Professional Documents
Culture Documents
) English Part-III
Assignment on;
Submitted to:
Submitted by:
Al t a f A hme d She i kh
B.A (Hons.) Part - III
Roll No. 10
Institute of English
University of Sindh, Jamshoro.
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Altaf Ahmed Sheikh 2 B.A (Hons.) English Part-III
“Culture, however, shows its single minded love of perfection, its desire simply to make
reason and will of God prevail.”
‘Culture is not satisfied till we all come to a perfect man, it knows that sweetness and
light of few must be imperfect until the raw and unkindled masses of humanity are
touched with sweetness and light.’
The flexibility bestowed by sweetness and light, is one of the rewards of culture pursued
in good faith, enables a man to see that a tendency may be necessary, and even, as
preparation for something in the future, salutary, and yet that the generations or
individuals who obey this tendency are sacrificed to it, that they fall short of the hope of
perfection by following it; and that its mischiefs are to be criticized, lest it should take too
firm a hold and last after it has served its purpose. Thus he considers sweetness and light
to be the two noblest things as well as characteristics of perfection of an individual and of
society as whole.
“Culture is an ideal form of human life, a standard of excellence and fullness for the
development of our capacities, aesthetic, intellectual and moral.”
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Altaf Ahmed Sheikh 3 B.A (Hons.) English Part-III
Meanwhile, conclusion can be driven out of yet once more an other Arnold’s own
interpretation of an ideal culture. He states;
“Culture may with advantage continue to uphold steadily its ideal of human perfection in
an inward spiritual activity, having for its characters, increased sweetness, increased
light, increased life and increased sympathy.”
In a nutshell, the pursuit of perfection then becomes the pursuit of sweetness and light.
And, he who works for sweetness, in the end, does something for light as well. He who
works light, advances towards sweetness also. But, the one who works for both sweetness
and light simultaneously, struggles to make the reason and will of God prevail, which is
the essence of culture in Arnold’s eyes.
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Altaf Ahmed Sheikh 4 B.A (Hons.) English Part-III
http://www.classics.com/Arnold
http://www.sparknotes.com/prose
http://www.scribd.com
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