Culture And Anxiety:a Study On Matthew Arnold’s Poetry

"Is Matthew Arnold an elitist?" and "Is he a pessimist?" These two questions have aroused heated debates ever since Matthew Arnold’s lifetime. Accordingly, two groups of mainstream viewpoints came into being, one being "elitism", the other "pessimism". And since the late twentieth century he has been the focus of the cultural debates.Up to the mid-nineteenth century the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain had brought about tremendous social changes, especially in the social strata. With the development of the industry, social wealth accumulated at a fantastic speed and natural sciences had been developing quickly, especially Darwin’s theory, which toppled people’s outlook completely. Consequently, religion was declining, which made a mess in the social values. All the boundaries were broken through. Man became wanderers, searching for homeland. This is the social background against which Matthew Arnold formulates his cultural thought. Arnold’s poetic works acts as a case in point for how poetry reflects confusions and changes during the social transformation period towards modernization.Matthew Arnold is the founder of "culture and society" tradition in the nineteenth century. With criticism and vision, cultural criticism focuses on problems arising from the social transformation from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization. Faced with these problems, Matthew Arnold endures much painful anxiety. After experiencing doubts, suspicions, quests, setbacks, he finally comes up with the remedy for the modern diseases——culture. This is the reason why this dissertation attaches great significance to the study on Matthew Arnold’s poetry and his cultural thought as well.The present dissertation studies Matthew Arnold’s poetry from a cultural perspective with social transformation as the backdrop. Starting from the disputes centered on Matthew Arnold, it delves into the core of the topic by interpreting his poems. With profound investigation of three main themes, this dissertation plans to reveal the great value of Arnold’s cultural thought.The present dissertation consists of five parts.The Introduction gives a general survey of the main ideas of Arnold’s cultural thought and the disputes which center on Matthew Arnold, and provides a history of the reception of his poetry in China. Again in Introduction, the two questions,"Is Matthew Arnold an elitist?" and "Is he a pessimist?" are put forward as the starting point.Chapter I seeks to conduct analyses of three poems,"The Scholar-Gipsy","Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse" and "The Hayswater Boat", to interpret the multi-folded implications of the wanderer image. This chapter shows how the poet endures disappointments, doubts, escape and isolation, and finally begins his quest for the "secrets of arts" with confidence. Wandering theme implies Arnold’s discontentment with and denial of the modern society. Two kinds of isolations are presented in the poems, that of the individuals and that of mankind as a whole. This dissertation argues that the wanderer image embodies a positive implication, symbolizing Arnold’s persistent quest for the solution to the social problems.Chapter II dwells on the poet’s reflection on the meaning of life by interpreting four poems,"Mycerinus","The Strayed Reveller","The New Sirens" and "Philomela". With such allusions and images as Mycerinus, Circe, Siren, and Philomela, Arnold criticizes wealth (material) worship, mammonism, passion worship and nature worship, pointing out that they are absolutely no substitutes for religion. After persistent quests, finally Matthew Arnold realizes that human mind is the only way leading to happiness. Matthew Arnold’s quests for and criticism on the values of life have laid a solid foundation for his cultural thought.Chapter Ⅲ deals with images such as night battle, spark and father. Based on his criticism of the middle-class liberalism, Arnold dwells on the issue of authority. By analyzing "Rugby Chapel", this chapter states that by studying social strata, Arnold finally realizes that the noble and the great like his father will be the future leading class. This dissertation argues that Matthew Arnold’s poetic works embody a kind of optimism, indicating the poet’s confidence in and expectation for a bright future.The Conclusion reaffirms the significance of Matthew Arnold’s cultural thought, clarifies the disputes and provides answers to the two questions put forward in the Introduction. The present dissertation draws conclusions as follows:First, Matthew Arnold is an optimist. His poetry clearly embodies a thread of optimism. Even every one of his poems contains some optimistic elements.Second, Matthew Arnold is not an elitist. His culture means perfection, perfection of man as a whole. The above analyses provide a good piece of evidence that Arnold cares much for the English people and, in a broad sense, the mankind as a whole.Bur Matthew Arnold he has elite consciousness. He hopes that the best remnants from all classes can devote themselves to the cause of the mankind.