Tag Archives: Matthew Arnold

My “Last Lecture”

By Robin Bates | Published: April 16, 2018

I share here my “last lecture” from my retirement ceremony. (But rest assured: I will not be retiring from this blog.)

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Theories about Lit’s Impact

By Robin Bates | Published: March 12, 2018

A transcript of a talk given at the University of Ljubljana on “how literature changes lives.”

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Does Studying Lit Truly Change Things?

By Robin Bates | Published: September 14, 2015

Some claims for literature’s power have been inflated, such as those of F. R. Leavis, and sometimes lit has failed to change bad people. Still, it can play an important role in our lives.

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Liberal Arts–Only for Elites?

By Robin Bates | Published: September 7, 2015

Frank Bruni and Fareed Azkaria may be guilty of Matthew Arnold-type class superiority as they argue that a liberal arts education is useful for power elites.

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How Poets Are the Legislators of the World

By Robin Bates | Published: September 3, 2015

Shelley saw great literature as changing the way we see reality. Sometimes, however, it takes hundreds of years for this to be evident.

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Coming Home Like a Lamb to the Fold

By Robin Bates | Published: August 24, 2014

Ruth Pitter’s “Estuary” works as a response to Matthew Arnold’s crisis of faith in “Dover Beach.”

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The End of the World As We Know It?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 21, 2012

A number of poets have written poems about the apocalypse. But it’s always figurative, never literal.

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