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The text also presents Arnold’s view of criticism as a social duty, poetry as criticism of life, and poetry’s moral function, including Arnold’s own editorial choices based on ethical concerns.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/victorian-criticism-arnold/331170/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/victorian-criticism-arnold/331170.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Ophelia","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why is Matthew Arnold considered an important figure in Victorian literary criticism?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"He is presented as the “first modern critic,” championing not only great poetry but also criticism itself. The document credits him with introducing scientific objectivity through comparison and analysis.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What principles and methods does the document attribute to Arnold for critical evaluation?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The text argues that Arnold promoted consistent methods rather than personal notions. It highlights comparison and analysis as primary tools, alongside empirical tests drawn from experience with beautiful poems and ideas.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does the document describe Arnold’s view of the social role of poetry and critics?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"A critic is portrayed as a social benefactor who helps artists and educates public opinion. Arnold’s critic is said to have a duty to society rather than allegiance only to the artist.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},331170,1790041744,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,91,95,99,104,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},7971461741311,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000253aff267980c6?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779345379180704826","Victorian Criticism  \nArnold  \n• Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), the Victorian poet and critic, was 'the first modern critic'  \n[1], and could be called 'the critic's critic', being a champion not only of great poetry, but of literary criticism itself. The purpose of literary criticism, in his view, was 'to know the best that is known and thought in the world, and by in its turn making this known, to create a current of true and fresh ideas', and he has influenced a whole school of critics including new critics such as T. S. Eliot, F. R. Leavis, and Allen Tate. He was the founder of the sociological school of criticism, and through his touchstone method introduced scientific objectivity to critical evaluation by providing comparison and analysis as the two primary tools of criticism.  \n• T. S. Eliot praised Arnold's objective approach to critical evaluation, particularly his tools of comparison and analysis, and Allen Tate in his essay Tension in Poetry imitates Arnold's touchstone method to discover 'tension', or the proper balance between connotation and denotation, in poetry. These new critics have come a long way from the Romantic approach to poetry, and this change in attitude could be attributed to Arnold, who comes midway between the two schools.  \nRecommends consistent methods of criticism:  \n• Matthew Arnold is an important critic of English Literature. Before him, English criticism was in fog, and whatever criticism we find, is more based on personal notions than on any consistent methods.  \n• Dryden is regarded as the first critic of English, but his criticism is based on personal notion-sympathy and knowledge rather than on any formula. It is the reason that even in his age, the authority of Aristotle remained unquestioned.  \nArnold laid down PRINCIPLES for criticism:   \n\n| • The romantic critics besides their rich criticism were more lost in their theory of imagination and love for metaphysis. It is in Arnold that English literature could have a critic of real nature, who laid down certain principles following which poetry could be criticized. |\n| --- |\n| \u003Cbr>He taught others how to criticize, laid the foundations of setting principles for criticism |\n| • Herbert Paul very pertinently remarks,“Mr. Arnold did not merely criticize books himself. He taught others how to criticize. He laid down principles; if he did not always keep the principles he laid down. Nobody, after reading “Essays in Criticism” has any excuse for not being a critic.”\u003Cbr>• The originality and importance of Mathew Arnold lies in the fact he laid down principles and brought criticism to stand on a solid ground. He did not claim or wish to probe to the“metaphysical depths” as Coleridge did because this could have obscured the lines of his criticism. He took the help of an empirical test, one which could be applied after long experience with beautiful poems and ideas. He advises critics to “give themselves great labor to draw out what in the abstract constitutes the characteristics of a high quality of poetry.\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>The social role of poetry and criticism\u003Cbr>• To Arnold a critic is a social benefactor. In his view the creative artist, no matter how much ofa genius, would cut a sorry figure without the critic to come to his aid. Before Arnold a literary critic cared only for the beauties and defects of works of art, but Arnold the critic chose to be the educator and guardian of public opinion and propagator of the best ideas. |\n\n• Cultural and critical values seem to be synonymous for Arnold. Scott James, comparing him to Aristotle, says that where Aristotle analyses the work of art, Arnold analyses the role of the critic. The one gives us the principles which govern the making of a poem, the other the principles by which the best poems should be selected and made known. Aristotle's critic owes allegiance to the artist, but Arnold's critic has a duty to society.  \n• To Arnold poetry itself was the criticism of life: 'The criticism of life under the co","cbCaiiZWw22h6mnM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiZWw22h6mnM","pdf",900698,72,"English","# Matthew Arnold and the purpose of criticism\n## Arnold’s methods and influence on later critics\n## Principles and consistent approaches to criticism\n# The social role of poetry and criticism\n## Critic as educator and guardian of public opinion\n# Poetry, truth, and moral responsibility\n## Poetry as criticism of life\n## Arnold as a moralist","[{\"question\":\"Why is Matthew Arnold considered an important figure in Victorian literary criticism?\",\"answer\":\"He is presented as the “first modern critic,” championing not only great poetry but also criticism itself. The document credits him with introducing scientific objectivity through comparison and analysis.\"},{\"question\":\"What principles and methods does the document attribute to Arnold for critical evaluation?\",\"answer\":\"The text argues that Arnold promoted consistent methods rather than personal notions. It highlights comparison and analysis as primary tools, alongside empirical tests drawn from experience with beautiful poems and ideas.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the document describe Arnold’s view of the social role of poetry and critics?\",\"answer\":\"A critic is portrayed as a social benefactor who helps artists and educates public opinion. Arnold’s critic is said to have a duty to society rather than allegiance only to the artist.\"}]","Victorian Criticism - Arnold | PDF",1789992003,111]