Question

What does Arnold critique Robert Burns for?

• A. Lack of poetic skill.
• B. Lack of intellectual depth.
• C. Lack of emotional sincerity.
• D. Lack of technical refinement.

Answer 1

Answer:

B. Lack of intellectual depth.

Robert Burns:

• He acknowledges Burns’s emotional intensity but criticizes his lack of intellectual depth.

• Robert Burns in the late eighteenth century and says that this is the period from which the personal estimate begins to affect the real estimate.

• Burns, according to Arnold, is a better poet in Scottish than in English.

• Like Chaucer Arnold does not consider Burns to be a classic.

• He says that Burns too lacks the high seriousness desired of poetry.

• He compares Burns to Chaucer and finds that Burns‟ manner of presentation is deeper than that of Chaucer.

• According to the real estimate Burns lacks the high seriousness of the classics but his poetry nevertheless has truthful substance and style.