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About this quote

What does it mean?
True poetic greatness comes when a gifted person handles serious topics with either plainness or sternness.
In plain terms
Great poetry happens when talented people treat serious matters simply or seriously.
What can you take from it?
Focus on the subject and your nature, not just ornate language.

Where it applies

  • writing poetry
  • literary critique
  • artistic creation

Putting it to work

  • write simply
  • choose serious subjects
  • match tone to topic

Questions to consider

  • What makes a nature noble?
  • How do you define the grand style?

Another view

Not all serious subjects require severity to be effective.

More from Matthew Arnold

  1. Of these two literatures, as of the intellect of Europe in general, the main effort, for now many years, has been a critical effort; the endeavour, in all bran…

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  2. For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the …

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  3. The translator of Homer should above all be penetrated by a sense of four qualities of his author:-that he is eminently rapid; that he is eminently plain and d…

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