The Idea of the Clerisy in the Nineteenth Century [Paperback]

This book is about the development in nineteenth-century England of the idea of a secular intellectual elite - the 'clerisy'.This book is about the development in nineteenth-century England of the idea of a secular intellectual elite - the clerisy. These intellectuals wanted to be in touch with transcendent values and raise the standard of intellectual life. Dr Knights examines five major writers that have important similarities, arising out of shared feelings on the subject of intellectual values.This book is about the development in nineteenth-century England of the idea of a secular intellectual elite - the clerisy. These intellectuals wanted to be in touch with transcendent values and raise the standard of intellectual life. Dr Knights examines five major writers that have important similarities, arising out of shared feelings on the subject of intellectual values.This book is about the development in nineteenth-century England of the idea of a secular intellectual elite - the 'clerisy'. These intellectuals wanted to free themselves from the pressures of material conditioning and be in touch with transcendent values. This elite would be capable of seeing and valuing the best in the national cultural heritage and raising the standard of intellectual life. Dr Knights considers five major writers who shared this concern: Coleridge, Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, J. S. Mill and J. H. Newman. He finds important similarities, arising out of shared problems and assumptions. The status of literary culture was still such that to many of its practitioners a 'clerisy' offered the only hope of reversing a trend towards cultural and social disintegration. Dr Knights goes on to examine the influence of the idea upon the reorganisation of university curricula in the latter part of the century.Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The idea of the clerisy: Samuel Taylor Coleridge; 3. The hero as man of letters: Thomas Carlyle; 4. The majority and the remnant: Matthew Arnold; 5. The reconstlƒ%