Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum and Other Poems Part 25

PART II

With the opening of Part II the lovers are restored to each other.

The dying Tristram, worn with fever and impatient with long waiting, unjustly charges Iseult with cruelty for not having come to him with greater haste. Her gentle, loving words, however, quickly dispel his doubts as to her loyalty to her former vows. A complete reconciliation takes place, and they die in each other's embrace. The picture of the Huntsman on the arras is one of the most notable in English poetry.

=47. honied nothings=. Explain. Compare with

"his tongue Dropt manna." [172]

--_Paradise Lost_, ll. 112-113, Book II.

=81-88=. Tristram was born in the forest, where his mother Isabella, sister to King Marc, had gone in search of her recreant husband.

=97-100=. Tennyson, in _The Last Tournament_, follows Malory in the story of Tristram's and Iseult's death. "That traitor, King Mark, slew the n.o.ble knight, Sir Tristram, as he sat harping before his lady, La Beale Isoud, with a trenchant glaive, for whose death was much bewailing of every knight that ever was in Arthur's days ... and La Beale Isoud died swooning upon the cross of Sir Tristram, whereof was great pity."--Malory's _Morte d' Arthur._

=113. sconce=. Consult dictionary.

=116-122=. Why this restlessness on the part of Iseult? Why her frequent glances toward the door?

=132. dogg'd=. Worried, pursued. Coleridge uses the epithet "star-dogged moon," l. 212, Part III, _The Ancient Mariner._

=147-193=. For the poet's purpose in introducing the remarkable word-picture of these lines, see notes on the Tyrian trader, ll.

231-250, 232, _The Scholar-Gipsy._

PART III

After the death of Tristram and Iseult of Ireland, our thoughts inevitably turn to Iseult of the White Hands. The infinite pathos of her life has aroused our deepest sympathy, and we naturally want to know further concerning her and Tristram's children.

=13. cirque=. A circle (obsolete or poetical). See l. 7, Part III.

=18. holly-trees and juniper=. Evergreen trees common in Europe and America.

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=22. fell-fare= (or field-fare). A small thrush found in Northern Europe.

=26. stagshorn.= A common club-moss.

=37. old-world Breton history.= That is, the story of Merlin and Vivian, ll. 153-224, Part III.

=79-81=. Compare with the following lines from Wordsworth's _Michael_:--

"This light was famous in its neighborhood.

... For, as it chanced, Their cottage on a plot of rising ground Stood single....

And from this constant light so regular And so far seen, the House itself, by all Who dwelt within the limits of the vale ... was named _The Evening Star_."

=81. iron coast.= This line inevitably calls to mind a stanza from Tennyson's _Palace of Art_:--

"One show'd an iron coast and angry waves.

You seemed to hear them climb and fall And roar, rock-thwarted, under bellowing caves, Beneath the windy wall."

=92. prie-dieu.= Praying-desk. From the French _prier_, pray; _dieu_, G.o.d.

=97. seneschal.= A majordomo; a steward. Originally meant _old_ (that is, _chief) servant_; from the Gothic _sins_, old, and _salks_, a servant.--SKEAT.

=134. gulls.= Deceives, tricks.

"The vulgar, _gulled_ into rebellion, armed,"

--DRYDEN.

=140.= posting here and there. That is, restlessly changing from place to place and from occupation to occupation.

=143-145. Like that bold Caesar=, etc. Julius Caesar (100?-44 B.C.).

The incident here alluded to Is mentioned in Suetonius' _Life of the Deified Julius_, Chapter VII. "Farther Spain fell to the lot of Caesar as questor. When, at the command of the Roman people, he was holding court and had come to Cadiz, he noticed in the temple of Hercules a statue of Alexander the Great. At sight of this statue he sighed, as if disgusted at his own lack of achievement, because he had done nothing of note by the time in life (Caesar was then thirty-two) that Alexander had conquered the world." (Free translation.) [174]

=146-150. Prince Alexander, etc.= Alexander III., surnamed "The Great" (356-323 B.C.), was the most famous of Macedonian generals and conquerors, and the first in order of time of the four most celebrated commanders of whom history makes mention. In less than fifteen years he extended his domain over the known world and established himself as the universal emperor. He died at Babylon, his capital city, at the age of thirty-three, having lamented that there were no more worlds for him to conquer. (For the boundaries of his empire, see any map of his time.) Pope spoke of him as "The youth who all things but himself subdued." =Soudan= (l. 149). An obsolete term for Sultan, the Turkish ruler.

=153-224=. The story of Merlin, King Arthur's court magician, and the enchantress Vivian is one of the most familiar of the Arthurian cycle of legends. =Broce-liande= (l. 156). In Cornwall. See l. 61, Part I. =fay= (l. 159). Fairy, =empire= (l. 184). That is, power; here supernatural power. =wimple= (l. 220). A covering for the head. =Is Merlin prisoner=, etc. (l. 223). Merlin, the magician, is thus entrapped by means of a charm he had himself communicated to his mistress, the enchantress Vivian. Malory has Merlin imprisoned under a rock; Tennyson, in an oak:--

"And in the hollow oak he lay as dead And lost to life and use and name and fame."

--_Merlin and Vivian_.

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=224=. For she was pa.s.sing weary, etc.

"And she was ever pa.s.sing weary of him."

--MALORY.

PART I. What is the opening situation in the poem? Why have it a stormy night? What does Tristram's question (l. 7) reveal of his condition physically and mentally? What is the office of the parts of the poem coming between the intervals of conversation? How is the wounded knight identified? How the lady? Follow the wanderings of the sleeping Tristram's mind. Are the incidents he speaks of in the order of their occurrence? Explain ll. 102-103; ll. 161-169. Tell the story of Tristram and Iseult of the White Hands. What is shown by the fact that Tristram's mind dwells on Iseult of Ireland even at the time of battle? How account for his wanderings? For his morose frame of mind?

What change has come over nature when Tristram awakes? Why this change? What is his mood now? Account for his addressing Iseult of Brittany as he does. Why his order for her to retire? What is her att.i.tude toward him? Note the manner in which the children are introduced into the story (ll. 324-325) PART II. Give the opening situation. Discuss the meeting of Tristram and Iseult. What is revealed by their conversation? What is the purpose in introducing the Huntsman on the arras? PART III. What is the purpose of ll. 1-4? Give the opening situation in Part III. How is Iseult trying to entertain her children? What kind of a life does she lead? Discuss ll. 112-150 as to meaning and connection with the theme of the poem. Tell the story of Merlin and Vivian. Why introduced? Compare Arnold's version of the story of Tristram and Iseult with the version given in the introductory note to the poem.

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THE CHURCH OF BROU

I. THE CASTLE

The church of Brou is actually located in a treeless Burgundian plain, and not in the mountains, as stated by the poet.

=1. Savoy=. A mountainous district in eastern France; formerly one of the divisions of the Sardinian States.

=3. mountain-chalets=. Properly, herdsmen's huts in the mountains of Switzerland.

=17. p.r.i.c.kers=. Men sent into the thickets to start the game.