THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATTHEW ARNOLD'S LITERARY CRITICISM IN HIS LETTERS TO ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH.

摘要

The Letters of Matthew Arnold to Arthur Hugh Clough leave a record of Arnold's principles of literary criticism. In these letters, Arnold developed many of the ideas that later become a part of his essays of literary criticism. Although this correspondence is one sided, it constitutes more than half of the letters Arnold wrote between 1847 and 1853. This period of Arnold's life is important because he was forming his critical ideas and was moving away from writing poetry to prose.Arnold in these letters expressed his belief that his era was unpoetic and, therefore, could not produce great poetry. He expanded this ideas by looking at the effects of past eras on their literature. Therefore, in his letters to Clough, Arnold developed an idea which he later expressed in this literary criticism that a writer's era influences the quality of his writing.Arnold in his letters to Clough, also expressed his belief that poetry and experience should be integrated. His criticism of several of Clough's poems and his discussions of poetry develop his literary principle that style and content should be integrated. Finally, Arnold laid the foundation for his definitions of poetry as a criticism of life and of the grand style in his discussions about poetry and poets in these letters. He developed the following ideas that become a part of his critical principles: the poet should have a moral character the poem should create a moral impression and the style should be plain, simple, and subordinate to the content. This study, therefore, for the first time traces the development of Arnold's literary criticism through these letters to his essay of literary criticism.During the period of their correspondence, Arnold criticized Clough's poems. His comments on these poems indirectly form the basis for the development of his principles of literary criticism. Through his criticism of Clough and his poetry and his discussions about literature and the artist, Arnold developed important principles of his literary criticism.