Celtic Literature

Arnold, Matthew, 1822-1888Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 238K words
Chapters: 24

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Celtic Literature by Matthew ArnoldAuthor: Arnold, Matthew, 1822-1888,Language: English, Class: PB: Language and Literatures: General works, Release Date: Feb 1, 2004

Editor's review

Matthew Arnold was a major nineteenth-century English critic and poet. Celtic Literature is a topical study assembled from his Oxford lectures, focusing on the Celtic literary tradition and its influence on English literature. The book is short but densely argued, offering both an overall grasp of the characteristics of Celtic texts and comparative analysis of the style and emotional temper of specific works. Arnold's central concern is not merely to introduce works but to use Celtic literature as a mirror for the temperamental differences of English literature, exploring the relation between "sensibility" and "expression"; this cross-cultural comparative perspective remains illuminating today. As a Project Gutenberg electronic text, it is easy to search and carry, and suits supplementary reading in courses on foreign literature, comparative literature, and the history of English literature. Readers should attend to its critical method and historical context and avoid treating its nineteenth-century aesthetic judgments as settled conclusions, so as to better appreciate Arnold's thinking as a critic.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students of English and comparative literature seeking to understand the nineteenth-century critical tradition
General readers interested in Celtic culture and the roots of English literature
Advanced learners who need English source texts for academic reading practice
Readers who wish to study Arnold's critical method and cultural ideas

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a systematic reader of Celtic myths
Those with limited English reading ability who expect light entertainment
Readers who want only the latest findings of modern Celtic studies

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and opening first to clarify Arnold's subject and evaluative criteria, then proceed to specific chapters.
Mark his judgments on the features of Celtic texts as you read and check them against Celtic works you know.
Read alongside a history of English literature and place the book's views in their nineteenth-century critical context.
After each chapter, summarize its argument in about a hundred words to test whether you have grasped the critic's position.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a compilation of Celtic myths?

No. It is Arnold's critical study of the Celtic literary tradition, focused on literary features and national temperament rather than full mythic narratives; for story collections, look for dedicated readers.

How difficult is the English, and what background is needed?

It is nineteenth-century academic prose with long sentences and many allusions, requiring good English reading ability and some knowledge of English literary history; it is best read after some experience with primary texts.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

It is a public-domain electronic text, free to access and easy to search and quote, but it has no modern scholarly notes or introduction; proper names and allusions must be checked independently, so read it with reference works at hand.

Comments

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About the author

Arnold, Matthew, 1822-1888 Author

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was an English poet and a critic of literature and culture in the Victorian era. Seven of his works are held in this collection, covering poetry, literary study and cultural criticism. Representative works include Culture and Anarchy, Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold, Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold, Poems, Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum and Other Poems, Celtic Literature, and St. Paul and Protestantism, with an Essay on Puritanism and the Church. His writing combines poetic lyricism with critical reflection, addressing culture, social manners and religious questions in a clear and argumentative style. Public information on the details of his life is limited, so this introduction does not elaborate on them; his works continue to exert influence in the traditions of English literature and cultural criticism.