Celtic Literature

Downloads: Under 100
Pages: 76

Read PDF online Download Save

About this book

Matthew Arnold's The Study of Celtic Literature grew out of four lectures given in the chair of poetry at Oxford. In the introduction he calls his aim a humble one: not to treat a branch of Celtic scholarship, which he says he is not qualified to do, but to point out the general interest of Celtic studies and the benefit of knowing the Celt and things Celtic more thoroughly.

He quotes a Times article that called the Welsh language a curse and an Eisteddfod a mischievous piece of sentimentalism, and he describes how his own remarks to Mr. Hugh Owen were dismissed there. Elsewhere the text asks how far Celt and Saxon are mixed in the English, and sets the evidence of language and physical type beside that of literature. It also names the Celtic scholar Eugene O'Curry and speaks of Celtic documents that were hard to reach in England.

About the author

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was an English poet and cultural critic, one of the leading literary figures of the Victorian era. His poem 'Dover Beach' is among the most admired in the language.