Matthew Arnold was born on December 24th, 1822 in Laleham, Middlesex, England. Arnold was a poet from his younger years, and gained recognition for his poetry during his childhood education in the Rugby School (a public school in Laleham). Although he began as a poet, Arnold became more renowned for the critical essays that he wrote further on in his life. Arnold’s first career was as a government school inspector, and although he stated that it was a bleak and grueling job, it allowed him to travel throughout England. When Arnold started to publish his poems, he built up his reputation as a poet which eventually earned him the position as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. Arnold believed that poetry should be the “criticism of life” and “verbalize a philosophy.” During his lifetime, Arnold made it clear that he had an anxiety as a result of his religious doubts, and his poems became well known for covering the topic of psychological isolation. Arnold died on April 15th, 1888.