rded in
_Sartor Resartus_, and he has no positive conviction such as is voiced in
"The Everlasting Yea." He is beset by doubts which he never settles, and
his poems generally express sorrow or regret or resignation. In his prose
he shows the cavalier spirit,--aggressive, light-hearted, self-confident.
Like Carlyle, he dislikes shams, and protests against what he calls the
barbarisms of society; but he writes with a light touch, using satire and
banter as the better part of his argument. Carlyle denounces with the zeal
of a Hebrew prophet, and lets you know that you are hopelessly lost if you
reject his message. Arnold is more like the cultivated Greek; his voice is
soft, his speech suave, but he leaves the impression, if you happen to
differ with him, that you must be deficient in culture. Both these men, so
different in spirit and methods, confronted the same problems, sought the
same ends, and were dominated by the same moral sincerity.

LIFE. Arnold was born in Laleham, in the valley of the Thames, in 1822. His
father was Dr. Thomas Arnold, head master of Rugby, with whom many of us
have grown familiar by reading _Tom Brown's School Days_. After fitting for
the university at Winchester and at Rugby, Arnold entered Balliol College,
Oxford, where he was distinguished by winning prizes in poetry and by
general excellence in the classics. More than any other poet Arnold
reflects the spirit of his university. "The Scholar-Gipsy" and "Thyrsis"
contain many references to Oxford and the surrounding country, but they are
more noticeable for their spirit of aloofness,--as if Oxford men were too
much occupied with classic dreams and ideals to concern themselves with the
practical affairs of life.

After leaving the university Arnold first taught the classics at Rugby;
then, in 1847, he became private secretary to Lord Lansdowne, who appointed
the young poet to the position of inspector of schools under the
government. In this position Arnold worked patiently for the next thirty-
five years, traveling about the country, examining teachers, and correcting
endless examination papers. For ten years (1857-1867) he was professor of
poetry at Oxford, where his famous lectures _On Translating Homer_ were
given. He made numerous reports on English and foreign schools, and was
three times sent abroad to study educational methods on the Continent. From
this it will be seen that Arnold led a busy, often a laborious life, and we
can appreci