What did Matthew Arnold mean by provinciality in English literature?

For Matthew Arnold, the "note of provinciality" in English literature referred to a state of intellectual isolation and complacency. He argued that English writers and critics suffered from a remoteness from a "centre" of correct knowledge and taste, which prevented them from engaging with the broader, more sophisticated intellectual currents found in France and Germany.1

Arnold believed this provinciality was characterized by a lack of "fresh and true ideas" and an inability to see objects "as in themselves they really are." Because English critics were not sufficiently in touch with European standards or literatures other than their own, they remained trapped in a "backwater" of narrow-mindedness. To overcome this, Arnold advocated for a "disinterested endeavor" to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world, urging English thinkers to apply modern, informed intelligence to literature, politics, and society to escape their insular perspective.1