Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold was a poet of the 19th century. In his work, he often expressed a melancholy mood. Arnold was considered a perceiver based on his poetry. As Richard Hutton stated, “[Matthew Arnold] is neither the poet of mere self-culture, nor the solitary interpreter of nature, but something between the two.”(10) Arnold analyzed certain concepts or ideas in an effort to explain and understand life and the world around him. He was also known as a critic, because in his poems he criticized the elements of life, anything from aging to death, dissecting each element through description and subliminally informing the reader of his view on the matter. He used descriptive diction to paint a vivid image for his audience to not only contemplate his message, but to also visual it. This technique made him a literary artist, one who creates visual masterpieces through proper word choice. He also magnified his literary artwork by utilizing strong connotations in his poetry to infer meanings while preventing the poem from becoming prose. Due to the fact that his ideas in his writing related more to today’s time than his own, Arnold's conceptual style was said to be modern. Arnold used metaphors to form connections between his ideas and the physical world, or to form understandings. He had the tendency in all of his work to personify objects or even concepts to further elaborate his theme. His poetry consistently shifted between tones, so that the reader remained active by following the narrator through the stanzas. Matthew Arnold used various literary devices to establish gloomy images of his perception of different elements of life in an attempt to explain to his audience his interpretations of these individual subjects, with that he has estab...

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...rch, 1984. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Elliott, G. R. "The Arnoldian Lyric Melancholy." PMLA, 38 38.4 (Dec. 1923). Rpt. inNineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research, 1984. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Hutton, Richard Hold. "The Poetry of Matthew Arnold." Literary Essays, Revised Edition(1896). Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Robyn V. Young. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.Literature Criticism Online. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Payne, William Morton. "Matthew Arnold." The Greater English Poets of the Nineteenth Century. William Morton Payne. Henry Holt and Company, 1907. 251-283. Rpt. inNineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research, 1984. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.