CHAPTER XI. THE VICTORIAN AGE (1850-1900)two which may be taken as typical of all the rest.Literature
and Dogma(1873) is, in general, a plea for liberality in reli-
gion. Arnold would have us read the Bible, for instance, as
we would read any other great work, and apply to it the or-
dinary standards of literary criticism.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. Arnold’s influence in our
literature may be summed up, in a word, as intellectual rather
than inspirational. One cannot be enthusiastic over his po-
etry, for the simple reason that he himself lacked enthusiasm.
He is, however, a true reflection of a very real mood of the
past century, the mood of doubt and sorrow; and a future
generation may give him a higher place than he now holds as
a poet. Though marked by "the elemental note of sadness,"
all Arnold’s poems are distinguished by clearness, simplicity,
and the restrained emotion of his classic models.
As a prose writer the cold intellectual quality, which mars
his poetry by restraining romantic feeling, is of first impor-
tance, since it leads him to approach literature with an open
mind and with the single desire to find "the best which has
been thought and said in the world." We cannot yet speak
with confidence of his rank in literature; but by his crystal-
clear style, his scientific spirit of inquiry and comparison, il-
lumined here and there by the play of humor, and especially
by his broad sympathy and intellectual culture, he seems des-
tined to occupy a very high place among the masters of liter-
ary criticism.
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN (1801-1890)
Any record of the prose literature of the Victorian era,
which includes the historical essays of Macaulay and the art
criticism of Ruskin, should contain also some notice of its
spiritual leaders. For there was never a time when the reli-
gious ideals that inspire the race were kept more constantly
before men’s minds through the medium of literature.