“Poetry is something more philosophical
and more worthy of serious attention than history.”Aristotle Poetics 9.1451bIn “An Apology for Poetry,” Sir
Philip Sidney asserts that the poet is, above all, a teacher: “The Poet, with
[the] hand of delight, doth draw the mind more effectually than any other art
doth” (116). Matthew Arnold would certainly agree with such a view. In fact,
these two poets insist on the instructive and moral purposes of poetry.
However, while Sidney regards poetry as the highest form of teaching owing to
its power to move (114), Arnold seems to take a step further. Not only does he
conceive poetry as one of the most adequate ways of governing our thoughts and
actions, but he also sees poetry instinct with the deeper meaning of life. On
other words, poetry for Arnold constitutes no less than a beacon for human
beings shrouded in ignorance and anxiety, and it thus becomes a “substitute for
what religion can no longer do” (Kaplan 333). It is chiefly due to this that
Arnold repeatedly calls poetry a “criticism of life.” At the outset, we
will analyze his famous essay “The Study of Poetry,” in which he states the
function of poetry. We will then briefly examine his masterpiece “Dover Beach,”
which uniquely substantiates his view of poetry. As the French philosopher Paul
Ricoeur observes, although human beings do lack justice or love, they are even
more in want of significance (De Koninck 8). Similarly, a general loss of
universal meaning was experienced by Victorian society at the end of the XIXth
century in England. This spiritual crisis was primarily triggered by the
Darwinian theory of evolution and German historical criticism of the Bible,
which led intellectuals to raise serious doubts about Christian faith. To make
matters worse, the Industrial Revolution fostered a materialistic spirit, and
thereby added to the spiritual confusion and disorientation of the age. Not
only did Matthew Arnold belong to that age of mounting skepticism, but he is
also considered one of its best representatives. His letter to his mother
written in 1869 clearly testifies to this fact: “My poems represent, on the
whole, the main movement of mind of the last quarter of a century” (Latham vi).
Although Arnold comes from a family with Anglican background, he lost his
religious faith quite early. In “The Study of Poetry,” he even wonders if
religion and philosophy are anything else than “the shadows and dreams and
false shows of knowledge” (334). However, his loss of religious faith did not
happen without a clash, as the poet underwent an existential crisis in which he
had to cross the dessert of despair and anxiety.In “The Study of Poetry,” Arnold
affirms that poetry replaces religion, and that poetry is the major spiritual
and emotional support of human beings. First, he notes the incapacity of
religion to fulfill this function: “There is not a creed which is not shaken,
not an accredited dogma which is not shown to be questionable, not a received
tradition which does not threaten to dissolve” (334). He continues that
religion “has materialized itself in the fact,” whereas poetry, as religion
should, attaches importance only to the idea. He also proclaims that “the
strongest part of our religion to-day is its unconscious poetry” (334).In the light of the above
discussion, we see that poetry has a higher calling. For him, the void left by
religion must be filled, and poetry appears as the natural haven for human
beings to which to turn: “More and more mankind will discover that we have to
turn to poetry to interpret life for us, to console us, to sustain us” (334).
Accordingly, we can state that poetry meets some fundamental human needs in
three ways. First, poetry has the capacity to interpret and appraise the
meaning of human existence. In this sense, poetry is seen as the mirror of the
human condition; it thus consists of a powerful tool to criticize certain
aspects of society that infringe on human beings’ spiritual elevation; Materialism
and Capitalism are two cases in point. Second, poetry is alone capable of
satisfying our spiritual needs. In other words, poetry helps us know the world
as well as ourselves better. This point is particularly significant in
societies such as Arnold’s and ours, in which existential despair and spiritual
desolation prevail. Finally, poetry may also be a source of sheer pleasure for
to the reader. By fitting combinations of words, it can create sublime images,
and therefore brings pure delight to the reader. However, Arnold maintains that
“[...] the consolation and stay [promised by poetry] will be of power in
proportion to the power of the criticism of life” (335).Owing to his lofty view of poetry,
Arnold understandably strives to make a distinction between excellent and
inferior types: “It is of paramount importance because of the high destinies of
poetry” (335). He also argues that only excellent poetry can offer criticism of
life, which is, in turn, the best way of poetry to ensure consolation: “[...]
the criticism of life will be of power in proportion as the poetry conveying it
is excellent rather than inferior [...]” (335). In other words, since criticism
of life constitutes the ultimate objective of poetry, it follows that such a
predilection is to be found mostly in the poetry of the greatest poets. To
begin with, Arnold differentiates the two main aspects of poetry, which are
“the substance and matter on the one hand, [and] the style and manner on the
other” (341). He then explains that the criticism of life consists principally
of “the superior character of truth and seriousness” encountered in great poems
(341). It is this virtue that “gives to our spirits what they can rest upon”
(345). Incidentally, like Aristotle, he reminds us that it is in this
particular quality[1] that
the superiority of poetry over history lies. Finally, Arnold goes as far as to
assert that this character of truth and seriousness, which makes poetry
superior, is “inseparable from the superiority of diction and movement marking
its style and manner” (341). Consequently, when Arnold suggests that poetry
replace religion, he primarily means great poetry, the principal object of which is human beings themselves, and whose
quintessence is represented by Shakespeare, Dante, Milton and some others.Since Arnold regards criticism of
life as the essential quality of poetry, we can assume that his own poems
reflect such a disposition. His poem “Dover Beach” appears as a fitting example
of this seriousness toward life. The poem presents two major themes. First, it
expresses the poet’s hopelessness and despair in the face of both his own
spiritual crisis and that of his society. It then proposes true love as a
relief to support this loss of faith. The first lines project an atmosphere of
peace and serenity, which alludes to the primitive state of human beings, a
state now ruined by religious angst and the corruption of materialism: “The sea
is calm tonight./ The tide is full, the moon lies fair/ Upon the straits”
(1-3). As the poem shifts from a visual attitude to an auditory one, the poet
seems to awake from his idealistic vision and becomes suddenly aware of the
grim and harsh reality surrounding him: “Listen! you hear the grating roar / Of
pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, / At their return, up the high
strand” (9-11). The last line of the first stanza, “the eternal note of
sadness,” suggests that despair is inherent in alienated human beings. By
referring to Sophocles in the second stanza, Arnold shows that “human misery”
(18) is quite common to humanity even from time immemorial. The third stanza
transforms the natural setting of the first one into a metaphor to illustrate
the spiritual crisis the poet and his society undergo. Like the sea, faith is
also portrayed as a force encompassing everything. Here, Faith is thus viewed
as a support to pass through difficult times (18). In other words, the poet
regards the “sea of faith” (21) as a force which used to unify all people and
to atone for the “eternal note of sadness” (14) inherent in nature. In the
second part of the third stanza, the poet expresses the horror he feels in a
world of materialism and infidelity: “But now I only hear / Its melancholy,
long, withdrawing roar, / Retreating, to the breath / Of the night-wind”
(24-27). This feeling springs from his own helplessness and despair before the
retreating of faith occurring both inside and around him.The last stanza seems to be a
contrast to the rest of the poem, at least in the tone. Arnold here gives us a
glimpse of hope. He proposes a solution, maybe a partial solution, to the
despair of his age: “Ah, love, let us be true / To one another!” (29-30). For
the poet, human love appears as the last resort in a meaningless and obscure
world. In other words, love and faithfulness to one another are seen as
prerequisites for survival. However, after this flash of hope, the poet’s
despair seems to come back in full force as he realizes that “the world, which
seems / To lie before us like a land of dreams, / [...] / Hath really neither
joy, nor love, nor light, / Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain”
(30-34). Here, the reader is explicitly told that the world of perfection is
only an illusion in that it merely “seems,” while the world of chaos does
“really” exist. Even love, to which the poet refers to as the ultimate anchor
to cling to, is said to be absent of the world. The remaining three lines of
the poem tragically crown the crescendo of desperation and horror that sweeps
through the whole poem: “And we are here as on a darkling plain / Swept with
confused alarms of struggle and flight, / Where ignorant armies clash by night”
(35-37). The adjective “ignorant” alludes to the lack of knowledge human beings
have regarding what they really are, while the term “armies” refers to their
compulsive restlessness; the last word, “night,” fully embodies the poem’s
central theme, which is the absence of faith. This vivid and dramatic image
appears reminiscent of Shakespeare’s vision in Macbeth: “Life’s but a walking
shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, / And
then is heard no more” (V,v).“Dover Beach” illustrates perfectly
Matthew Arnold’s view of poetry as a criticism of life. The “superior character
of truth and seriousness” (“The Study of Poetry” 341) is indeed very manifest
here. First, in expressing the anxiety created by the void of his
faithlessness, Arnold broaches the most fundamental issue of our human
condition. Second, he indirectly criticizes Victorian society for accentuating
such spiritual desolation by its materialism. He then stresses the significance
of human bonds in a world that is devoid of any positive meanings. The
importance of human bond is also echoed by Bertrand Russell, especially in his
remark that “human comradeship seems to grow more intimate and more tender from
the sense that we are all exiles on an inhospitable shore.” Finally, the
poem’s outstanding “manner and style” (341) cannot but bring delight and
consolation to the reader, as it succeeds in transcending the written word to
draw unforgettable images. In the same way, Arnold’s other poems, such as “To
Marguerite” and “The Scholar-Gipsy,” represent becoming criticism of life in
that they address issues that are essential to the human being. Last of all,
the poem we have briefly analyzed here, “Dover Beach,” is certainly an
invitation to the alienated beings of our modern society to turn to poetry to
find comfort and to compensate for the lack of meaning engendered by the departure
of religion.
1) Philosophotoron kai spoudaioteron in Greek. Bibliography Aristotle. Poetics. Trad. by G. F. Else. University of Michigan, 1967.Arnold, Matthew. “The Study of Poetry.” Criticism: Major Statements. Eds. Charles Kaplan and William D. Anderson. New York: Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2000.Dawson, Carl, ed. Matthew Arnold: The Poetry. London: Routledge & Kegan, 1973.De Koninck, Thomas. La nouvelle ignorance. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2000.Latham, Jacqueline, ed. Critics on Matthew Arnold. London: Allen, 1973.Kaplan, Charles and William D. Anderson, eds. Criticism: Major Statements. New York: Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2000.Sidney, Philip. “An Apology for Poetry.” Criticism: Major Statements. Eds. Charles Kaplan and William D. Anderson. New York: Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2000.BY JEFF ROY
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