Melancholy is the dominant note of Arnold's poetry. It pervades his poems from beginning to end and it is this "which seems to the modern reader his peculiar characteristic." (E. K. Chambers). A sense of estrangement of man from God, from nature, from other men, and above all, from his own true inner s…

On the Modern Element in Literature is the inaugural lecture of Mathew Arnold delivered as a professor of poetry at Oxford in the year 1857. In this essay, he shows us how an age can rise above the false ideology of modernism by strictly following the rich convention of the past, especially those of ancient Gre…

On the Modern Element in Literature Text It is related in one of those legends which illustrate the history of Buddhism, that a certain disciple once presented himself before his master, Buddha, with the desire to be permitted to undertake a mission of peculiar difficulty. The compassionate teacher represented t…