Culture and Anarchy

Culture and Anarchy, by English poet, cultural critic, and school inspector Matthew Arnold, was originally published in 1869. The work is a collection of periodical high-Victorian cultural essays, originally published in Cornhill Magazine between 1867-68. Within the work, Arnold defines culture as the study of perfection, contrasting it with anarchy, which lacks standards and direction. He also defined English society into three camps. The Barbarians, with high spirits, calmness, and manners, the Philistines, or the religious non-conformists, who were strong in morality and energy, and the Populace, who were raw, unformed, and blind. Arnold also saw the notion of the State as being an object of unity, which should cross classes, and attempt to put forward the nation's best self.