ARNOLD, MATTHEW (1822-1888).--Poet and critic, _s._ of Dr. A., of Rugby
(_q.v._), was _b._ at Laleham and _ed._ at Rugby, Winchester, and Balliol
Coll., Oxford, becoming a Fellow of Oriel in 1845. Thereafter he was
private secretary to Lord Lansdowne, Lord President of the Council,
through whose influence he was in 1851 appointed an inspector of schools.
Two years before this he had _pub._ his first book of poetry, _The
Strayed Reveller_, which he soon withdrew: some of the poems, however,
including "Mycerinus" and "The Forsaken Merman," were afterwards
republished, and the same applies to his next book, _Empedocles on Etna_
(1852), with "Tristram and Iseult." In 1857 he was appointed to the
Professorship of Poetry at Oxford, which he held for ten years. After
this he produced little poetry and devoted himself to criticism and
theology. His principal writings are, in poetry, _Poems_ (1853),
containing "Sohrab and Rustum," and "The Scholar Gipsy;" _Poems, 2nd
Series_ (1855), containing "Balder Dead;" _Merope_ (1858); _New Poems_
(1867), containing "Thyrsis," an elegy on A.H. Clough (_q.v._), "A
Southern Night," "Rugby Chapel," and "The Weary Titan"; in prose he wrote
_On Translating Homer_ (1861 and 1862), _On the Study of Celtic
Literature_ (1867), _Essays in Celtic Literature_ (1868), _2nd Series_
(1888), _Culture and Anarchy_ (1869), _St. Paul and Protestantism_
(1870), _Friendship's Garland_ (1871), _Literature and Dogma_ (1873),
_God and the Bible_ (1875), _Last Essays on Church and Religion_ (1877),
_Mixed Essays_ (1879), _Irish Essays_ (1882), and _Discourses in America_
(1885). He also wrote some works on the state of education on the
Continent. In 1883 he received a pension of £250. The rationalistic
tendency of certain of his writings gave offence to many readers, and the
sufficiency of his equipment in scholarship for dealing with some of the
subjects which he handled was called in question; but he undoubtedly
exercised a stimulating influence on his time; his writings are
characterised by the finest culture, high purpose, sincerity, and a style