Culture and Anarchy (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Matthew Arnold
- First Published: 1869
- Type of Work: Social criticism
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction
- Subjects: Culture, Nineteenth century, England or English people, Christianity, Reformers, Humanism, Hellenism, Victorian era or Victorianism, Anarchism or anarchists
Critical Evaluation:
In Culture and Anarchy, Matthew Arnold sought a center of authority by which the anarchy caused by the troubled passage of the Reform Bill of 1867 might be regulated. At its best his style is clear, flexible, and convincing. He wrote in such a complicated mood of indignation, impatience, and fear, however, that his style and his argumentative method are frequently repetitious and unsystematic. The book is nevertheless a masterpiece of polished prose, in which urbane irony and shifts of ridicule are used to persuade the Victorian middle class that it...
[The entire page is 2249 words long]
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