The Strayed Reveller

Introdudtion.
one of accepted fame, we should seek his nearest
parallel in Gray. Both are academic poets, the
dominant note of each is a tender and appealing
pathos, each possessed a refinement of taste which in
some measure degenerated into fastidiousness, and
tended to limit a productiveness not originally exuberant.
If they are to be judged by their strongest
performances, the palm must indisputably be given to
Gray, for Arnold has nothing that can be equalled
with the immortal Elegy. If, on the other hand,
diversity of excellence is to be the criterion, he
infinitely surpasses his prototype: who would, however,
have written much more and even better, if he
had enjoyed Arnold's unspeakable advantage of living
after the second great age of English poetry instead
of before it. It may not be unreasonable to predict
that posterity will place them nearly on a level. In
venturing this prophecy, full allowance has been made
for the inevitable deduction from Arnold's charm
when, in the general mutation of things, he shall have
ceased to represent contemporary thought and feeling.
He is perhaps the most characteristic representative
that the blended religion and scepticism of our exceptional
epoch have had, and he will be invaluable
as a document for the literary and philosophical
historian of the future. But for this very reason he
must some day cease to be a vital force in the present,
and must rely upon his strictly poetical merits, independent
of any reference to the spiritual conflicts of
his day. That these merits will preserve his name,
we have no doubt whatever. His first charm, to our
mind, is depth of pathos; and in the next place beauty
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