English poet & critic (1822-1888)
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart which beats
So wild, so deep in us, to know
Whence our lives come and where they go.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
"The Buried Life"
But thou, my son, study to make prevail
One colour in thy life, the hue of truth.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
Merope
For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
The Functions of Criticism at the Present Time
Calm soul of all things! make it mine
To feel, amid the city's jar,
That there abides a peace of thine,
Man did not make, and cannot mar.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
"Lines Written in Kensington Gardens"
Our society distributes itself into Barbarians, Philistines, and Populace; and America is just ourselves, with the Barbarians quite left out, and the Populace nearly.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
Culture and Anarchy
The seeds of god-like power are in us still;
Gods are we, bards, saints, heroes, if we will!
MATTHEW ARNOLD
"Written in Emerson's Essays"
I knew the mass of men conceal'd
Their thoughts, for fear that if reveal'd
They would by other men be met
With blank indifference.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
"The Buried Life"
Yes: in the sea of life enisl'd,
With echoing straits between us thrown,
Dotting the shoreless watery wild,
We mortal millions live alone.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
"To Marguerite, in Returning a Volume of the Letters of Ortis"
Fate gave, what Chance shall not control,
His sad lucidity of soul.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
"Resignation"