During Matthew Arnold's lifetime England was in permanent transition: the emergence of a modern industrial society, the new science and liberalized Christianity, and the democratic and humanitarian movements. To be a writer during this time required a curious and precarious balances an alternation of steadfastness and change. Arnold's moving back and forth between the traditions of romanticism and rationalism does present a challenge to the contemporary reader; no single or systematic approach can be applied to his works. An examination of a selection of Arnold's poems, written predominantly between 1845 and 1857, shows the author's reassessment of man's place in the new cosmology as necessitated by the scientific and technological advances of the century. The poems selected also suggest movement away from the romantic concept of the greatness of the past and yesterday's larger-than-life hero toward an acceptance of the best life as represented by the present generation of men. Arnold's theory, that the best self or right reason manifests itself in heroic men, in leaders, and confirms ordinary men, is found throughout the poems studied.

Inaug.-diss.--Greifswald. / Cover title. Lebenslauf.

G.W.L. Marshall-Hall began work as first Ormond Professor of Music at Melbourne University in 1891. In July and August 1898 he published a book of poems and gave a public address, which, together, led to demands for his dismissal. The outcry against him came largely from a section of the community which Matthew Arnold, some thirty years earlier in England, had identified as Hebraic. The radical contrast between, on the one hand, the underlying assumptions of this group, particularly its epistemology and axiology and, on the other, the Hellenic, Existentialist axioms that informed Marshall-Hall’s thinking, created a situation which was structurally conducive to the hostile outbreak of collective action that occurred. This structural conductiveness was reinforced by a number of elements of strain - a belief in the debased character of the times; a pervasive Manicheanism; various misunderstandings in regard to Marshall-Hall’s views, deriving from the unsystematic and frequently allegorical manner of their exposition; and contemporary perceptions of his role as a university teacher, and of the tone in which his outbursts were couched (itself the outcome of a blend of conscious beliefs and unconscious motivation). (For complete abstract open document)

Despite the great number of published works that deal with English prosody or the more restricted subject of versification, there is a noticeable scarcity of studies that describe the practices of individual poets. One of the more apparent reasons for the meager number of versification studies is the instability of the basic criteria by which a poem is examined. Prosodists quite simply find it difficult to establish concrete principles of scansion that are acceptable to all other prosodists. Without going into discussion of the various schools of thought on metrical structure, suffice it to say that there are conflicting opinions about such basic points as what constitutes a line of verse, for example, or what makes up a rhythmical unit or even an increment of sound. With such fundamental concepts in doubt, it becomes understandably difficult to speak on the subject of prosody with any degree of confidence. However, since this study is concerned with the versification of the poetry of Matthew Arnold, and since much of the criticism of the tenets of prosody is quite modern, it doesn't seem too amiss to ignore much of the most recent material on scansion and discuss Arnold according to the traditional syllable-stress system of metrical analysis. It goes without saying that Arnold was a part of the great tradition of English poets and that any metrical theories he might have had would have had their basis in the traditional system of metrics. This thesis will support such a proposition, as well as the belief that any systematic study of the verse of a poet will enhance the appreciation of that poet to a degree far overshadowing whatever faults may exist in the system of scansion used. In addition to showing Arnold's practices with meter, this paper will attempt to describe his chronological development as a metrist.

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This thesis attempts to reformulate the concept of hope represented in, and inflected by, the Indian English novel. This comparative literary study focuses primarily on Amitav Ghosh and Rohinton Mistry, whose novels offer myriad examples and resultant effects of a reflexive hope. I argue in light of their work to refigure hope in its varied and multiple articulations: positive and negative, for-life and for-death, dependency, waiting, nostalgia, narcissism. All of these, I suggest, manifest in a nominal-messianic hope that formulates a powerful critique of global capital most advantageously constellated in these Indian English novels. I arrive at this from the early writings of Jawaharlal Nehru and his unshakable belief in socialist progress that informs the productive tension within hope that inform the readings of Ghosh’s and Mistry’s novels. Concomitant to this thesis on hope is the recalibration of definitions of poverty to the principles of capabilities that allow for the simultaneous discussion of how the state can shape social opportunities for its citizens. This, I argue, is necessary for the flourishing of more nuanced understanding of hope. Moving away from purely quantitative measurements of poverty to more qualitative capabilities pushes the novel to the foreground of these arguments. Just as Nehru explores his own formulations of hope and hopefulness through the poetry of Matthew Arnold, the Indian English novel, here, is best able to enunciate a reflexive hope that is central to the notion of capabilities. This is why poverty studies in India needs the Indian English novel.

English Studies began in Canada in 1884 at Dalhousie University; Canadian literature was first taught at the post-secondary level in 1907 at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph. Arnoldian humanism dominated the outlook of early professors of English in Canada. Their feeling that Canadian literature was not among "the best" explains why so few courses appeared in Canadian universities, despite nationalist pressure from students. About 5-10% of courses then were devoted to Canadian literature in the English curriculum and this (except in Quebec) remains the case today.

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As Matthew Arnold saw the philosophies of the classical ancients as touchstones for evaluating the new political and social philosophies of his own time, Arnold himself has served as a "touchstone" for historians who must evaluate the political and social events of the Victorian Age. Arnold made many comments about the three great Prime Ministers of his time: Lord Palmerston, Benjamin Disraeli, and William E. Gladstone, and about the policies of their respective administrations. Arnold's point of view toward these men is reflected in personal letters to members of his family and in his most significant political works, Culture and Anarchy and Friendship's Garland. In the study that follows, these selections are examined in terms of the three Prime Ministers. Chapter I is an introduction to Arnold's political philosophy and an account of Arnold's comments about Disraeli, for of the three, Arnold had the least to say about Disraeli. Arnold dwells almost exclusively on differences he has with the government, and he found less to disagree with in Disraeli's policies than with the others. Arnold's reactions to Disraeli were more personal in nature than political. Chapter II deals with Lord Palmerston's administration and with key events and people associated with it. Chapter III deals more specifically with Culture and Anarchy and with political and social events that served as a background for Arnold's commentary. Finally, Chapter IV concentrates on the Gladstone years, concluding with Arnold's assessment of the Liberal party and its leader in "The Nadir of Liberalism."