Book Description

"Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum and Other Poems" is both a biography and literary criticism of the English poet and critic of the 19th century. The biography covers his early childhood spent in the village of Laleham, Middlesex County, his scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford, his long career as a school inspector and his simultaneous composition of various poetic and critical writings. Arnold's record as an educator is unparalleled in the history of England's public schools. For more than thirty-five years he served as inspector and commissioner, which offices he filled with efficiency. As inspector he was earnest, conscientious, versatile; beloved alike by teachers and pupils. Arnold's prose works, aside from his letters, consist wholly of critical essays, in which he has dealt fearlessly with the greater issues of his day. The subject-matter of these essays is of very great scope, embracing in theme literature, politics, social conduct, and popular religion. By them Arnold has exerted a remarkable influence on public thought and stamped himself as one of the ablest critics and reformers of the last century.