David Arnold Analysis

Understanding poetry as a criticism of life, Arnold uses it as his platform to wage a battle against the personal havoc that was wrought by the new age. Thus, Arnold captures the essence of the Victorian Era through his poetry by addressing the intellectual concerns of his time, especially about religion, science, and the inner turmoil that believing in the two caused.

Much like the rest of his society, Arnold also struggled in believing completely in the power of religion. As a child and young adult, Arnold was greatly exposed to religion and grew up with two prominent religious figures in his life. To Arnold, Reverend John Keble, who would later become one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, become a godfather to Arnold. Also, Arnold’s uncle, Reverend John Buckland, tutored Arnold during his years in school and during his brief attendance at Oxford Arnold attended the lectures of Cardinal John Henry Newman’s sermons. Having been exposed and familiar with religion, Arnold grew to develop a relationship with faith that was unusual. Not necessarily completely convinced about all the teachings of the Church, Arnold evolved his own grasp of faith that worked with his beliefs.

For Arnold, religion offered much wisdom, but he did not agree with everything that was being taught. Arnold rejected the supernatural elements in religion, but still remained fascination by Church rituals. While not being completely religious or entirely agnostic, Arnold belonged to a middle ground that believed in more of the poetic nature of religion and its virtue and values for society. Scholar Terry Harris echoes this notion, “In religion, specifically Christianity, Arnold saw the potential for counteracting the doubt, despair, and uncertainty of his...

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...role for God in the universe, which directly undermined the teachings of the Church. Unlike the religious certainty of the past, more people began to feel uneasy about religion and would even leave the Church in order to pursue their new theories of Evolution over Creationism after the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859). Introducing the theory that the beginning of the world was a result of Evolution and natural selection, Darwin’s discoveries caused people to reevaluate their beliefs about the Bible and Creation stories. While some took Darwin’s ideas radically, some incorporated these new ideas into their faith mindset while others remained confused about what they should believe. Seeing science as a main reason for the loss of faith in the Victorian Era, a problem that Arnold was very concerned about, he became very weary and critical about science.