Featured Poem: Worldly Place by Matthew Arnold

This week we feature a poem from Matthew Arnold called Worldly Place.

Born on Christmas Eve in 1822, Matthew Arnold was a poet and cultural critic who also worked as an inspector of schools. He was considered a 'sage writer', one who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues.

Having published various collections, Arnold was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford University in 1857 and was the first in this position to deliver his lectures in English rather than Latin. He published various lectures and essays throughout his career on subjects on education, democracy, religion and literary figures of the time. Between 1883 and 1884 he toured America and Canada delivering lectures and was elected Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Arnold died suddenly in 1888 of heart failure while running to meet a tram that would have taken him to the Liverpool Landing Stage to meet his daughter who was visiting from America.

Worldly Place