New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-03-13
MATTHEW ARNOLD on BYRON
n.om MncmiNnn,s Magazine.

tol,o the two parts of Goethe's criticism
of Byron the favorable and the uhiaEothOt, anu
put them together, we shall nave n,ersonaItv
onersonaItv TIn eminence such as has never been
vet and il not likely TO come again : OF wch tne
Iike therefore isnOt TO be found among te potls "
In 'natinn Inv which Byron Sc is different from all
tbe rest and in the main. greater" Byron IS more
over the greatest talent OF our century. vi Un9
other hand, thlsspIendd petGonait tn much in the
talent this unique Byron Is quito 700 l1uu ,i Sno
dark about himself nay; tne inon Io ~ tGSI
TO reflect. he is . child" There VIC nave, tninK
Bvron complete. . . In spite OF MS proulgious
v9me BYRON has never yet, PERHAPS had the serious
admiration which lie deserves. SOCIETY," reau MN anu
talked about him. as il reads ana lalAs apOue E'u{
m ionV to-day; and with the same SORT OF result IL
Inaod in Nvron,s glass as il looks III LOfd beacOns-
fields and sees fancies that u sees us own race
there: and then it goes is way ana siIa,Vntway
foroets what manner of man II saw. Even OF ms
osSS;oD ats admirers how many never PDt beyond
lie theatrical Byron, from whom they ehught , lno
es9c.bandkerchIef, or of leaving their shirt col :
nohnttoned; how few profoundly felt his vital IN
dnence the influence of his splendid ahq lpoflSh-
ahie excellence of sincerity and strength!
His own aristocratic class, whose cyncai make-De-
1ioye drove him to fury; the great mldde-class on
whose impregnabe Phllstlnsn nc sDatteIeu MN III
aalf IN nieces-how little have either OF these Ielt
Bvron,s vital influenced As the ineyltaDle DTeak-up
of the old order comes rs the Engllsh inuulec!hss
slowly awakens from us lnteHecluIi s'1R 81 ~;
Centuries as our actual present world, TO wch this
sleep has condemned US, shows ITSELF more Cleulln
our world of an aTstOcracy maerlallZeu anu nun,
mddle-CiasB DurDllnu anu nlucOuo' u 'O"'t
cIrde and Lrutal-wo shall turn our eyes again. and
to more purpose, upon this passionate ana danntl
soldier of forOrn hope, who, ignorant OF the lutuI
and nnconsoled by It's promises. neyertheiSSs waged
against The conservation of the old Impossible wor
se fcry battle waged it till he fcll-waged IT with
such splendid and imperishable excellence OF snGcr-
" and strength. ~, ,.l ,v.d,
worth has an insight into permanent sources Oh JOY
and Consolation for mankind which Byron has not f;
his poetry gives us more winch we may rest upon
than Byron's more which W" can rest upon now,
and which men may rest upen always. pace III
poetry, therefore. above Byrons on the whoe; az
fhouGh i'm some points he was greatly Byron $ lh-
forloT Bnt these two, Wordsworth ana byron,
stand il seems to me, first and prominent IN acna
performance. a glorious pair. among the hhgllsn
nocts of this century. Keats had probably, inaeeu
n more cOnsrmmatc poetic GIFT than either OF them
but he died having produced too little and beng as
vet too immature 10 Tlval them. Tor my part eau
1ever even think of equalng with thom any Other
of their contemporaIies-eltherC olenigc poe, ana
philosopher wrecked in mist of OPIUM; or shelley,
beautiful and Intellectual angel beating IN inc Nou
his luminous wings IN vain. Wordsworth and byron
stand out by themselves When the year l"oO i
turned and our nation comes to recount her Ioeti'
ClOrics in the century which has then Just enueu th'
first names with her will Do these.