"Culture and Anarchy" is Arnold's most famous piece of writing on culture which established his High Victorian cultural agenda and remained dominant in debate from the 1860s until the 1950s. Arnold's often quoted phrase "culture is the best which has been thought and said" comes from the Preface to Culture and Anarchy. The book contains most of the terms–culture, sweetness and light, Barbarian, Philistine, Hebraism, and many others–which are more associated with Arnold's work influence.

Matthew Arnold was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning.