A crucial condition of Arnold's thesis is that a state-administered system of education must replace the ecclesiastical program which emphasized rigid individual moral conduct at the expense of free thinking and devotion to community.
It reflects Arnold's passionate conviction that the uneducated English masses could be molded into conscientious individuals who strive for human perfection through the harmonious cultivation of all of their skills and talents. Composed during a time of unprecedented social and political change, the essay argues for a restructuring of England's social ideology. ( Source: This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper, Senior Editor.) The published book on these essays in divided in following chapters:Ĭulture and Anarchy is a controversial philosophical work written by the celebrated Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold. The same is true of its unduly neglected sequel, Friendship’s Garland (1871). Arnold saw in the idea of “the State,” and not in any one class of society, the true organ and repository of the nation’s collective “best self.” No summary can do justice to Culture and Anarchy, however it is written with an inward poise, a serene detachment, and an infusion of subtle humour that make it a masterpiece of ridicule as well as a searching analysis of Victorian society. He saw in the Philistines the key to culture they were the most influential segment of society their strength was the nation’s strength, their crudeness its crudeness it therefore was necessary to educate and humanize the Philistines. Arnold classified English society into the Barbarians (with their lofty spirit, serenity, and distinguished manners and their inaccessibility to ideas), the Philistines (the stronghold of religious nonconformity, with plenty of energy and morality but insufficient “sweetness and light”), and the Populace (still raw and blind). In it Arnold contrasts culture, which he defines as “the study of perfection,” with anarchy, the prevalent mood of England’s then new democracy, which lacks standards and a sense of direction. Culture and Anarchy, major work of criticism by Matthew Arnold, published in 1869.
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