Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold. Arnold Matthew

Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold

id="n10">

10

~Oedipus~. See the Oedipus Tyrannus and Oedipus Coloneus of Sophocles.

11

~grand style~. Arnold, while admitting that the term ~grand~ style, which he repeatedly uses, is incapable of exact verbal definition, describes it most adequately in the essay On Translating Homer: "I think it will be found that the grand style arises in poetry when a noble nature, poetically gifted, treats with simplicity or with severity a serious subject." See On the Study of Celtic Literature and on Translating Homer, ed. 1895, pp. 264-69.

12

~Orestes, or Merope, or Alcmæon~. The story of ~Orestes~ was dramatized by Æschylus, by Sophocles, and by Euripides. Merope was the subject of a lost tragedy by Euripides and of several modern plays, including one by Matthew Arnold himself. The story of ~Alcmæon~ was the subject of several tragedies which have not been preserved.

13

~Polybius~. A Greek historian (c. 204-122 B.C.)

14

. ~Menander~. See Contribution of the Celts, Selections, Note 3, p. 177.[Transcriber's note: this is Footnote 255 in this e-text.]

15

~rien à dire~. He says all that he wishes to, but unfortunately he has nothing to say.

16

Boccaccio's Decameron, 4th day, 5th novel.

17

~Henry Hallam~ (1777-1859). English historian. See his Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, chap. 23, §§ 51, 52.

18

~François Pierre Guillaume Guizot~ (1787-1874), historian, orator, and statesman of France.

19

~Pittacus~, of Mytilene in Lesbos (c. 650-569 B.C.), was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. His favorite sayings were: "It is hard to be excellent" ([Greek: chalepon esthlon emenai]), and "Know when to act."

20

~Barthold Georg Niebuhr~ (1776-1831) was a German statesman and historian. His Roman History (1827-32) is an epoch-making work. For his opinion of his age see his Life and Letters, London, 1852, II, 396.

21

Æneid, XII, 894-95.

22

Reprinted from The National Review, November, 1864, in the Essays in Criticism, Macmillan & Co., 1865.

23

In On Translating Homer, ed. 1903, pp. 216-17.

24

An essay called Wordsworth: The Man and the Poet, published in The North British Review for August, 1864, vol. 41. ~John Campbell Shairp~ (1819-85), Scottish critic and man of letters, was professor of poetry at Oxford from 1877 to 1884. The best of his lectures from this chair were published in 1881 as Aspects of Poetry.

25

I cannot help thinking that a practice, common in England during the last century, and still followed in France, of printing a notice of this kind,—a notice by a competent critic,—to serve as an introduction to an eminent author's works, might be revived among us with advantage. To introduce all succeeding editions of Wordsworth, Mr. Shairp's notice might, it seems to me, excellently serve; it is written from the point of view of an admirer, nay, of a disciple, and that is right; but then the disciple must be also, as in this case he is, a critic, a man of letters, not, as too often happens, some relation or friend with no qualification for his task except affection for his author.[Arnold.]

26

See Memoirs of William Wordsworth, ed. 1851, II, 151, letter to Bernard Barton.

27

~Irene~. An unsuccessful play of Dr. Johnson's.

28

~Preface~. Prefixed to the second edition (1800) of the Lyrical Ballads.

29

~The old woman~. At the first attempt to read the newly prescribed liturgy in St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, on July 23, 1637, a riot took place, in which the "fauld-stools," or folding stools, of the congregation were hurled as missiles. An untrustworthy tradition attributes the flinging of the first stool to a certain Jenny or Janet Geddes.

30

Pensées de J. Joubert, ed. 1850, I, 355, titre 15, 2.

31

~French Revolution~. The latter part of Burke's life was largely devoted to a conflict with the upholders of the French Revolution. Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790, and Letters on a Regicide Peace, 1796, are his most famous writings in this cause.

32

~Richard Price, D.D.~ (1723-91), was strongly opposed to the war with America and in sympathy with the French revolutionists.

33

From Goldsmith's epitaph on Burke in the Retaliation.

34

~Num. XXII~, 35.

35

~William Eden, First Baron Auckland~ (1745-1814), English statesman. Among other services he represented English interests in Holland during the critical years 1790-93.

36

~Revue des deux Mondes~. The best-known of the French magazines devoted to literature, art, and general criticism, founded in Paris in 1831 by Francois Buloz.

37

~Home and Foreign Review~. Published in London 1862-64.

38

~Charles Bowyer Adderley, First Baron Norton~ (1814-1905), English politician, inherited valuable estates in Warwickshire. He was a strong churchman and especially interested in education and the colonies.

39

~John Arthur Roebuck~ (1801-79), a leading radical and utilitarian reformer, conspicuous for his eloquence, honesty, and strong hostility to the government of his day. He held a seat for Sheffield from 1849 until his death.

40

From Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris, I, ii, 91-92.

41

~detachment~. In the Buddhistic religion salvation is found through an emancipation from the craving for the gratification of the senses, for a future life, and for prosperity.

42

~John Somers, Baron Somers~ (1651-1716), was the most trusted minister of William III, and a stanch supporter of the English Constitution. See Addison, The Freeholder, May 14, 1716, and Macauley's History, iv, 53.

43

~William Cobbett~ (1762-1835). English politician and writer. As a pamphleteer his reputation was injured by his pugnacity, self-esteem, and virulence of language. See Heine, Selections, p. 120, [Transcriber's note: This is Footnote 144 in this e-text] and The Contribution of the Celts, Selections, p. 179.[Transcriber's note: This is Footnote 257 in this e-text.]

44

~Carlyle's~ Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850) contain much violent denunciation of the society of his day.

45

~Ruskin~ turned to political economy about 1860. In 1862, he published Unto this Last, followed by other works of similar nature.

46

~terrae filii~. Sons of Mother Earth; hence, obscure, mean persons.

47

See Heine, Selections, Note 2, p. 117.[Transcriber's note: This is Footnote 140 in this e-text.]

48

~To think is so hard~. Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Book VII, chap. IX.

49

See Sénancour's Obermann, letter 90. Arnold was much influenced by this remarkable book. For an account of the author (1770-1846) and the book see Arnold's Stanzas in Memory of the Author of "Obermann," with note on the poem, and the essay on Obermann in Essays in Criticism, third series.

50

So sincere is my dislike to all personal attack and controversy,

Скачать книгу