Poetry is criticism or a mirror of life by Arnold

By -

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was a Victorian poet and critic and could be called a critic's critic because his criticism chose to be an educator and guardian of public opinion and propagate the best ideas instead of taking care only about beauties and defects of any works of art

He is known for creating a current of true and fresh ideas that had an immense impact on the whole School of literary criticism including new critics such as T. S. Eliot, F. R. Leavis and Allen Tate. He is 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 two primary tools of criticism.

Arnold was convinced that the future of poetry was immense because the Orthodox religion was declining. And this deciling will force mankind to turn toward poetry for its joy, consolation and elevation of the mind. Therefore he, in his seminal essay The Study of Poetry (1888), says that poetry itself was a mirror or criticism of life under the condition fixed for such criticism by the law of truth and poetic beauty. According to him, our spirit will find its stay in it.
He also points out the quality of the poetry to discharge its high function or to become a mirror or criticism of life. The quality of the great poetry according to Arnold was the following:-

  • The first necessity of poetry of high excellence is that signify it should be a criticism of life by the law of porting beauty and truth. He observes that the grand power of poetry is to interpretative power to deal with things as to arouse in us a wonderful, new and intimate sense of theme. Arnold calls it the revealing power of poetry which means removing the films from familiarity from the face of things and exposing their beauty, dignity, and proficiency. Poetry instructs us the true way of knowing things, knowing through love sympathy and disinterestedness. Similarly, in the case of the moral interpretation which reveals the natural worth and status of men and women around us and links us with them by arousing our love, sympathy, and fellow feeling. 

  • The second characteristic of great poetry is the grand application of ideas to life. Arnold means to say that great poetry using its verbal magic and passion-winged truth must fill the readers with a novel idea about human life, human nature, and human duties. So they can live nobly and contribute their own share to the beauty, dignity, and ability of human life.
  • The third quality of great poetry is high seriousness which in forms in its matter and manners. Arnold takes the seriousness from Aristotle's remarks that poetry is more serious and philosophical than history because portrait deals with the universal in the particular. So one meaning of seriousness is universality. Poetry must appeal to our primary affections of the human heart which are common to human beings of all ages. He, further, says seriousness goes with sincerity.
  • The last quality is grand poetry and all good poetry must possess it. Arnold defines grand poetry style as a style which arises when a noble mind poetically gifted treats some great subject with simplicity or severity. He mentions Homer as an example of the simple and grand style.
Arnold claims that poetry is superior to philosophy, science, and religion because religion attaches its emotion to ideas and ideas are infallible, science, in his view, is incomplete without poetry. He supports Wordsworth's poetry view that it is the passionate expression that is in the countenance of all science, adding what is countenance without its expression? and calls poetry the breath and final spirit of knowledge.
He took up Aristotle's view, asserting that true greatness in poetry is given by the truth and seriousness of its subject matter and by the high diction and movement in a style and manner.
Like a critic, Arnold was also a moralist and his The Study of Poetry (1888) is a plea for nobility in poetry. He says a revolt against a moral idea, is a revolt against life and poetry of indifference to moral ideas, is indifference to life. Recalling Sainte-Beuve's reply to Napoleon that charlatanism might be found everywhere else, but not in the field of poetry because in poetry the distinction between sound and unsound, or only half sound, truth or untruth, only half-truth, between excellent and inferior is essential.
For Arnold, there is no place for charlatanism in poetry. Therefore, poetry is a criticism or mirror of life, ruled by poetic truth and poetic beauty. It is in the criticism of life that the spirit of our race will find its stay and consolation. The extent to which the spirit of mankind finds its stays and consolation is proportional to the power of a poem's criticism of life or mirror of life, and the power of criticism of life is in direct proportion to the extent to which the poem is genuine and free from charlatanism.

Reference:-
  • Arnold's The Study of Poetry A Critique by Dr. Radha Mohan Singh and Dr. Gunjan.