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH ANALYSIS : Volume-7 | Issue-8 | August-2018


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