Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold Analysis

Matthew Arnold, a British writer born in 1822, has written many famous poems. He was an intelligent man who used words to construct literary works about situations in his life. His poems deal with human issues, such as one’s psychological separation from the world and other people. Arnold’s poems all have an underlying theme of this idea, and he may have used it to show that he possibly felt isolated from his peers and the world in which he lived. He was one of the first poets to address his inner-most feelings and not be ashamed. Arnold was not only a poet, though. He wrote many critical essays that get just as much recognition and acclaim as his poems do. Arnold was a writer who deserved the acknowledgement that he received when he was alive and any that he will get in years to come. His poems “Self-Dependence” and “Youth’s Agitations” discuss his feelings and thoughts on his life and how he wanted to live it. The two poems express his true feelings and intellect and show that he was not always an open book and could change at any time.

Matthew Arnold was born on Christmas Eve in 1822, in the town of Lalhem-on-the-Thames. He was the oldest son of Thomas Arnold and Mary Penrose Arnold and he lived a pretty extraordinary life (Kunitz). His father was a strict headmaster at the Rugby School, where Arnold would later attend. His father was a historian and a protestant. When Arnold was seven years old he met would-be poet Arthur Hugh Clough and they became fast friends. In 1829, the Arnold family moved to Fox How and this is where Arnold met William Wordsworth.

At the age of nine, Matthew Arnold was sent to live with his uncle for a year to school at Buckland’s Preparatory School. When he returned to his imme...

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...rn. Arnold was a master poet who could spin any situation into a work of art but could also criticize literature like no other. He had multiple talents that could not be replicated as well again. Matthew Arnold truly was a one-of-a-kind poet and his ability to express countless human emotions innumerable ways was something that can never be replaced.

Works Cited

Arnold, Matthew. "Self-Dependence." PoemHunter.com. PoemHunter.com, 06 May 2001. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

Arnold, Matthew. "Youth's Agitations." PoemHunter.com. PoemHunter.com, 02 Apr. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

"Biography of Matthew Arnold." Matthew Arnold. PoemHunter.com, 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Kunitz, Stanley. "Matthew Arnold: A Biography." The Victorian Web. The Victorian Web, 25 Nov. 2006. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

"Matthew Arnold." Biography. Society for Recognition of Famous People, 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.