“For poetry the idea is everything; the rest is a world of illusion, of divine illusion.”

— Matthew Arnold

Introduction to Ward's English Poets (1880)
Context: For poetry the idea is everything; the rest is a world of illusion, of divine illusion. Poetry attaches its emotion to the idea; the idea is the fact. The strongest part of our religion today is its unconscious poetry.

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Matthew Arnold 166

English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector… 1822–1888

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