Matthew Arnold and Goethe

Overview & Synopsis

Writing to Cardinal Newman in 1872, Arnold said that there are four people, 'in especial', from whom he had learned habits: Goethe, Wordsworth, Saint-Beuve, and Newman himself. His notebooks and reading lists confirm a deep and lifelong engagement with Goethe's work, which was just beginning to be discovered by early Victorian English writers. This book, originally published in paperback in 1979 under the ISBN 978-0-900547-52-2, was made Open Access in 2024 as part of the MHRA Revivals programme.