Time-Spirit of Matthew Arnold

By: R. H. Super

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Synopsis: The Time-Spirit of Matthew Arnold—his remarkable grasp of the main intellectual currents of the day—is the quality of mind that most recommends Arnold to the modern reader. Trained in the classics and theology, Arnold was able to evaluate the writings of his contemporaries in terms of the main traditions of Western thought, and by plotting the direction of intellectual currents in the past he could project the course of the main streams into the future. Dr. Super focuses on Arnold's achievement as a poet, a social political thinker, and a religious mind. He gives detailed treatment to Arnold's major poetical work, Empedocles on Etna; he analyzes Arnold's liberalism and contrasts it with the Utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill; and he examines Arnold's approach to Christianity in a penetrating discussion of Arnold's book Literature and Dogma. The Time-Spirit of Matthew Arnold demonstrates the impact such figures as Carlyle, Mill, and Newman had upon Arnold, as well as the more enduring cast his mind took from Goethe and Spinoza. Throughout, the book reveals the essential homogeneity of Arnold's work and its continued usefulness in dealing with twentieth-century problems in politics, education, and religion.