Reading now The Study of Poetry of Matthew Arnold

I read The Study of Poetry of Matthew Arnold in 1996 in the third year of my Bachelor in English Literature. If you want to read the text then here is the link: http://www.bartleby.com/28/5.html

In 1996, it was some difficult for me to understand the text but this time, when I again read it, I liked it a lot. The Study of Poetry is a text that falls under the category of literary criticism. Here, Mathew Arnold has given some advice both to the poets and the readers. I don’t know why there is not any material or discussion about it. I think that it is an important text in the history of literary Criticism. Most probably, most of us do not like to read about literary criticism. I read it because I had to do it as a part of my BA in English Literature. Still, I liked the text for a particular reason.

I am interested about history of England and Mathew Arnold wrote this particular essay at a time when England was the most powerful country on earth. The Study of Poetry was published in T. H. Ward’s anthology, The English Poets in 1880. In fact, this essay appeared as to the introduction of this book. I intend to write another 2-3 entries in this blog about this essay. So, I am not going to discuss about the essay today. I just like to mention that I do not agree with Arnold about most of the things he said in this essay.  

Have you read The Study of Poetry? If so let me know what you think about it?