Welcome

Matthew Arnold's touchstone theory

in
" The study of poetry "
 Introduction

Presented By:
Mohammad Shoaib
Semester: 6th,
Department: ELL. (UCTC) Hello,
Nice to
meet
you…
 Presented To:
Md. Ziaul Haque
Coordinator -Asst. Professor,
Department: English
UCTC

Subject: Critical theory & Literary Criticism II.

DATE:15-11-2022
 MATTHEW ARNOLD( 1822-1888)

"The critical power is of lower rank than the creative.... It is undeniable that the exercise of a creative power,
that a free creative activity, is the highest function of man.... The critical power... see[s] the object as in itself it
really is...."

Matthew Arnold:

▸ Foremost poets and critics of the 19th century

▸ Father of modern literary criticism

▸ Wrote extensively on social and cultural issues, religion, and education

According to Arnold:
The future of poetry is immense, because in
poetry, where it is worthy of its high destinies,
our race, as time goes on, will find an ever
surer and surer stay.
A Moralist
As a critic Arnold is essentially a
moralist, and has very definite
ideas about what poetry should and
should not be. A poetry of revolt
against moral ideas, he says, is a
poetry of revolt against life, and a
poetry of indifference to moral
ideas is a poetry of indifference to
life.
 “Poetry is Criticism of Life”

•Arnold asserts that literature, and especially poetry, i s 'Criticism of life .

• In poetry, this criticism of life must conform to the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.

• Truth and seriousness of matter, felicity and perfection of diction and manner, as are exhibited in

the best poets, are what constitutes a criticism of life.

 TOUCHSTONE THEORY

∞ His general principles was - the" Touchstone Theory" - which

introduced scientific objectivity to critical evaluation by providing
comparison and analysis as the two primary tools for judging individual
poets.

∞ Thus, Chaucer, Dryden, Pope, and Shelley fall short of the best,
because they lack "high seriousness".
Arnold's ideal poets are Homer and Sophocles in the ancient

world, Dante and Milton, and among others, Goethe and

Wordsworth.-Arnold puts Wordsworth in the front rank not for

his poetry but for his "criticism of life".

 Poetry interprets life

Poetry, says Arnold, interprets life

in two ways: "Poetry is
interpretative by having natural
magic in it, and moral
profundity".
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