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Article: A Gift Imprisoned: The Poetic Life of Matthew Arnold.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- April 18, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A GIFT IMPRISONED: THE POETIC LIFE OF MATTHEW ARNOLD. By Ian Hamilton. Bloomsbury; 244 pages; K18.99
MATTHEW ARNOLD is an interesting literary figure for two reasons. First, he was the son of Dr Arnold of Rugby, the 19th century's most famous schoolmaster, immortalised in "Tom Brown's Schooldays". Second, although he wrote one of the 19th century's most anthologised poems, "Dover Beach", poetry abandoned him halfway through his life, and his later, and greater, reputation was founded on his literary and social criticism. How are these two things related?
Ian Hamilton's book is neither a straight and wearisomely detailed biography (Nicholas Murray wrote such a ...