them as a touchstone to other poetry These are the best lines that act as a measure New poems are tested against the best This method is for finding real poetic quality Importance of the Best Poetic Passages Arnold did not use whole poems as his standard He chose only the best lines or short passages He preferred some lines by poets like Homer Dante Milton and Shakespeare He believed these lines had real poetic truth and beauty Only those lines that have deep thoughts beauty and power can be touchstones They show the true heart of poetry Arnold says Short passages even single lines will serve our turn quite sufficiently These lines must touch the mind and heart This makes the touchstone method very strong for real critics Merits of the Touchstone Method The touchstone method brings clear rules for judging poetry It helps us avoid personal likes and dislikes He emphasizes the real estimate He says Our estimate of poetry should be governed by the real estimate We use only the best lines of poetry as examples This keeps our judgment fair and strong The method teaches us about real greatness in poems It helps us know which poems are really strong We can compare quickly and easily It protects us from being tricked by pretty words but weak meaning Good touchstones make us careful and wise judges of poetry Demerits Limitations of the Touchstone Method The touchstone method is not perfect Some critics say a line may sound great alone But it may be weak in the poem Poetry is not only small parts but a whole work We may miss the poem's full message if we judge only by small lines People feel poetry in different ways What touches one person may not touch another Arnold's method can be too strict or too narrow Tastes and languages keep changing So true quality is not always easy to check with a few lines Sometimes a whole poem works even when single lines do not shine T S Eliot and W H Garrod criticized him Modern View Many people like the touchstone method because it gives clear tools to judge It helps students and new readers know what great poetry is However some critics want more freedom in judging poems Modern critics believe both the whole poem and small lines matter They agree that touchstones are useful At the same time they want to look at all parts of a poem In conclusion the touchstone method is Arnold's tool to judge poetry It asks us to use great lines as our standard This way is fair and helpful but not perfect It teaches us about real poetic value but it may sometimes ignore the whole spirit of a poem