228 LITEKAET VALUES 



we do not want it written at all, but spoken directly 

 from the heart. It is in this respect that I think 

 Wordsworth's poetry, at its best, is better than 

 Tennyson's. It is more inevitable ; it wrote it- 

 self ; the poetic intention is not so obvious ; the art 

 of the singer is more completely effaced by his in- 

 spiration. 



There are probably few readers of the critical lit- 

 erature of the times who do not recur again and 

 again to Matthew Arnold's criticism, not only for 

 the charm of the style, but for the currents of vital 

 thought which it holds. One may not always agree 

 with Arnold, but for that very reason one will go 

 back to see how it is possible to differ from a man 

 who sees so clearly and feels so justly. Of course, 

 Arnold's view is not final, any more than is that of 

 any other man ; but it is always fit, and challenges 

 your common sense. After the muddle and puddle 

 of most literary criticism, the reader of Arnold 

 feels like a traveler who has got out of the confusion 

 of brush and bog into clean and clear open spaces, 

 where the ground is firm, and where he can see his 

 course. 



" Where'er the trees grow biggest, 

 Huntsmen find the easiest ■way," 



says Emerson, and for a similar reason the way is 

 always easy and inviting through Arnold's pages. 



But his theological criticism has less charm ; and, 

 for my part, I doubt if it will survive. I once 

 seriously tried to re-read his "Literature and 

 Dogma," but stuck before I had got half-way 



