IV

[Sidenote:  Theory of Criticism and Equipment as a Critic]

In passing from poetry to criticism, Arnold did not feel that he was descending to a lower level.  Rather he felt that he was helping to lift criticism to a position of equality with more properly creative work.  The most noticeable thing about his definition of criticism is its lofty ambition.  It is “the disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world,” and its more ultimate purpose is “to keep man from a self-satisfaction which is retarding and vulgarizing, to lead him towards perfection.”  It is not to be confined to art and literature, but is to include within its scope society, politics, and religion.  It is not only to censure that which is blameworthy, but to appreciate and popularize the best.

For this work great virtues are demanded of the critic.  Foremost of these is disinterestedness.  “If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument,” says Emerson in the essay on Self-Reliance.  Similarly Arnold warns the critic against partisanship.  It is better that he refrain from active participation in politics, social or humanitarian work.  Connected with this is another requisite, that of clearness of vision.  One of the great disadvantages of partisanship is that it blinds the partisan.  But the critical effort is described as “the effort to see the object as in itself it really is.”  This is best accomplished by approaching truth in as many ways and from as many sides as possible.

Another precaution for the critic who would retain clearness of vision is the avoidance of abstract systems, which petrify and hinder the necessary flexibility of mind.  Coolness of temper is also enjoined and scrupulously practiced.  “It is only by remaining collected ... that the critic can do the practical man any service”; and again:  “Even in one’s ridicule one must preserve a sweetness and good humor” (letter to his mother, October 27, 1863).  In addition to these virtues, which in Arnold’s opinion comprised the qualities most requisite for salutary criticism, certain others are strikingly illustrated by Arnold’s own mind and methods:  the endeavor to understand, to sympathize with, and to guide intelligently the main tendencies of his age, rather than violently to oppose them; at the same time the courage to present unpleasant antidotes to its faults and to keep from fostering a people in its own conceit; and finally, amidst many discouragements, the retention of a high faith in spiritual progress and an unwavering belief that the ideal life is “the normal life as we shall one day see it.”