Arnold is a propandirst tilling the soil so that “the best ideas “may prevail making, “intellectual situation of which the creative power can profitably avail itself.”
To prepare a social atmosphere which will simulate the artist – to make the best that has been written familiar of the public – this was the new task of criticism. It was to be a contribution to the problem of “perfection,” or “how to live.” Arnold discussed and defined more clearly than any other writer before him the relation of the critic of literature to the society in which he lives. Herein lies his distinctive contribution to the study of critical principles.