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Matthew Arnold
Presents the complete text of Trilling's classic intellectual biography of the nineteenth-century English poet and critic
- GenresPoetry
493 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1939
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About the author
Lionel Trilling
91 books118 followersLionel Mordecai Trilling was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. He was one of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century who analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, and political implications of literature. With his wife Diana Trilling (née Rubin), whom he married in 1929, he was a member of the New York Intellectuals and contributor to the Partisan Review.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 14, 2016
Although I think Dover Beach is a poem to be admired, the rest of this collection left me pretty flat.
October 22, 2019
Amazingly thoughtful, complex intellectual biography of Arnold. Trilling went deep into his Victorian world and came out writing like it; his sentences are rich and twisted and full of niche period references. Arnold wrote poems, a few of them famous, and a lot of criticism, but if you had to distill him to one idea it would be this: in contrast to Mill's liberalism (more common today) which claims that it's better to have a free marketplace of ideas and tolerate the bad along with the good; we need a positive liberalism, a vision of excellence which unites and elevates the nation, something in place of religion which provides moral succour and artistic inspiration, rather than settling for the pablum of democratic popular culture and ideas. It is this that Arnold calls "culture" writ large. Trilling doesn't always agree with his ideas, and occasionally pushes back strongly (as in the case of race science - the book was published in 1939).
Matthew Arnold's father Thomas was famous as the schoolmaster at Rugby who transformed a failing institution. As a young man Arnold rebelled somewhat against his serious, pious milieu and lived as a dandy, growing his hair long and befriending Parisian actresses. But when it came, his poetry was surprisingly grave, dealing with ennui of modern times, disenchantment, longing for classical serenity; and with the injustice in the world, love, fear of death. The last part of the book deals with his desire to establish a watered-down basis for Christianity, something which one couldn't really believe while taking orders - for Arnold could say Christianity is all kinds of good, useful, desirable, everything except true - but one which could give solace to someone who'd already taken them, who could see a lot of the prayers non-literally, and work for justice. Which is the other theme: the increasing enfranchisement (and dissatisfaction) of the working class, and Arnold's desire to bring them under the wing of the national Church, while in return reforming some of its unchristian and reactionary embrace of the titled class.
Beginning with confusion and poetry, moving to social criticism, and ending in faith: Arnold's trajectory was not uncommon for his time - the 19th century saw a strong religious revival in parts of Europe - but it was on the way out. His attitudes seemed dated even to his contemporaries, and today he is less known for his ideals as for his superb, clear prose.
Matthew Arnold's father Thomas was famous as the schoolmaster at Rugby who transformed a failing institution. As a young man Arnold rebelled somewhat against his serious, pious milieu and lived as a dandy, growing his hair long and befriending Parisian actresses. But when it came, his poetry was surprisingly grave, dealing with ennui of modern times, disenchantment, longing for classical serenity; and with the injustice in the world, love, fear of death. The last part of the book deals with his desire to establish a watered-down basis for Christianity, something which one couldn't really believe while taking orders - for Arnold could say Christianity is all kinds of good, useful, desirable, everything except true - but one which could give solace to someone who'd already taken them, who could see a lot of the prayers non-literally, and work for justice. Which is the other theme: the increasing enfranchisement (and dissatisfaction) of the working class, and Arnold's desire to bring them under the wing of the national Church, while in return reforming some of its unchristian and reactionary embrace of the titled class.
Beginning with confusion and poetry, moving to social criticism, and ending in faith: Arnold's trajectory was not uncommon for his time - the 19th century saw a strong religious revival in parts of Europe - but it was on the way out. His attitudes seemed dated even to his contemporaries, and today he is less known for his ideals as for his superb, clear prose.
October 21, 2013
Trilling at his best.
October 15, 2023
Very interesting book.
Trilling's mind doesn't work like most people's: he seems to draw on a much wider body of learning than any other critic; he often cites/launches into other sources, tangents & riffs that send the reader down seeming byways. He's somewhat difficult to "get" in one reading, but what I glimpsed was very intriguing, provocative. I'll definitely reread this book someday.
178,000 words en toto, available here:
https://archive.org/details/matthewar...
This book is Trilling's dissertation, first published in 1939. This edition, published in 1979, includes his 10,000-word summary essay "Matthew Arnold, Poet", which was written for inclusion in Major British Writers, Volume II, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1954.
I can't remember anything from this book, but my notes are most animated from chapters 6, 8, 10 & 13 — so I'll say those are "the best" chapters. Chapter 6 (8,700 words) delves into the Iliad's pedagogical possibilities in public education, which got me fired up.
Here are the chapter titles:
1 “A” 15
2 His Father and His England 36
3 The Making of Myths 77
4 The Darkling Plain 110
5 The World Restored 142
6 The Grand Style 167
7 The Spirit of Criticism 190
8 The Failure of the Middle Class 222
9 Culture or Anarchy 252
10 Obermann Once More 292
11 Joy Whose Grounds Are True 317
12 Resolution 369
[13] Matthew Arnold, Poet 407
Trilling's mind doesn't work like most people's: he seems to draw on a much wider body of learning than any other critic; he often cites/launches into other sources, tangents & riffs that send the reader down seeming byways. He's somewhat difficult to "get" in one reading, but what I glimpsed was very intriguing, provocative. I'll definitely reread this book someday.
178,000 words en toto, available here:
https://archive.org/details/matthewar...
This book is Trilling's dissertation, first published in 1939. This edition, published in 1979, includes his 10,000-word summary essay "Matthew Arnold, Poet", which was written for inclusion in Major British Writers, Volume II, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1954.
I can't remember anything from this book, but my notes are most animated from chapters 6, 8, 10 & 13 — so I'll say those are "the best" chapters. Chapter 6 (8,700 words) delves into the Iliad's pedagogical possibilities in public education, which got me fired up.
Here are the chapter titles:
1 “A” 15
2 His Father and His England 36
3 The Making of Myths 77
4 The Darkling Plain 110
5 The World Restored 142
6 The Grand Style 167
7 The Spirit of Criticism 190
8 The Failure of the Middle Class 222
9 Culture or Anarchy 252
10 Obermann Once More 292
11 Joy Whose Grounds Are True 317
12 Resolution 369
[13] Matthew Arnold, Poet 407
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews