The Cambridge Quarterly - current issue

Notes on Contributors

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:18:06 PST

'Most Free from Personality': Arnold's Touchstones of Ethics

Caufield, J. W. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:18:07 PST

If ‘Culture and Conduct’, as T. S. Eliot claimed, made up the twin poles of Matthew Arnold's thought, then Arnold's notion of culture has been ceaselessly debated ever since he propounded it, but his conduct has been largely forgotten, dismissed as so much ‘Victorian ballast’, in Raymond Williams's phrase. Arnold opened Culture and Anarchy by declaring himself ‘a Liberal tempered by experience, reflection, and renouncement’, and this essay revisits the Arnoldian conception of conduct by focusing on ‘renouncement’ and demonstrating that it forms the basis of his philosophical pessimism and is the master key to his rhetorical style.

A Note on Haiku

Eaton, G. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:18:07 PST

By means of short discussions of a few personal favourites, the author illustrates the ‘art’ of reading English-language haiku.

Virgil, Horace, and Gay's Art of Walking the Streets

Power, H. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:18:07 PST

The irregular ebb and flow of John Gay's finances led him to identify, awkwardly, with those forced to earn a living by peddling goods. Trivia, or: The Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716) puts to good use his years of penury and pedestrianism. It is a didactic poem, modelled on works by Virgil and Horace, in which the reader is given advice on how to negotiate the increasingly crowded streets of the city. This essay shows how Gay, through extensive and witty reworking of his classical models, explores the growth of commerce, and the place of the poet within this commercial world.

Going for Broke: Tom Raworth and Lyric

Kilbride, L. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:18:07 PST

This dissertation reads Raworth's poetry against recent reformulations of ‘Lyric’ and considers how they might inform each other. It suggests that Raworth's work resists the traditional ideal of lyric poetry, which he perceives as an ‘exaggeration’. The desire for a more accurate representation of the difficulties of self-expression spurs him to ever greater lengths of experimentation in his effort to produce something ‘worth reading’.

Native Son

Peters, M. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:18:07 PST

Capital Drama

Groves, B. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:18:07 PST

The Cost of Criticism

Cook, D. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:18:07 PST