MATHEW ARNOLD

The Function of Criticism at the Present Time


Still, in full measure, the sense of creative activity belongs only to genuine creation; in literature we must never forget that. But what true man of letters ever can forget it? It is no such common matter for a gifted nature to come into possession of a current of true and living ideas, and to produce amidst the inspiration of them, that we are likely to underrate it. The epochs of Æschylus and Shakespeare make us feel their preëminence. In an epoch like those is, no doubt, the true life of literature; there is the promised land, towards which criticism can only beckon. That promised land it will not be ours to enter, and we shall die in the wilderness: but to have desired to enter it, to have saluted it from afar, is already, perhaps, the best distinction among contemporaries; it will certainly be the best title to esteem with posterity.

Alina Rosu

Mathew Arnold
 

The Function of Criticism at the Present Time

Totusi sentimentul de activitate creatoare apartine in totalitate numai creatiei autentice; cand e e vorba de literatura, nu trebuie sa uitam asta niciodata. Dar ce literat adevarat poate uita vreodata? Nu e ceva obisnuit ca o fire inzestrata sa fie sub inspiratia unui flux de idei originale si pline de viata si sa creeze ceva sub influenta lor, lucru pe care noi probabil il subapreciem. Epocile lui Eschil si Shakespeare ne fac sa le simtim importanta. Intr-o opera precum acelea, se afla, fara indoiala adevarata viata a literaturii; acolo se afla tinutul fagaduit, catre care critica ne poate doar atrage. Noua nu ne este destinat sa pasim in acel tinut, noi vom muri in salbaticie: dar a fi dorit sa ai acces acolo, sa-l fi salutat de departe este deja, probabil, cea mai buna calitate printre contemporani; va fi cu siguranta calitatea cea mai apreciata de catre posteritate.