British Literature IV: Unit 3 – Poetry:

Thyrsis

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) is an English poet and critic whose works represent the Victorian intellect. He was the foremost literary critic of his age. His poems are written in an elegiac, meditative mode. They cover a wide range of issues like the drawbacks of philosophy, war, death and the downfall of education. Some of his best poems are “The Scholar-Gipsy” (1853) and “Sohrab and Rustum” (1867). “The Study of Poetry” (1880) is his best critical essay in which he explains the Touchstone Method.

“” (1866) is a elegy on the death of , poet and his friend who died in 1861. “Thyrsis” is counted one of the best elegies alongside Milton’s Lycidas (1638) and Shelley’s Adonais (1821). A similar pastoral elegy is “Elegy Written on a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray. Arnold has borrowed the death of Thyrsis from Virgil’s Seventh Eclogue. In this classical poem, shepherds Thyrsis and Corydon enter a singing contest, in which Corydon wins. Defeat breaks the heart of Thyrsis and he dies. Virgil blames the gods but Arnold believes that Thyrsis made a mistake by taking Corydon as an opponent. Arnold’s Thyrsis is none other than his friend Arthur Hugh Clough, who made a similar mistake of searching for the truth.

Arnold begins the poem with an environmental concern. Once his friend Thyrsis and he visited Oxford country and it was green and beautiful. Now, the beautiful landscape is replaced with a busy city. He searches for an elm tree that had been their meeting spot. Their friend, the Scholar-Gipsy had been there a long time ago. He believed that he shall live as long as the elm tree lives. Arnold curses his friend for having left him alone so soon. Thyrsis had left of “his own free will”. Arnold is also lamenting the death of Virgil, the classical Roman poet at the same time. While the seasons keep changing, death is forever and neither Thyrsis nor Virgil will ever come back.

A. H. Clough’s death makes the poet recall the mythical Thyrsis who died because he could not bear defeat. Arnold is reminded of the ancient Italian funerals. Shepherds would play sad songs on pipes so that the soul may return from the underworld. They believed that Proserpine, the goddess of death might return the soul. The great musician Orpheus had almost brought his dead wife back in a similar way. But ancient traditions are just imaginary and will never work with Thyrsis. The dead can never come back to life.

The problems of the world occupy the mind of the poet as he walks in search of their favourite elm tree. He is sad to see that the boat-girl who used to ferry them has gone. Likewise, the tree has also gone. The poet is happy to finally the find their tree. Thyrsis had left farzanasrnmc.wordpress.com Page 1

the world because he wanted to search for truth. The finding of the tree also means that the poet no longer mourns for his friend. The first elm tree sprung up at the spot where Orpheus played his music to get his dead wife back. Elms have symbolized death and superstition for ages. The tree is associated with elms guarding burial mounds. Since, the poet wants his dead friend back, he hopes the elm tree might provide some connection. The elm is also a symbol of strength and hope. Though the poet loses his hope at first, he gets it back in the end.

This poem can be compared to Tennyson’s In Memoriam, which is an elegy on Arthur Henry Hallam. Tennyson’s grief is brought out in the lines “And with no language but a cry”. Arnold’s grief makes him wish for the mythical resurrection of his friend. Tennyson’s poem ends on a positive note: “Ring out the old, ring in the new” and Arnold finds their tree. Both poems end with new hope. This shows that death is not permanent and it does not destroy lives.

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