Essays in criticism: First and second series complete: Poetry Guide and Free Edition
Essays in criticism: First and second series complete: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
Essays in criticism: First and second series complete is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Arnold, Matthew (1822–1888).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
"Essays in criticism" by Matthew Arnold is a collection of literary and cultural essays written in the mid-19th century. The volume ranges from theory—what criticism is for and how it should work—to vivid appraisals of European writers and reflections on language, culture, and taste. It is likely to appeal to readers interested in how ideas shape literature and how literature in turn shapes civilization. The opening of this collection begins with a preface in which the author clarifies earlier, much-debated remarks (notably softening a sharp phrase about a Homer translation), separates his personal views from his Oxford title, and praises Oxford’s humanizing ideals while lamenting rising philistinism and narrow practicality. The first essay, “The Function of Criticism at the Present Time,” argues that criticism—disinterested, truth-seeking, and independent of party or practical agendas—prepares the very ideas great creation needs; it contrasts English suspicion of ideas with Continental habits, weighs the French Revolution’s intellectual impulse against Burke’s corrective, and rebukes national self-satisfaction with stark social facts. He urges criticism to “know the best that is known and thought,” to resist factional organs, and to judge works like those of Colenso and Renan by their grasp of the real religious problem, not by their utility to a party. The second essay’s opening then sketches the French Academy’s origins under Richelieu, its role as a high court of letters safeguarding language and tone, and uses this to highlight England’s lack of such a standard-setting body—linking it to national temper (energy over flexible intelligence) and to weaker prose standards, journeyman work, and errant linguistic habits.
Book and edition facts
- Title: Essays in criticism: First and second series complete
- Author credits: Arnold, Matthew (1822–1888)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- Amiel, Henri Frédéric, 1821-1881. Journal intime
- Criticism
- English poetry -- History and criticism
- Guérin, Eugénie de, 1805-1848
- Guérin, Maurice de, 1810-1839
- Heine, Heinrich, 1797-1856
- Joubert, Joseph, 1754-1824
- Literature
- Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, 121-180
- Poetry
- Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677
- Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910
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Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
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