Matthew Arnold’s poem, “Shakespeare”, is, ironically, written in the form of an Italian rather than Shakespearian sonnet. The narrator addresses Shakespeare in the second person, and contrasts his own fruitless questioning of all things with what he portrays as Shakespeare’s immediate and intuitive knowledge. Compared to the “dialogue of the mind with itself” found in the modern poet (“modern” as in Arnold and his contemporaries), Shakespeare perceives the divine and human world accurately because he knows them by intuition rather than through the filter of either dogmatism or neurotic self-absorption. Shakespeare is portrayed as semi-divine in a manner pointing to Arnold’s later analysis of the quasi-religious function of poetry.

Can someone give me a detailed explanation of the poem "Shakespeare" by Matthew Arnold.

The poem "Shakespeare", by Matthew Arnold, is a tribute poem to the great playwright William Shakespeare.

The poem explicitly shows Arnold's honor by raising Shakespeare to a level similar to one which others typically raise God/gods to.  The lines of the poem conveys the greatness which Arnold thought Shakespeare exemplified.

According to Arnold, while others must "abide our questions", Shakespeare is free from them. While questions are asked over and over, Shakespeare only has to smile showing his unending knowledge.

Perhaps the most adorning line is : " Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure". Here, Arnold is saying that Shakespeare's ability to teach himself outweighs all others because he must only answer to himself and no one else. "We" mortals must submit to the questions that others pose to us. Arnold believes that Shakespeare was (and remains) above this.