29. How thick the bursts, etc. Compare with the following lines from Coleridge:—

"'Tis the merry nightingale That crowds and hurries and precipitates With fast, thick warble his delicious notes, As he were fearful that an April night Would be too short for him to utter forth His love-chant, and disburthen his full soul Of all its music!" —The Nightingale.

Also

"O Nightingale! thou surely art A creature of a 'fiery heart':— These notes of thine—they pierce and pierce; Tumultuous harmony and fierce! Thou sing'st as if the god of wine Had helped thee to a Valentine." —WORDSWORTH.

31-32. Eternal passion! Eternal pain! Compare:—

"Thou warblest sad thy pity-pleading strains." —COLERIDGE, To a Nightingale.

and

"Sweet bird ... Most musical, most melancholy!" —MILTON, Il Penseroso.

Image the scene in the poem. How does the author secure the proper atmosphere for the theme of the poem? Account for the note of triumph in the nightingale's song; note of pain. What is shown by the poet's question, ll. 10-15? What new qualities are added to the nightingale's song, l. 25? Account for them. Why eternal passion, eternal pain? Do you feel the form of verse used (Pindaric blank) to be adapted to the theme? [186]



HUMAN LIFE

4. kept uninfringed my nature's law. That is, have lived a perfect life.

5. inly-written chart. The conscience.

8. incognisable. Not to be comprehended by finite mind.

23. prore. Poetical word for prow, the fore part of a ship.

27. stem. Consult dictionary.

What important incident in the destiny of the soul is alluded to in stanza 1? Interpret ll. 13-14, and apply to your own experience. Why cannot we live "chance's fool"? Is there any hint of fatalism in the poem, or are we held accountable for our own destiny?



ISOLATION

TO MARGUERITE, ON RETURNING A VOLUME OF THE LETTERS OF ORTIS

This poem, the fifth in a loosely connected group of lyrics, under the general name Switzerland, is a continuation of the preceding poem, Isolation—to Marguerite, and is properly entitled, To Marguerite—Continued. When printed separately, the above title is used.

Jacopo Ortis was a pseudonym of the Italian poet, Ugo Foscolo. His Ultime Lettere di Ortis was translated into the English in 1818.

[187] 1. Yes! Used in answer to the closing thought of the preceding poem.

7. moon. Note the frequency with which reference to the moon, with its light effects, appears in Arnold's lines. Can you give any reason for this?

24. Mr. Herbert W. Paul, commenting on this line, says: "Isolation winds up with one of the great poetic phrases of the century—one of the 'jewels five (literally five) words long' of English verse—a phrase complete and final, with epithets in unerring cumulation."

Give the poem's theme. To what is each individual likened? Discuss l.2 as to meaning. In what sense do we live "alone," l.4? Why "endless bounds," l.6? How account for the feeling of despair, l.13? Answer the questions asked in the last stanza. In what frame of mind does the poem leave you?



KAISER DEAD

APRIL 6, 1887

Arnold's love for animals, especially his household pets, was most sincere. Despite the playful irony of his poem, there is in the minor key an undertone of genuine sorrow. "We have just lost our dear, dear mongrel, Kaiser," he wrote in a letter dated from his home in Cobham, Kent, April 7, 1887, "and we are very sad." The poem was written the following July, and was published in the Fortnightly Review for that month.

2. Cobham. See note above.

3. Farringford, in the Isle of Wight, was the home of Lord Tennyson.

5. Pen-bryn's bold bard. Sir Lewis Morris, author of the Epic of Hades, lived at Pen-bryn, in Caermarthanshire. [188] 11-12. In Burns's poem, Poor Mailie's Elegy, occur the following lines:—

"Come, join the melancholious croon O' Robin's reed."

20. Potsdam. The capital of the government district of Potsdam, in the province of Brandenburg, Prussia; hence the dog's name, Kaiser.

41. the Grand Old Man. Gladstone.

50. agog. In a state of eager excitement.

65. Geist. Also remembered in a poem entitled Geist's Grave, included in this volume.

76. chiel. A Scotch word meaning lad, fellow.

"Buirdly chiels an clever hizzies." —BURNS, The Twa Dogs.

Skye. The largest of the Inner Hebrides. See note, l. 7, Saint Brandan.



THE LAST WORD

In this poem Arnold describes the plight of one engaged in a hopeless struggle against an uncompromising, Philistine world too strong for him.

State the central thought in the poem. To whom is it addressed? What is the narrow bed, l. 1? Why give up the struggle? With whom has it been waged? Explain fully l. 4. What is implied in l. 6? What is meant by ringing shot, l. 11? Who are the victors, l. 14? What would they probably say on finding the body near the wall? Can you think of any historical characters of whom the poem might aptly have been written?



[189] PALLADIUM

At the time of the Trojan war there was in the citadel of Troy a celebrated statue of Pallas Athene, called the Palladium. It was reputed to have fallen from heaven as the gift of Zeus, and the belief was that the city could not be taken so long as this statue remained within it. Ulysses and Diomedes, two of the Greek champions, succeeded in entering the city in disguise, stole the Palladium and carried it off to the besiegers' camp at Argos. It was some time, however, before the city fell.

1. Simois. A small river of the Troad which takes its rise in the rocky, wooded eminence which, according to Greek tradition, formed the acropolis of Troy. The Palladium was set up on its banks near its source, in a temple especially erected for it (l. 6), and from this lofty position was supposed to watch over the safety of the city and her defenders on the plains below.

3. Hector. Hector, son of Priam, king of Troy (Ilium), and his wife, Hecuba, was the leader and champion of the Trojan armies. He distinguished himself in numerous single combats with the ablest of the Greek heroes; and to him was principally due the stubborn defence of the Trojan capital. He was finally slain by Achilles, aided by Athene, and his body dragged thrice around the walls of Troy behind the chariot of his conqueror.

14. Xanthus. The Scamander, the largest and most celebrated river of the Troad, near which Troy was situated, was presided over by a deity known to the gods as Xanthus. His contest with Achilles, whom he so nearly overwhelmed, forms a notable incident of the Iliad.

15. Ajax, or Aiax. One of the leading Greek heroes in the siege of Troy, famous for his size, physical strength, and beauty. In bravery and feats of valor he was second only to Achilles. Not being awarded the armor of Achilles after that hero's death, he slew himself. [190] 16. Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, was celebrated for her beauty, by reason of which frequent references are made to her by both classic and modern writers. Goethe introduces her in the second part of Faust, and Faustus, in Marlowe's play of that name, addresses her thus:—

"Oh! thou art fairer than the evening air Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars."

Her abduction by Paris, son of Priam (see note, l. 3), was the cause of the Trojan war, the most notable incident of Greek mythology, which forms the theme of Homer's greatest poem, the Iliad.

What is the central thought of the poem? Of what is the Palladium typical? Explain the thought in stanza 3. What is the force of the references of stanza 4? Discuss the use of the words "rust" and "shine," l. 17. Just what is meant by "soul" as the word is used in the poem?



SELF-DEPENDENCE

Self-Dependence is a poem in every respect characteristic of its author. In it Arnold exhorts mankind to seek refuge from human troubles in the example of nature.

Picture the situation in the poem. What is the poet's mood as shown in the opening stanzas? From what source does he seek aid? Why? What answer does he receive? What is the source of nature's repose? Where and how must the human soul find its contentment?



[191] GEIST'S GRAVE

This poem appeared in the January number of the Fortnightly Review for 1881.

12. homily. Sermon.

15. the Virgilian cry. Sunt lacrimae rerum! These words are interpreted in the following line.

42. On lips that rarely form them now. Arnold wrote but little poetry after 1867.

55-56. thine absent master. Richard Penrose Arnold, the poet's only surviving son.



EPILOGUE TO LESSING'S LAOCOOeN

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) was a celebrated German dramatist and critic. For a time he studied theology at Leipsic, then turned his attention to the stage, and later to criticism. His greatest critical work (1766) is a treatise on Art, the famous Greek statuary group, the Laocooen, which gives the work its name, forming the basis for a comparative discussion of Sculpture, Poetry, Painting, and Music.

1. Hyde Park. The largest park in London, and the principal recreation ground of that city.

15. Phoebus-guarded ground. Greece. Phoebus, a name often given Apollo, the sun god.

16. Pausanias. A noted Greek geographer and writer on art who lived in the second century. "His work, The Gazetteer of Hellas, is our best repertory of information for the topography, local history, religious observances, architecture, and sculpture of the different states of Greece."—K.O. MUeLLER, History of the Literature of Ancient Greece. [192] 21-22. Dante (1265-1321), Petrarch (1304-1374), Tasso (1544-; 1595), Ariosto (1475-1533). Celebrated Italian poets.

25. Raphael (1483-1520). The famous Italian painter.

29. Goethe (1749-1832). The greatest name in German literature. His works include poetry, dramas, and criticisms. Wordsworth (1770-1850). See the poem, Memorial Verses, of this volume.

35. Mozart (1766-1791), Beethoven (1770-1827), Mendelssohn (1809-1847). Noted musicians and composers.

42. south. Warm.

43-48. Cyclops Polyphemus, famous in the story of Ulysses, was a persistent and jealous suitor of Galatea, the fairest of sea divinities. So ardent was he in his wooings, that he would leave his flocks to wander at will, while he sang his uncouth lays from the hilltops to Galatea in the bay below. Her only answers were words of scorn and mockery. See Andrew Lang's translation of Theocritus, Idyl VI, for further account.

70-76. Abbey towers. That is, Westminster Abbey, a mile's distance to the south and east of Hyde Park. The abbey is built in the form of a cross, the body or lower part of which is termed the nave (l. 73). The upper portion is occupied by the choir, the anthems of which, with their organ accompaniments, are alluded to in ll. 74-77.

89-106. Miserere Domine! Lord, have mercy! These words are from the service of the Church of England. The meaning in these lines is that Beethoven, in his masterpieces, has transferred the thoughts and feelings, above inadequately expressed in words, into another and more emotional tongue; that is, music.

107. Ride. A famous driveway in Hyde Park, commonly called Rotten Row.

119. vacant. Thoughtless; not occupied with study or reflection.

"For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood." —WORDSWORTH'S Lines to the Daffodils, ll. 19-20.

124. hies. Hastens (poetical). [193] 130. painter and musician too! Arnold held poetry to be equal to painting and music combined.

140. movement. Activities. Explained in the following lines.

163-210. Note carefully the argument used to prove that poetry interprets life more accurately and effectively than any of the other arts. Homer, the most renowned of all Greek poets. The time in which he lived is not definitely known. Shakespeare (1504-1616).

Give the setting of the story. What was the topic of conversation? What stand did the poet's friend take regarding poetry? Why turn to Greece in considering the arts? What limitations of the painter's art are pointed out by the poet? What is his attitude toward music? What finally is "the poet's sphere," l. 127? Wherein then is poetry superior to the other arts? Does the author prove his point by his poem? Discuss the poem as to movement, diction, etc.



QUIET WORK

No poet, not even Wordsworth, was more passionately fond of nature than Arnold. Note his attitude in the poem.

1. One lesson. What lesson?

4. Discuss the use of the adjective "loud"; also "noisier," l. 7.

Note the essential elements of sonnet structure in metre, rhyme formula, and number of lines. See the introduction to Sharp's Sonnets of this Century.



SHAKESPEARE

Despite this tribute, Arnold considered Homer Shakespeare's equal, if not his superior. What do Shakespeare's smile and silence imply on his part? Explain in full the figure used. Do you consider it apt? Why "Better so," l. 10? What is there in the poem that helps you to see wherein lay Shakespeare's power to interpret life? Select the lines which most impress you, and tell why. [194]



YOUTH'S AGITATIONS

This sonnet was written in 1852, when the poet was in his thirtieth year.

5. joy. Be glad. heats. Passions.

6. even clime. That is, in the less emotional years of maturity.

12. hurrying fever. See note, l. 6.



AUSTERITY OF POETRY

1. That son of Italy. Giacopone di Todi.

2. Dante (1265-1321). Best known as the author of The Divine Comedy.

3. In his light youth. Explain.

11. sackcloth. Symbolic of mourning or mortification of the flesh.

Tell the story of the poem and make the application. Explain Arnold's idea of poetry as set forth in ll. 12-14.



WORLDLY PLACE

3. Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.), commonly called "the philosopher." A celebrated Roman emperor, prominent among the ethical teachers of his time. Arnold himself has been aptly styled by Sharp an "impassioned Marcus Aurelius, wrought by poetic vision and emotion to poetic music." [195]

6. foolish. In the sense of unreasonable. ken. The Scotch word meaning sight.

7. rates. Berates, reproves.

Give the poem's theme. What is implied by the word "even," l. 1? Does the author agree with the implication? Why so? Discuss l. 5 as to its meaning. Interpret the expressions "ill-school'd spirit," l. 11, and "Some nobler, ampler stage of life," l. 12. Where finally are the aids to a nobler life to be found? Do you agree with this philosophy of life?



EAST LONDON

2. Bethnal Green. An eastern suburb of London.

4. Spitalfields. A part of northeast London, comprising the parishes of Bethnal Green and Christchurch.

Image the scene. What is the purpose of the first four lines? Discuss l. 6. What is the import of the preacher's response? What are the poet's conclusions drawn in ll. 9-14?



WEST LONDON

1. Belgrave Square. An important square in the western part of London.

Tell the situation and the story of the poem. Why did the woman solicit aid from the laboring men? Why not from the wealthy? Explain ll. 9-11. What is the poet's final conclusion?



[196] MEMORIAL VERSES

APRIL, 1850

Wordsworth died at Rydal Mount, in the Lake, District, April 23, 1850. These verses, dedicated to his memory, are among Arnold's best-known lines. For adequacy of meaning and charm of expression, they are almost unsurpassed; they also contain some of the poet's soundest poetical criticism. The poem was first published in Fraser's Magazine for June, 1850, and bore the date of April 27.

1. Goethe in Weimar sleeps. The tomb of Goethe, the celebrated German author (see note, l. 29, Epilogue to Lessing's Laocooen), is in Weimar, the capital of the Grand-duchy of Saxe-Weimar. Weimar is noted as the literary centre of Germany, and for this reason is styled the German Athens.

2. Byron. George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), a celebrated English poet of the French Revolutionary period, died at Missolonghi, Greece, where he had gone to help the Greeks in their struggle to throw off the Turkish yoke. He was preeminently a poet of passion, and, as such, exerted a marked influence on the literature of his day. His petulant, bitter rebellion against all law has become proverbial; hence the term "Byronic." The Titans (l. 14) were a race of giants who warred against the gods. The aptness of the comparison made here is at once evident. In Arnold's sonnet, A Picture at Newstead, also occur these lines:—

"'Twas not the thought of Byron, of his cry Stormily sweet, his Titan-agony."

17. iron age. In classic mythology, "The last of the four great ages of the world described by Hesiod. Ovid, etc. It was supposed to be characterized by abounding oppression, vice, and misery."— International Dictionary. The preceding ages, in order, were the age of gold, the age of silver, and the age of brass. [197]

34-39. Eurydice, wife of Orpheus, was stung to death by a serpent, and passed to the realm of the dead—Hades. Thither Orpheus descended, and, by the charm of his lyre and song, persuaded Pluto to restore her to life. This he consented to do on condition that she walk behind her husband, who was not to look at her until they had arrived in the upper world. Orpheus, however, looked back, thus violating the conditions, and Eurydice was caught back into the infernal regions.

"The ferry guard Now would not row him o'er the lake again." —LANDOR.

72. Rotha. A small stream of the English Lake Region, on which Rydal Mount, Wordsworth's burial-place, is situated.



THE SCHOLAR-GIPSY

"There was very lately a lad in the University of Oxford who was by his poverty forced to leave his studies there and at last to join himself to a company of vagabond gipsies. Among these extravagant people, by the insinuating subtilty of his carriage, he quickly got so much of their love and esteem that they discovered to him their mystery. After he had been a pretty while exercised in the trade, there chanced to ride by a couple of scholars who had formerly been of his acquaintance. They quickly spied out their old friend among the gipsies, and he gave them an account of the necessity which drove him to that kind of life, and told them that the people he went with were not such impostors as they were taken for, but that they had a traditional kind of learning among them, and could do wonders by the power of imagination, their fancy binding that of others; that himself had learned much of their art, and when he had compassed the whole secret, he intended, he said, to leave their company, and give the world an account of what he had learned."—GLANVIL'S Vanity of Dogmatizing, 1661. [198]

2. wattled cotes. Sheepfolds. Probably suggested by Milton's Comus, l. 344:—

"The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes."

9. Cross and recross. Infinitives depending upon seen, l. 8.

13. cruse. Commonly associated in thought with the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings, xvii: 8-16.

19. corn. See note, l. 156, Sohrab and Rustum.

30. Oxford towers. "Oxford, the county town of Oxfordshire and the seat of one of the most ancient and celebrated universities in Europe, is situated amid picturesque environs at the confluence of the Cherwell and the Thames (often called in its upper course the Isis). It is surrounded by an amphitheatre of gentle hills, the tops of which command a fine view of the city with its domes and towers."—BAEDEKER'S Great Britain, in his Handbooks for Travellers. In writing of Oxford, Hawthorne says: "The world, surely, has not another place like Oxford; it is a despair to see such a place and ever to leave it, for it would take a lifetime, and more than one, to comprehend and enjoy it satisfactorily." See also note, l. 19, Thyrsis.

31. Glanvil's book. See introductory note to poem.

42. erst. Formerly. (Obsolete except in poetry.)

44-50. See introductory note to poem.

57. Hurst. Cumner (or Cumnor) Hurst, one of the Cumnor range of hills, some two or three miles south and west of Oxford, is crowned with a clump of cedars; hence the name "Hurst."

58. Berkshire moors. Berkshire is the county, or shire, on the south of Oxford County.

69. green-muffled. Explain the epithet. [199] 74. Bablockhithe. A small town some four miles west and a little south of Oxford, on the Thames, which at that point is a mere stream crossed by a ferry. This and numerous other points of interest in the vicinity of Oxford are frequented by Oxford students; hence Arnold's familiarity with them and his reference to them in this poem and Thyrsis. See any atlas.

79. Wychwood bowers. That is, Wychwood Forest, ten or twelve miles north and west of Oxford. See note, l. 74.

83. To dance around the Fyfield elm in May. Fyfield, a parish in Berkshire, about six miles southwest of Oxford. The reference here is to the "May-day" celebrations formerly widely observed in Europe, but now nearly disappeared. The chief features of the celebration in Great Britain are the gathering of hawthorn blossoms and other flowers, the crowning of the May-queen and dancing around the May-pole—here the Fyfield elm. See note, l. 74. Read Tennyson's poem, The Queen o' the May.

91. Godstow Bridge. Some two miles up the Thames from Oxford.

95. lasher pass. An English term corresponding to our mill race. The lasher is the dam, or weir.

98. outlandish. Analyze the word and determine meaning.

111. Bagley Wood. South and west of Oxford, beyond South Hinksey. See note, l. 125; also note, l. 74.

114. tagg'd. That is, marked; the leaves being colored by frost.

115. Thessaly. The northeastern district of ancient Greece, celebrated in mythology. Here a forest ground near Bagley Wood. See note, l. 111; also note, l. 74.

125. Hinksey. North and South Hinksey are unimportant villages a short distance out from Oxford in the Cumnor Hills. See note, l. 74. [200] 129. Christ Church hall. The largest and most fashionable college in Oxford; founded by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525. The chapel of Christ Church is also the cathedral of the diocese of Oxford.

130. grange. Consult dictionary.

133. Glanvil. Joseph Glanvil, 1636-1680. A noted English divine and philosopher; author of a defence of belief in witchcraft.

140. red-fruited yew tree. The yew tree is very common in English burial-grounds. It grows slowly, lives long, has a dark, thick foliage, and yields a red berry. See Wordsworth's celebrated poem, The Yew-Tree.

141-170. "This note of lassitude is struck often—perhaps too often—in Arnold's poems."—DU PONT SYLE. See also The Stanzas in Memory of the Author of Obermann. For the author's less despondent mood, see his Rugby Chapel, included in this volume.

147. teen. Grief, sorrow; from the old English teona, meaning injury.

149. the just-pausing Genius. Does the author here allude to death?

151. Thou hast not lived (so). That is, as described in preceding stanza.

152. Thou hadst one aim, etc. What was the Scholar-Gipsy's one motive in life?

157-160. But thou possessest an immortal lot, etc. Explain.

165. Which much to have tried, etc. Which many attempts and many failures bring.

180. do not we ... await it too? That is, the spark from heaven. See l. 171.

182-190. Possibly Carlyle, although the author may have had in mind a type rather than an individual.

208-209. Averse, as Dido did, etc. Dido, the mythical queen of Carthage, being deserted by her lover AEneas, slew herself. She afterward met him on his journey through Hades, but turned from him in scorn. [201] "In vain he thus attempts her mind to move With tears and prayers and late repenting love; Disdainfully she looked, then turning round But fixed her eyes unmoved upon the ground, And what he says and swears regards no more Than the deaf rocks when the loud billows roar." —DRYDEN'S Translation.

For entire episode, see AEneid, vi, 450-476.

212. inviolable shade. Holy, sacred, not susceptible to corruption. Perhaps no other of Arnold's lines is so much quoted as this and the preceding line.

214. Why "silver'd" branches?

220. dingles. Wooded dells.

231-250. Note the force of this elaborate and exquisitely sustained image; how the mind is carried back from these turbid days of sick unrest to the clear dawn of a fresh and healthy civilization. In the course of an essay on Arnold, the late Mr. Richard Holt Hutton says of this poem and this closing picture: "That most beautiful and graceful poem on the Scholar-Gipsy (the Oxford student who is said to have forsaken academic study in order to learn, if it might be, those potent secrets of nature, the traditions of which the gypsies are supposed sedulously to guard) ends in a digression of the most vivid beauty.... Nothing could illustrate better than this [closing] passage Arnold's genius and his art.... His whole drift having been that care and effort and gain and pressure of the world are sapping human strength, he ends with a picture of the old-world pride and daring, which exhibits human strength in its freshness and vigor.... I could quote poem after poem which Arnold closes by some such buoyant digression: a buoyant digression intended to shake off the tone of melancholy, and to remind us that the world of imaginative life is still wide open to us.... This problem is insoluble, he seems to say, but insoluble or not, let us recall the pristine force of the human spirit, and not forget that we have access to great resources still.... Arnold, exquisite as his poetry is, teaches us first to feel, and then to put by, the cloud of mortal destiny. But he does not teach us, as Wordsworth does, to bear it." [202]

232. As some grave Tyrian trader, etc. Tyre, the second oldest and most important city of Phoenicia, was, in ancient times, a strong competitor for the commercial supremacy of the Mediterranean.

236. AEgean Isles. The AEgean Sea, that part of the Mediterranean lying between Greece on the west, European Turkey on the north, and Asia Minor on the east, is dotted with numerous small islands, many of which are famous in Greek mythology.

238. Chian wine. Chios, or Scio, an island in the AEgean Sea (see note above), was formerly celebrated for its wine and figs.

239. tunnies. A fish belonging to the mackerel family; found in the Mediterranean Sea.

244. Midland waters. The Mediterranean Sea.

245. Syrtes. The ancient name of Gulf of Sidra, off North Africa, the chief arm of the Mediterranean on the south, soft Sicily. Sicily is noted for its delightful climate; hence the term, "soft Sicily."

247. western straits. Strait of Gibraltar.

250. Iberians. Inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, formed by Portugal and Spain.

What atmosphere is given the poem by the first stanza? What quest is to be begun, l. 10? What caused the "Scholar" to join himself to the gipsies? What were his original intentions? Why, then, did he continue with them till his death? Why would he avoid others than members of the gipsy crew? Why his pensive air? To what truth does the author suddenly awake? How does the Scholar-Gipsy yet live to him? Explain fully lines 180-200. Note carefully the author's contrast between the life led by the Scholar-Gipsy and our modern life. Which is better? Why? Make an application of the figure of the Tyrian trader. Is it apt? Why used by the poet? Discuss the verse form used. Is it adapted to the theme of the poem? [203]



THYRSIS

A monody to commemorate the author's friend, Arthur Hugh Clough, who died at Florence, 1861.

Throughout this poem there is reference to the preceding selection, The Scholar-Gipsy, of which it is the companion piece, and, in a sense, the sequel. It is one of the four great elegies in the English language.

Thyrsis is a name common to both ancient and modern literature. In the Idyls of Theocritus it is used as the name of a herdsman; in the Eclogues of Vergil, of a shepherd; while in later writings it has come to mean any rustic.

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), whose poetry is closely akin in spirit to Arnold's, was a young man of genius and promise. He studied at both Rugby and Oxford, where he and Arnold were intimately associated and became fast friends. In 1869 his health began to fail, and two years later he died in Florence, Italy, where he had gone in the hope of being benefited by the climate.

Arnold, in a letter to his mother dated April, 1866, says of his poem: "Tell dear old Edward [Arnold] that the diction of the Thyrsis was modelled on that of Theocritus, whom I have been much reading during the two years this poem has been forming itself, and that I meant the diction to be so artless as to be almost heedless. However, there is a mean which must not be passed, and before I reprint this I will consider well all objections. The images are all from actual observation.... The cuckoo in the wet June morning, I heard in the garden at Woodford, and all those three stanzas, which you like, are reminiscences of Woodford. Edward has, I think, fixed on the two stanzas I myself like best: 'O easy access,' and 'And long the way appears.' I also like 'Where is the girl,' and the stanza before it; but that is because they bring certain places and moments before me.... It is probably too quiet a poem for the general taste, but I think it will stand wear." To his friend, John Campbell Shairp, Arnold wrote, a few days later: "Thyrsis is a very quiet poem, but, I think, solid and sincere. It will not be popular, however. It had long been in my head to connect Clough with that Cumner country, and, when I began, I was carried irresistibly into this form. You say, truly, that there was much in Clough (the whole prophetic side, in fact) which one cannot deal with in this way.... Still, Clough had the idyllic side, too; to deal with this suited my desire to deal again with that Cumner country. Anyway, only so could I treat the matter this time. Valeat quantum." [204]

1. Note how the tone of the poem is struck in the first line.

2. In the two Hinkseys. That is, North and South Hinksey. See note, l. 125, The Scholar-Gipsy.

4. Sibylla's name. In ancient mythology the Sibyls were certain women reputed to possess special powers of prophecy, or divination, and who claimed to make special intercession with the gods in behalf of those who resorted to them. Do you see why their "name" would be used on signs as here mentioned?

6. ye hills. See note, l. 30, The Scholar-Gipsy.

14. Ilsley Downs. The surface of East and West Ilsley parishes, in Berkshire, some twelve or fourteen miles south of Oxford, is broken by ranges of plateau-like hills, known in England as downs.

15. The Vale. White Horse Vale; the upper valley of the River Ock, westward from Oxford. weirs. See note, l. 95, The Scholar-Gipsy. [205] 19. And that sweet city with her dreaming spires. Arnold's intense love for Oxford and the surrounding country appears in many of his essays and poems. In the introduction to his Essays on Criticism, Vol. I, occurs the following tribute: "Beautiful city! so venerable, so lovely, so unravaged by the fierce intellectual life of our century, so serene!

'There are our young barbarians all at play!'

And yet, steeped in sentiment as she lies, spreading her garments to the moonlight, and whispering from her towers the last enchantment of the Middle Age, who will deny that Oxford, by her ineffable charm, keeps ever calling us nearer the true goal of all of us, to the ideal, to perfection—to beauty, in a word, which is only truth seen from another side?... Home of lost causes and forsaken beliefs and unpopular names and impossible loyalties! what example could ever so inspire us to keep down the Philistine in ourselves, what teacher could ever so save us from that bondage to which we are all prone, that bondage which Goethe, in his incomparable lines on the death of Schiller, makes it his friend's highest praise ... to have left miles out of sight behind him: the bondage of 'was uns alle baendigt, Das Gemeine'?"

20. Compare with Lowell's lines on June, in The Vision of Sir Launfal.

22-23. Explain.

24. Once pass'd I blindfold here. That is, at one time I could have passed here blindfolded, being so familiar with the country. Can you think of any other possible interpretation?

26-30. Explain.

31-40. Compare the thought here to that of Milton's Lycidas, ll. 23-38. A comparison of the two poems entire, in thought and structure, will be found to be both interesting and profitable. Shepherd-pipe (l. 35). The term pipe, also reed (l. 78), is continually used in pastoral verse as symbolic of poetry and song. [206]

38-45. Needs must I lose them, etc. That is, I must lose them, etc. Arnold's great ambition was to devote his life to literature, which circumstances largely prevented; while Clough was eager to take a more active part in life, not being content with the uneventful career of a poet, irk'd (l. 40). Annoyed; worried. keep (l. 43). Here used in the sense of remain, silly (l. 45). Harmless; senseless. The word has an interesting history.

46-50. Like Arnold, Clough held lofty ideals of life, and grieved to see men living so far below their privileges. This, with his loss of faith in God, tinged his poetry with sadness. The storms (l. 49) allude to the spiritual, political, and social unrest of the last of the first half, and first of the last half, of the nineteenth century.

51-60. So ... So.... Just as the cuckoo departs with the bloom of the year, so he (Clough) went, l. 48. With blossoms red and white (l. 55). The white thorn, or hawthorn, very common in English gardens.

62. high Midsummer pomps. Explained in the following lines.

71. light comer. That is, the cuckoo. Compare

"O blithe New-comer." —WORDSWORTH, Lines to the Cuckoo.

77. swains. Consult dictionary.

78. reed. See note, l. 35 of poem.

79. And blow a strain the world at last shall heed. On the whole, Clough's poetry was either ignored or harshly criticised by the reviewers.

80. Corydon. In the Idyls of Theocritus, Corydon and Thyrsis, shepherd swains, compete for a prize in music.

84. Piping a ditty sad for Bion's fate. Bion of Smyrna, Asia Minor, a celebrated bucolic poet of the second century B.C., spent the later years of his life in Sicily, where it is supposed he was poisoned. His untimely death was lamented by his follower and pupil, Moschus of Syracuse, in an idyl marked by melody and genuine pathos. ditty. In a general sense, any song; usually confined, however, to a song narrating some heroic deed. [207]

85. cross the unpermitted ferry's flow. That is, cross the river of Woe, over which Charon ferried the shades of the dead to Hades. Mythology records several instances, however, of the ferry being passed by mortals. See note, ll. 34-39, Memorial Verses; also ll. 207-210, The Scholar-Gipsy, of this volume.

88-89. Proserpine, wife to Pluto (l. 86) and queen of the underworld, was anciently honored, with flower festivals in Sicily, as the goddess of the spring.

90. And flute his friend like Orpheus, etc. See note, ll. 34-39, Memorial Verses.

94. She knew the Dorian water's gush divine. The river Alpheus, in the northwestern part of the Peloponnesus—the country of the Dorians—disappears from the surface and flows in subterranean channels for some considerable part of its course to the sea. In ancient Greek mythology it was reputed to rise again to the surface in central Sicily, in the vale of Enna, the favorite haunt of Proserpine, as the fountain of Arethusa.

95-96. She knew each lily white which Enna yields, etc. According to Greek mythology, Proserpine was gathering flowers in the vale of Enna when carried off by Pluto.

97. She loved the Dorian pipe, etc. What reason or reasons can you give for Proserpine's love of things Dorian?

106. I know the Fyfield tree. See l. 83, The Scholar-Gipsy.

109. Ensham, Sanford. Small towns on the Thames; the former, some four miles above Oxford; the latter, a like distance below.

123. Wytham flats. Some three miles above Oxford, along the Thames. [208] 135. sprent. Sprinkled. The preterit or past participle of spreng (obsolete or archaic).

141-150. Explain.

155. Berkshire. See note, l. 58, The Scholar-Gipsy.

167. Arno-vale. The valley of the Arno, a river in Tuscany, Italy, on which Florence is situated.

175. To a boon ... country he has fled. That is, to Italy.

177. the great Mother. Ceres, the earth goddess.

181-190. Daphnis, the ideal Sicilian shepherd of Greek pastoral poetry, was said to have followed into Phrygia his mistress Piplea, who had been carried off by robbers, and to have found her in the power of the king of Phrygia, Lityerses. Lityerses used to make strangers try a contest with him in reaping corn, and to put them to death if he overcame them. Hercules arrived in time to save Daphnis, took upon himself the reaping contest with Lityerses, overcame him, and slew him. The Lityerses-song connected with this tradition was, like the Linus-song, one of the early, plaintive strains of Greek popular poetry, and used to be sung by the corn reapers. Other traditions represented Daphnis as beloved by a nymph, who exacted from him an oath to love no one else. He fell in love with a princess, and was struck blind by the jealous nymph. Mercury, who was his father, raised him to heaven, and made a fountain spring up in the place from which he ascended. At this fountain the Sicilians offered yearly sacrifices. See Servius, Comment, in Vergil. Bucol., V, 20, and VIII, 68.

191-200. Explain the lines. Sole (l. 192). See l. 563, Sohrab and Rustum. soft sheep (l. 198). Note the use of the adjective soft. Cf. soft Sicily, l. 245, The Scholar-Gipsy.

201-202. A fugitive and gracious light, etc. What is the light sought by the Scholar-Gipsy and by the poet? Beginning with l. 201, explain the succeeding stanzas, sentence by sentence, to the close of the poem. Then sum up the thought in a few words. [209] What is the author's mood, as shown by the first stanza? What is his purpose in recalling the haunts once familiar to him about Oxford? Why the mention of the Scholar-Gipsy? What is the significance of the "tree" so frequently alluded to in the poem? Discuss stanzas 4 and 5 as to meaning. To what is Thyrsis (Clough) likened in stanzas 6, 7, and 8? Where, however, is there a difference? Apply ll. 81-84 to Clough and Arnold. How do you explain the "easy access" of the Dorian shepherds to Proserpine, l. 91? What digression is made in ll. 131-150? What is the poet's attitude toward life? Why will he not despair so long as the "lonely tree" remains? What comparison does he make between Clough and the Scholar-Gipsy? What is the "gracious light," l. 201? Where found? What voice whispers to him amid the "heart-wearying roar" of the city? What effect does it have upon him? Does it give him courage or fortitude? Discuss the verse form and diction of the poem.



RUGBY CHAPEL

Rugby Chapel (1857), one of Arnold's best-known and most characteristic productions, was written in memory of his father, Dr. Thomas Arnold, famous as the great head-master at Rugby. Dr. Arnold was born at East Cowes in the Isle of Wight, June 13, 1795, and as a boy was at school at Warminster and Winchester. In 1811 he entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and having won recognition as a scholar, was awarded a fellowship of the Oriel in 1815. Three years later he settled at Laleham, where, in 1820, he married Mary Penrose, daughter of Justice Penrose, and where, two years later, was born Matthew, who was destined to win marked distinction among English men of letters. In 1827 he was elected head-master at Rugby, and shortly afterward began those important reforms which have placed him among the greatest educators of his century. Chief among his writings is his History of Rome, published in several volumes. In 1841 he was appointed Regius Professor of History at Oxford. He died very suddenly on Sunday, June 12, 1842, and on the following Friday his remains were interred in the chancel of Rugby Chapel, immediately under the communion table. [210]

In his poem Arnold has drawn a vivid picture of a strong, helpful, hopeful, unselfish soul, cheering and supporting his weaker comrades in their upward and onward march—a picture of the guide and companion of his earlier years; and in so doing he has preserved his father's memory to posterity in a striking and an abiding way.

1-13. Note carefully the tone of these introductory lines, and determine the poet's purpose in opening the poem in this mood. The picture inevitably calls to mind Bryant's lines, The Death of Flowers.

16. gloom. The key-word to the preceding lines. Explain why it calls to mind the poet's father. Keats makes a similar use of the word forlorn in his Ode to the Nightingale.

"... forlorn. Forlorn! the very word is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self."

30-33. Discuss the figure as to its aptness.

37. shore. A word common to hymns.

38-57. Discuss the poet's idea of the future life as set forth in these lines. Can you think of any other author or authors who have held a like view?

58-59. The poet asks this question only to answer it in the lines following. Compare and contrast the two classes of men spoken of; their aims in life and their achievements. Why is the path of those who have chosen a "clear-purposed goal" pictured so difficult? Who are they that start well, but fall out by the wayside? [211]

90-93. Compare with Byron's description of a storm in the Alps, Canto III, Childe Harold.

"Far along, From peak to peak, the rattling crags among Leaps the live thunder."

98-101. So unstable is the hold of the "snow-beds" on the mountain sides that travellers passing beneath them are forbidden by the guides to speak, lest their voices precipitate an avalanche. See ll. 160-169, Sohrab and Rustum.

117-123. What human frailties are indicated in the answer to the host's question? Note the contrast in the succeeding lines.

124-144. The imagery of these lines is drawn from Dr. Arnold's life at Rugby. Under his care frequent excursions were made into the neighboring Westmoreland Hills. Nothing perhaps gives a better idea of the man than the description of his "delight in those long mountain walks, when they would start with their provisions for the day, himself the guide and life of the party, always on the lookout how best to break the ascent by gentle stages, comforting the little ones in their falls and helping forward those who were tired, himself always keeping with the laggers, that none might strain their strength by trying to be in front with him; and then, when his assistance was not wanted, the liveliest of all—his step so light, his eye so quick in finding flowers to take home to those who were not of the party."—ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY.

171. In the rocks. That is, among the rocks.

190. Ye. Antecedent?

208. City of God.

"There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." —Psalms, xlvi: 4.

* * * * *



INDEX TO NOTES

Abbey towers, 192. Ader-baijan, 166. AEgean Isles, 202, Afrasiab, 156. Agog, 188. Ajax, 189. Alcmena's dreadful son, 182. All red ... bathed in foam, 170. Aloof he sits, etc., 159. And that ... more, 169, Ariosto, 192. Arno-vale, 208. Art, 180. Arthur's court, 169. Art them not Rustum? 160. Asopus, 181. As some grave Tyrian trader, etc., 202 As when some hunter, etc., 162. At my boy's years, 156. Attruck, 158. Austerity of Poetry, 194. Averse, as Dido did, etc., 200.

Bablockhithe, 199. Bagley Wood, 199. Bahrein, 160. Beethoven, 192. Be govern'd, 160. Belgrave Square, 195. Bell, 166. Berkshire moors, 198. Bethnal Green, 195. Blessed sign, 171. Blow a strain the world at last shall heed, 206. Bokhara, 157. Bow'd his head, 161. Breathed on by rural Pan, 178. Broce-liande, 174. Bruited up, 162. Byron, 196. By thy father's head, 160.

Cabin'd, 177. Cabool, 159. Caked the sand, 163. Casbin, 157. Centaurs, 181. Chambery, 176. Chancel, 176. Chatelaine, 170. Chian wine, 202. Chiel, 188. Chisell'd broideries, 176. Chorasma, 163. Chorasmian stream, 181. Christ Church hall, 199 Cirque, 172. City of God, 211. Clusters of lonely mounds, 181 Cobham, 187. Common chance, 156. Common fight, 156. Consolation, 177. Cool gallery, 177. Corn, 158. Corselet, 162. Corydon,206. Crest, 161. Cross and recross, 198. Cross the unpermitted ferry's flow, 207. Cruse, 198. Cunning, 162. Curdled, 161.

Dais, 176. Dance around the Fyfield elm in May, 199. Dante, 192. Daphnis, 208. Daulis, 185. Dearer to the red jackals, etc., 162. Destiny, 178. Device, 160. Dight, 160. Dingles, 201. Ditty, 207. Dogg'd, 172. Do not we ... await it too? 200. Dover Beach, 183.

East London, 195. Empire, 174. Ensham, 207. Epilogue to Rising's Laocooen, 191. Erst, 198. Eternal passion! eternal pain! 185, Eurydice, 197. Even clime, 194.—

Falcon, 159. Fane, 180. Farringford, 187. Faun with torches, 183. Favour'd guest of Circe, 180. Fay,170. Fay, 174. Fell-fare, 173. Ferghana, 158. Ferment the milk of mares, 157. Fight unknown and in plain arms,159. Find a father thou hast never seen,156. First grey of morning fill'd the east, 155. Fix'd, 158. Flowers, 160. Flute his friend, like Orpheus,' etc., 207. Foliaged marble forest, 177. Foolish, 195. For a cloud, etc., 161. Fretwork, 176. Frore, 157. Fugitive and gracious light, etc. 208. Full struck, 161.

Geist, 188. Geist's Grave, 191. Girl's wiles, 161. Glad, 161. Glancing, 161. Glanvil, 200. Glanvil's book, 198. Glass, 162. Gloom, 210. Godstow Bridge, 199. Goethe, 192. Goethe in Weimar sleeps, 196. Go to! 159. Grand Old Man, 188. Grange, 200. Great Mother, 208. Green isle, 169. Green-muffled, 199. Griffin, 162. Gulls, 173.

Hair that red, 164. Haman, 157. Happy Islands, 181. Hark ... sun, 166. Have found, 162. Heap a stately mound, etc., 163. Heaths starr'd with broom, 166. Heats, 194. Hebrides, 164. Hector, 189. Helen, 190. Helm, 161. Helmund, 163. Hera's anger, 181. Heroes, 182. He spoke ... men, 159. Hies, 193. High Midsummer pomps, 206. Hinksey, 199. His long rambles ... ground, 170. Hollow, 161. Holly trees and juniper, 172. Holy Lassa, 177. Holy well, 166. Homer, 193. Homily, 191. Honied nothings, 172. How thick the bursts, etc., 185. Huge world, 178. Human Life,186. Hurrying fever, 194. Hurst, 198. Hurtling Polar lights, 164. Hydaspes, 161. Hyde Park, 191. Hyphasis, 161.

Iacchus, 180. Iberians, 202. I came ... passing wind, 162. I know the Fyfield tree, 207. Ilsley Downs, 204. Incognisable, 186. Indian Caucasus, 159. In his light youth, 194. Inly-written chart, 186. Inviolable shade, 201. Iran, 159. Irk'd, 206. Iron age, 196. Iron coast, 173. Iseult, 169. Is Merlin prisoner, etc., 174. Isolation, 186. Is she not come? 168. Ivy-cinctured, 179.

Jaxartes, 158. Joppa, 164. Joy, 194. Just-pausing Genius, 200.

Kai Khosroo, 159. Kaiser Dead, 187. Kalmucks, 158. Kara Kul, 157. Keep, 206. Ken, 195. Kept uninfringed my nature's law, 186. Khiva, 157. Khorassan, 158. Kindled, 161. King Marc, 169. Kipchak, 158. Kirghizzes, 158. Kohik, 163. Kuzzaks, 158.

Lapithae, 182. Lasher pass, 199. Launcelot's guest at Joyous Gard, 170. Leads, 177. Leaguer, 171. Leper recollect, 164. Light comer, 206. Like that autumn star, 161. Like that bold Caesar, etc., 173. Lines Written in Kensington Gardens, 178. Lion's heart, 159. Lions sleeping, 180. Lips that rarely form them now, 191. Lityerses, 208. Loud Tyntagel's hill, 169. Lovely orphan child, 170. Luminous home, 163. Lyoness, 169.

Maenad, 183. Mail, 166. Marcus Aurelius, 194. Margaret, 165. Matin-chime, 176. Memorial Verses, 196. Mendelssohn, 192. Midland waters, 202. Milk-barr'd onyx-stones, 181. Miserere Domine, 192. Moon, 187. Moonstruck knight, 171. Moorghab, 163. Mountain-chalets, 176. Movement, 193 Mozart, 192. Muses, 180. My princess ... good night, 171.

Needs must I lose them, etc., 206. Never was that field lost or that foe saved, 160. New bathed stars, 163. Northern Sir, 163. Nymphs, 180.

O'er ... sea, 169. Of age and looks, etc., 162. Old-world Breton history, 173. Once pass'd I blindfold here, 205. One lesson, 193. One slight helpless girl, 159. On that day, 163. Orgunje, 163. Orpheus, 197. Outlandish, 199. Oxford towers, 198. Oxus, 155. O wanderer from a Grecian shore, 184.

Painter and musician too, 193. Palladium, 189. Palmers, 176. Pamere, 156. Pan's flute music, 180. Passing weary, 175. Pausanias, 191. Pelion, 181. Pen-bryn's bold bard, 187. Peran-Wisa, 156. Persepolis, 163. Persian King, 157. Perused, 160. Petrarch, 192. Philomela 184. Phoebus-guarded ground, 191. Piping a ditty sad for Bion's fate, 206. Pleasaunce-walks, 169. Posting here and there, 173. Potsdam, 188. Prick'd upon this arm, etc., 162. Prickers, 176. Prie-dieu, 173. Priest, 166. Prince Alexander, 174. Prore, 186. Proserpine, 207.

Quiet Work, 193.

Range, 180. Raphael, 192. Rates, 195. Recks not, 171. Red-fruited yew tree, 200. Reed, 205. Remember all thy valour, 161. Requiescat, 177. Ride, 192. Right for the polar star, 163. Roman Emperor, 171. Rotha, 197. Rout, 180. Rugby Chapel, 209. Rustum! 161.

Sackcloth, 194. Saint Brandan, 164. Samarcand, 156. Sandford, 207. Sate, 159. Savoy, 176. Sconce, 172. Scythian ... embers, 181. Seal'd, 166. Secret in his breast, 171. See what the day brings, 180. Seistan, 156. Self-Dependence, 190. Self-murder, 164. Seneschal, 173. Shakespeare, 193. Shakespeare, 193. She knew each lily white which Enna yields, etc., 207. She knew the Dorian water's gush divine, 207. She loved the Dorian pipe, etc., 207. Shepherd-pipe, 205. Shore, 161. Sibylla's name, 204. Silenus, 183. Silly, 206. Simois, 189. Skye, 188. Snow-haired Zal, 159. Soft sheep, 208. Soft Sicily, 202. Sohrab and Rustum, 149. Sole, 162. Son of Italy, 194. Sophocles, 183. So ... So ..., 206. Soudan, 174. South, 192. Spitalfields, 195. Sprent, 208. Stagshorn, 173. Stem, 186. Stranger-knight, ill-starr'd, 170. Strange unloved uproar, 178. Style, 162. Sunk, 156. Sun sparkled, etc., 161. Swains, 206. Syrtes, 202.

Tagg'd, 199. Tale, 160. Tartar camp, 155. Tasso, 192. Teen, 200. Tejend, 163. That old king, 162. That sweet city with her dreaming spires, 205. Thebes, 181. The Church of Brou, 176. The Forsaken Merman, 165. The Last Word, 188. There, go! etc., 157. The Scholar-Gipsy, 197. Thessaly, 199. The Strayed Reveller, 179. Thine absent master, 191. Thou had'st one aim, etc., 200. Thou hast not lived, 200. Thou possessest an immortal lot etc., 200. Thou wilt not fright me so, 160. Thracian wild, 184. Thyrsis, 203. Tiresias, 181. Titans, 196. To a boon ... country he has fled, 208. Too clear web, etc., 185. Toorkmuns, 158. Tower'd, 160. Transept, 176. Tried, 160. Tristram and Iseult, 167. Troy, 182. Tukas, 158. Tunnies, 202. Tyntagel, 169.

Ulysses, 180. Unconscious hand, 162. Unknown sea, 182. Unnatural, 161.

Vacant, 192. Vale, 204. Vast, 160. Vasty, 177. Vaunt, 160. Virgilian cry, 191.

Wanders, 169. Wattled cotes, 198. Weirs, 204. Welcomed here, 170. Western straits, 202. West London, 195. What boots it, 171. What endless active life, 178. What foul fiend rides thee? 171. Whether that ... or in some quarrel, 157. Which much to have tried, etc., 200. Wild white horses, 165. Wimple, 174. With a bitter smile, etc., 161. With blossoms red and white, 206. Wordsworth, 192. Worldly Place, 194. Wrack, 161. Wychwood bowers, 199. Wytham flats, 207.

Xanthus, 189.

Yellow Tiber, 177. Yes, 187. Youth's Agitations, 194.

Zal, 157. Zirrah, 163.

THE END