Touchstone Method by Arnold || Literary Foundation ||
The term Touchstone was first coined by Matthew Arnold in his work The Study of Poetry. Touchstone means a piece of fine-grained dark jasper formula used for testing alloys of gold by observing the colour of the mark they made on it. But in literature, it is used to is used to judge the quality of poetry.
A Victorian poet and critic, Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was considered the first modern critic and could be called a critic's critic. He was a champion in both poetry and literary criticism. As per Arnold the purpose of literary criticism was to know the best that is known and thought in the world. With the desire to know the best, he created a current of true and fresh ideas that influenced the whole school of literary criticism including new critics such as T.S Eliot, F.R. Leavis, and Allen Tate. He founded the sociological school of criticism and through his touchstone method introduced scientific objectivity to critical evaluation by providing comparison and analysis as the two primary tools of criticism. One of his prose includes- "Essays in Criticism"(1865 and 1889).
His touchstone method is used to judge the piece of poetry and find out real estimates to feel and enjoy the best work of real classics. For him, "poetry is a criticism of life, governed by the law of poetic truth and beauty". He says that in the criticism of life or the mirror of life, the spirit of our race will find its stay and consolation. He tried to avoid the false evolution of historical and personal estimates and attend to the real estimate to feel and enjoy the best work of real classics. In his view, the historical estimate is fallacious because we regard ancient poets with unrestrained homage, and in Personal estimates we are biased toward the contemporary poet. To overcome the shortcomings of these two methods and to get a real estimate of any piece of poetry, Arnold has suggested the touchstone method as a comparative method of criticism to judge the quality of poetry.
He has said that to judge any piece of a poet's work properly, a critic should compare that work with the passages passage of any classical poet or a great master of poetry and consider that passage as a touchstone. Even a single line and quotation of the classical author that has the qualities of high position, high seriousness, high truth, and character of high quality will serve as a touchstone. If the works of other authors move in the same way as the lines or passages of classical poets, then it is really a great work otherwise not.
Arnold, by keeping these qualities in the centre, applies the touchstone method to Chaucer. According to him,
"And yet Chaucer is not one of the great classics. His poetry transcends and effaces easily and without effort, all the romance- poetry of catholic Christendom; it transcends and effaces all the English poetry contemporary with it, and it transcends and effaces all the English poetry subsequent to it down to the age of Elizabeth".
After Chaucer, he applied this method to the Elizabeth Age and according to Arnold Shakespeare from Elizabeth and Milton from Puritan Age are classic poets. They all have these qualities including high truth and high seriousness.
However, the touchstone method has its own limitations too. Lines or even the passages when taken out of context are openly misleading. Moreover, "the true work can be judged by the total impression and not by a single line or brief passage" Arnold himself stated the value of a total impression. But here, he contradicts his own earlier pronouncement.
According to Professor Garrod- this method consists of "the studying of selling poetry by proud", the conditions of the age in which writers write are different and so are their motivations. Hence, one work of art can't be judged based on the excellence of others. Therefore, it may not be treated as the best line by some other critics. Despite many limitations, Arnold's touchstone method has its own importance. He has given us an excellent example of using the comparative method.
Source:-
- Arnold's The Study of Poetry A Critique by Dr. Radhmohan Singh and Dr. Gunjan.
- Arnold Touchstone Method by Dr. Vibhas Ranjan.
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