Perhaps the greatest critic of Victorian England (Ruskin not excepted), Matthew Arnold is also one of the era's finest poets. His poetry and prose essays compliment one another in a dialectic between melancholic sobriety and acerbic wit. He derided the philistine tendencies of populist culture while pushing for educational reforms; he lamented the loss of Christianity while pressing for a religious ethic "whose grounds were true." His is a voice both mournful and full of mirth, pathetic and pleasing, subtle and straight-forward. He is an intellectual's poet and a poet's intellectual. His work deserves close attention.

This electronic "book" attempts to do just that.

Chapter Index

Biography of Matthew Arnold
Under Completion

Biblio-Critical Sourcebook
Under Construction

Arnold Quotes
You guessed it, still under construction. Come back again.

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Related Links

The Victorian Web - A good starting point for research on Victorian life/letters.

Representive Works of Matthew Arnold - An electronic collection of many of Arnold's poems. Links to other literature sites.