Matthew Arnold
Tyler Lucas and Ray
About Him
Matthew Arnold was born December 24, 1822 he was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning. Arnold was keenly aware of his place in poetry. Arnold also studied at Balliol College, Oxford University. In 1844, after completing his undergraduate degree at Oxford, he returned to Rugby as a teacher of classics. Arnold is now mainly remembered as for his elegantly argued critical essays.
Poems
In 1852, Arnold published his second volume of poems, Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems. In 1853, he published Poems: A New Edition, a selection from the two earlier volumes famously excluding Empedocles on Etna, but adding new poems, Sohrab and Rustum and The Scholar Gipsy. In 1854, Poems: Second Series appeared; also a selection, it included the new poem, Balder Dead. Arnold was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1857.