Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum and Other Poems Part 33

=22-23.= Explain.

=24. Once pa.s.s'd I blindfold here.= That is, at one time I could have pa.s.sed 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 circ.u.mstances 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 G.o.d, 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 pa.s.sed 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 G.o.ddess 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 G.o.ddess.

=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 att.i.tude 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 fort.i.tude? 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. sh.o.r.e=. A word common to hymns.