Arnold, Matthew 1822-88
English poet and critic

Born in Laleham, Middlesex, the eldest son of Thomas Arnold of Rugby, he was educated at Winchester, Rugby, and Balliol College, Oxford. He won the Newdigate prize with a poem on Cromwell (1843), and in 1845 was elected a Fellow of Oriel College. He was private secretary to Lord Lansdowne (1847-51), then was appointed one of the lay inspectors of schools (1851-86), and from 1857 to 1867 he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford. He was frequently sent by the government to inquire into the state of education on the Continent, especially in France, Germany and Holland, and his reports of English deficiencies attracted much attention in England, as did his application to scripture of the methods of literary criticism. He made his mark with Poems: A New Edition (1853-54), which contained 'The Scholar Gipsy' and 'Sohrab and Rustum', and with New Poems (1867), which contained 'Dover Beach' and 'Thyrsis'. He published several distinguished works of criticism including On the Study of Celtic Literature (1867), Culture and Anarchy and Literature and Dogma (1872).

Bibliography: M Thorpe, Matthew Arnold (1969); L Trilling, Matthew Arnold (1939)