Mathew Arnold (1822-1888)
Mathew Arnold was considered a Victorian Era English poet as well as a cultural critic who was born on December 24th of 1822 and died at the age of 64 on April 15th of 1888. The son of the famed headmaster of the Rugby School, Mathew Arnold worked as a school inspector but in his own time he was an excellent poet who became renowned for his literary works.
In 1838 under the tutelage of his father, Mathew Arnold was in his 6th form at the Rugby School when he began to write verse for a magazine which was produced by himself and his brother Tom. The magazine was called the Fox How Magazine and it is through this magazine that Mathew Arnold was able to begin to create a name for himself even though the magazine was published for their family’s own enjoyment. He also managed to successfully take several awards at the Rugby School for his poetic works of which the most noteworthy one was the poem, Alaric at Rome.
By 1841, when Mathew Arnold had completed his studies at the Rugby School, he had managed a scholarship to Balliol College in Oxford where he attended and graduated in the second seat for the class of 1844. While at Oxford his father died prompting Mathew Arnold to write the poem, Cromwell which gained him the 1843 Newdigate Prize.
From Oxford, Mathew Arnold moved back to the Rugby School where he had become a teacher. This position was not to last and he soon found himself the Private Secretary of Lord Lansdowne who at the time was the President of the Fellow of Oriel College Council in Oxford. While working as a private secretary, Mathew Arnold was able to release his first book of poems entitled The Strayed Reveler. He would also publish a set of Memorial Verses in the Fraser’s Magazine in honour of the 1850 death of Wadsworth.
By 1851, in an attempt to increase his wages as a means to be able to be married and support a family, Mathew Arnold was able to get a position as Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools soon after which he would marry is wife.
It was through this position, that Mathew Arnold would be forced to travel to various schools throughout the whole of England. While on his trips, he would write many poems and letters to his loving wife. By 1852 he had amassed so many poems that he released a second book of poems in which he entitled, Empedocles on Etna and other Poems. It was only a year later that his third book of poems would be published under the title Poems: A New Edition which was basically a choice selection from his first two books.
Mathew Arnold did not stop at his third book of poems, for if he had, he would most likely not been as noteworthy of a Victorian Poet as he was considered to be. By 1857 he was promoted to the position of Professor of Poetry at the Oxford College where he was the first professor to be able to give his lectures in English versus Latin which was the standard at the time. From here, he was able to go to France to study various teaching methods across Europe. After completing this study, Mathew Arnold wrote a self-published book entitled The Popular Education of France, but would later be renamed to Democracy 18 years later in 1879.
In 1865, Arnold would produce his first form of criticism which was published under the title of Essays in Criticism: First Series. Essays in Criticism and then a second series would also be published in 1888. He also published Thyrsis which was in honor of Clough, followed by Culture and Anarchy in 1869 and then Dogma in 1873.
In 1886 he was to retire from his position as Her Majesty’s School Inspector and Professor of Poetry at Oxford. Suddenly at the age of 64, Mathew Arnold’s heart would fail on him which sent him to an early grave.
Mathew Arnold was considered to be the third greatest poet of the Victorian Era in which he would share with names like Lord Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning. He knew his place was in the top three of the Victorian poets in which he had written a letter to his mother in 1869 stating his position amongst the great Victorian Era literates.
Throughout his lifetime, Mathew Arnold and his works of poetry would be both liked and disliked by the world, but after his death, much like any great artist, his works of literature would go on into infamy.
Original Authors: Globel Team (Nick)
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 23/07/2008
