This selection of Arnold's verse includes, besides his tributes to Wordsworth and the Brontes, such well-known poems as 'Dover Beach', 'The Scholar Gipsy', 'Mycerinus', and 'Empedocles on Etna'. The poems are provided with full notes and a useful introduction to Arnold's life and poetry.

Matthew Arnold was an English poet, sage writer and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator.