The first place among Arnold’s prose works must be given to the Essays in Criticism, which raised the author to the front rank of living critics.  His fundamental idea of criticism appeals to us strongly.  The business of criticism, he says, is neither to find fault nor to display the critic’s own learning or influence; it is to know “the best which has been thought and said in the world,” and by using this knowledge to create a current of fresh and free thought.  If a choice must be made among these essays, which are all worthy of study, we would suggest “The Study of Poetry,” “Wordsworth,” “Byron,” and “Emerson.”  The last-named essay, which is found in the Discourses in America, is hardly a satisfactory estimate of Emerson, but its singular charm of manner and its atmosphere of intellectual culture make it perhaps the most characteristic of Arnold’s prose writings.

Among the works of Arnold’s practical period there are two which may be taken as typical of all the rest. Literature and Dogma (1873) is, in general, a plea for liberality in religion.  Arnold would have us read the Bible, for instance, as we would read any other great work, and apply to it the ordinary standards of literary criticism.

Culture and Anarchy (1869) contains most of the terms—­culture, sweetness and light, Barbarian, Philistine, Hebraism, and many others—­which are now associated with Arnold’s work and influence.  The term “Barbarian” refers to the aristocratic classes, whom Arnold thought to be essentially crude in soul, notwithstanding their good clothes and superficial graces.  “Philistine” refers to the middle classes,—­narrow-minded and self-satisfied people, according to Arnold, whom he satirizes with the idea of opening their minds to new ideas.  “Hebraism” is Arnold’s term for moral education.  Carlyle had emphasized the Hebraic or moral element in life, and Arnold undertook to preach the Hellenic or intellectual element, which welcomes new ideas, and delights in the arts that reflect the beauty of the world.  “The uppermost idea with.  Hellenism,” he says, “is to see things as they are; the uppermost idea with Hebraism is conduct and obedience.”  With great clearness, sometimes with great force, and always with a play of humor and raillery aimed at the “Philistines,” Arnold pleads for both these elements in life which together aim at “Culture,” that is, at moral and intellectual perfection.

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 poetry, 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.