What really dissatisfies in American civilisation is the want of the interesting, a want due chiefly to the want of those two great elements of the interesting, which are elevation and beauty.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- American civilization lacks interest because it is missing elevation and beauty.
- In plain terms
- American life feels boring because it lacks beauty and high ideals.
- What can you take from it?
- Strive to include beauty and elevated ideals in cultural life.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is beauty necessary for a good society?
- What elevates daily life for you?
Another view
What counts as beauty or elevation is subjective and culturally specific.
More from Matthew Arnold
That which in England we call the middle class is in America virtually the nation.
Permalink to quote #47 Come, dear children, let us away; Down and away below. Now my brothers call from the bay; Now the great winds shoreward blow; Now the salt tides seaward flow; …
Permalink to quote #49 English civilization - the humanizing, the bringing into one harmonious and truly humane life, of the whole body of English society-that is what interests me.
Permalink to quote #46
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