Matthew Arnold
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MATTHEW ARNOLD. THE POETICAL WORKS OF MATTHEW ARNOLD COMPLETE EDITION WITH BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION -OOX^OO- NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. PUBLISHERS COFYRIGHT, 1897, Bv T, Y. CROWELL & CO. Notbjooti IPnss J. S. Cushius & Co. - Berwick & Smith Norwood Masi. U.S.A. CONTENTS. PAGE NOTE . viii BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION ix BIBLIOGRAPHY xxiii EARLY POEMS. SONNETS:— Quiet Work I To a Friend . 2 Shakspeare 2 Written in Emerson's Essays 3 Written in Butler's Sermons 3 To the Duke of Wellington 4 " In Harmony with Nature " 5 To George Cruikshank 5 To a Republican Friend, 1848 . • . 6 Continued 7 Religious Isolation 7 MVCERINUS 8 THE CHURCH OF BROU : — I. The Castle 12 II. The Church 16 III. The Tomb 18 A MODERN SAPPHO 19 REQUIESCAT 21 YOUTH AND CALM 22 A MEMORY-PICTURE 23 THE NEW SIRENS 25 THE VOICE • • • 34 YOUTH'S AGITATIONS • • • 36 iv CONTENTS. PAGI THE WORLD'S TRIUMPHS 36 STAGIRIUS 37 HUMAN LIFE 39 TO A GYPSY CHILD BY THE SEASHORE ... 40 A QUESTION 43 IN UTRUMQUE PARATUS 43 THE WORLD AND THE QUIETIST 45 THE SECOND BEST A6 CONSOLATION .y RESIGNATION .g A DREAM c8 HoRATiAN ECHO eg NARRATIVE POEMS. SOHRAB AND RUSTUM gj THE SICK KING IN BOKHARA -.'... 88 BALDER DEAD: — I. Sending .... z: 11. Journey to the Dead j^g III. Funeral ' n6 TRISTRAM AND ISEULT: I. Tristram . 13^ II. Iseult of Ireland .... III. Iseult of Brittany SAINT BRANDAN ... * • 52 THE NECKAN * ' ^ 162 THE FORSAKEN MERMAN ' ' '^^ . 164 SONNETS. AUSTERITY OF POETRY A PICTURE AT NEWSTEAD . ' • • • 169 RACHEL: I., IL, in. , " ' * ' ' -'69 WORLDLY PLACE ' * • • • 170 • • , 172 CONTENTS. V PAGE EAST LONDON 172 WEST LONDON 173 EAST AND WEST 173 THE BETTER PART 174 THE DIVINITY 174 IMMORTALITY 175 THE GOOD SHEPHERD WITH THE KID . 175 MONICA'S LAST PRAYER . , . 176 LYRIC AND DRAMATIC POEMS, SWITZERLAND : — I. Meeting 177 II. Parting 178 III. A Farewell 181 IV. Isolation. To Marguerite . 184 V. To Marguerite. Continued . 185 VI. Absence 186 VII. The Terrace at Berne 187 THE STRAYED REVELLER 189 FRAGMENT OF AN "ANTIGONE" 199 FRAGMENT OF CHORUS OF A "DEJANEIRA" . 203 EARLY DEATH AND FAME 204 PHILOMELA 204 URANIA 206 EuPHRosYNE 207 CALAIS SANDS 208 FADED LEAVES : — I. The River 209 11. Too Late 210 III. Separation 210 IV. On the Rhine 211 V. Longing . r 211 Vi CONTENTS. PAOB DESPONDENCY ^^^ SELF-DECEPTION 2 ^ ^ DOVER BEACH 213 GROWING OLD 215 THE PROGRESS OF POESY 216 PIS ALLER 216 THE LAST WORD 217 A NAMELESS EPITAPH 217 EMPEDOCLES ON ETNA 218 BACCHANALIA; OR, THE NEW AGE .... 256 EPILOGUE TO LESSING'S LAOCOON 260 PERSISTENCY OF POETRY 266 A CAUTION TO POETS 266 THE YOUTH OF NATURE 267 THE YOUTH OF MAN 271 PALLADIUM 275 PROGRESS ....... ^-e REVOLUTIONS 277 SELF-DEPENDENCE 2-8 MORALITY 270 A SUMMER NIGHT 280 THE BURIED LIFE 28-1 LINES WRITTEN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS . .286 A WISH " / 2SS THE FUTURE . 290 NEW ROME , 293 THE LORD'S MESSENGERS 294 MEROPE 295 ELEGIAC POEMS. THE SCHOLAR-GYPSY THYRSIS . • ' • 3 389 CONTENTS. Vli PAGE MEMORIAL VERSES 397 STANZAS IN MEMORY OF EDWARD QUILLINAN . 400 STANZAS FROM CARNAC 401 A SOUTHERN NIGHT 402 HAWORTH CHURCHYARD 407 EPILOGUE 411 RUGBY CHAPEL 411 HEINE'S GRAVE 418 STANZAS FROM THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE . 425 STANZAS IN MEMORY OF THE AUTHOR OF OBERMANN . 432 OBERMANN ONCE MORE 438 LATER POEMS, WESTMINSTER ABBEY 451 GEIST'S GRAVE 457 POOR MATTHIAS 460 KAISER DEAD 467 S. S. "LUSITANIA" 470 ADDITIONAL EARLY POEMS. ALARIC AT ROME 471 CROMWELL 481 THE HAYSWATER BOAT 488 SONNET TO THE HUNGARIAN NATION .... 490 DESTINY 490 COURAGE 491 THEKLA'S ANSWER 492 NOTES 493 NOTE. THE present edition of the poetical works of Matthew Arnold is enriched by the addition of all of his earlier and later poems, hitherto uncollected. This includes a reprint of his two prize poems, "Alaric at Rome" and "Cromwell"; the first having been recently discovered in almost unique copies, has attracted much attention and interest not only as the earliest known work of their talented author, but also for its inherent beauty and power.. This edition is therefore most complete in every respect. The brief Biography depends chiefly for its accuracy on the interest ing series of letters edited by Mr. George W. C. Russell, and on the friendly criticism of Prof. Charles Eliot Norton, who was one of Mr. Matthew Arnold's most intimate friends. BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. MATTHEW ARNOLD was born at Laleham, in the valley of the Thames, December 24, 1822. He was the oldest son of "the great and good " Thomas Arnold, so well known as the Head Master of Rugby School. His grandfather Arnold was Col lector of Customs at Cowes on the Isle of Wight. His mother was Mary, daughter of the Reverend John Penrose, Vicar of Fledborough Nolls. When he was eight years old, he became a pupil of his uncle, the Reverend John Buckland, with whom he continued at Lale ham until August, 1836, when he entered "Commoners" at Winchester under Dr. Moberly, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury. Matthew Arnold took such high rank in the school that he escaped the " austere system " of fagging then in vogue, and his father, who had desired him to have the full benefit of it, removed him to Rugby at the end of a year. There he had a training for which he rejoiced all his life: it was, to use his own words, " so unworldly, so sound, so pure." In 1840 he won a school-prize with a poem, " Alaric at Rome," which was published anonymously and has since become very scarce, only four copies being extant. It has been recently re published and commended by able critics for its depth of thought and accuracy of form. Having been elected to an open classi cal scholarship at Balliol, he went to Oxford the following year. Before he left Rugby he distinguished himself by winning a School-Exhibition. In 1842 he won the Hertford Scholarship; in 1843 his poem on Cromwell brought him the Newdigate Prize. It was not delivered aloud, the students being too uproarious, but it was published in an edition of seven hundred and fifty copies, all of which were sold within a few days. He received ten pounds for the copyright. He was elected Fellow of Oriel in 1845, J^^^ thirty years after the election of his father. Arthur Hugh Qough, Dean Church, and other noted men were among X BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. his colleagues at the famous college. After teaching the classics for a short time in the Fifth Form at Rugby, he was appointed Private Secretary to the Earl of Lansdowne, Lord President of the Council. •^ \As early as 1848 he began to sound his trumpet against the fictitiousness of English manners and civility and to find in Greek serenity a lesson for all time. He clearly saw what civili zation in England lacked, and he felt that he could add to the sum of happiness by stimulating his fellow-men to find in true culture a nobler ideal for their lives. Like other prophets and seers, he was misunderstood and cordially disliked by the very classes whom he wished to help,^ In 1849, while the world was in a state of ferment and revolution, he read Homer from begin ning to end. He also published "The Strayed Reveller and Other Poems," in an edition of five hundred copies, the title- page having only the initial A. as indication of the authorship. It was withdrawn from circulation before many copies were sold; but all the poems it contained, with one exception, were afterwards reprinted. •"^Tn 1851 he found himself withdrawing more and more from society, despising modern literature, which he declared was "only what has been before and what will be again and not bracing or edifying in the least." For months he did not look at a newspaper. • But this sameVear he was appointed to an Inspectorship of Schools and married Frances Lucy, daughter of Mr. Justice Wightman. For him he often acted in the capacity of Marshal on the Circuits. This gave him an opportunity of seeing some of the most delightful parts of England, together with the most satisfying companionship. The duties of his school-inspecting kept him constantly on the move. He found the work very oppressive, but his sense of duty was such that he never allowed the feeling to get too strong. His wife frequently accompanied him, and that was gatory" ' ' "''' ''" '''' ^"^^'^"S ^"^ P-^^^- P- Such work was necessary, but, in view of Matthew Arnold's gemus and his peculiarly lofty qualifications for st testnship to 1 d' f h T "'^"^ '' "^"^^"^^' '' -^^- -e'^ heaTble 5 BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. xi closely written grammar-papers to be looked over" when he was desirous of doing better things. Oftentimes he mentions, though without complaint, the necessity of examining scores of pupil-teachers in small and inconvenient rooms and going with out proper food. Pheidias may make good sandals, but to keep him at it would be a loss to sculpture. But all the pleasanter were his vacations, which gave him time for employments that he liked, for writing his poems, perhaps taking a few weeks' run upon the Continent, where always, if possible, he sought regions abounding in clear waters. He pub lished in 1852 (semi-anonymously, as before) "Empedocles on Etna," but withdrew it from circulation ere fifty copies were sold; the following year the first series of his "Poems" ap peared, with a preface of considerable length. The volume con tained nine new titles, among them " Sohrab and Rustum " and "The Scholar Gypsy." In 1854 it went into a second edition with some changes.