Selected Poems of Matthew Arnold

This is a selection of poems from the English poet Matthew Arnold (1822-88).  This is my first time reading a collection of Arnold’s work.  The book breaks up the poems into four sections: early poems, narrative poems, sonnets, and lyric and elegiac poems.  I believe when you read a person’s literary works, you get an idea of who the writer is.  This is especially true of poetry.  I get the sense of longing for what might have been that was not: a traveler looking for answers.  His Scholar-Gipsy epitomizes this feeling I get of who Arnold was.  Reading the collection, I get the sense that he was a determined and strongly dedicated man.  He believed in lofty ideals and hoped fervently for justice to prevail.  However, his Idealism was tempered with the reality of how things usually turn out.  Many of his writings deal with travelers and customs.  The characters experience a crisis of choice that must be made and it does not end in a fairy tale ending, but rather a realistic view.

Of his early poems, I particularly enjoyed Stagirius .  The narrative poem Sohrab and Rustum tells a father and son story of how fate can be so cruel.  Perhaps it was pride or hubris that resulted in this sad ending. Tristam and Iseult has been told by many over the years.  Arnold’s tale is short, and if one did not know the tale beforehand you might be a little confused.  In Memorial Verses, an elegy written upon the death of Wordsworth, Arnold also gives praise to Goethe and Byron.  However, my favorite is The Scholar-Gipsy.  Arnold explores the idea that some knowledge can only be acquired through revelation.  It is a tale of a wandering scholar who does not age and seeks monomaniacally for a hidden truth that cannot be found by empirical means, but only through revelation.

Overall Arnold was a nice find for me.  He presents a Victorian view of life where he is trying to balance science and belief with a mixture of strong classical influence.  I look forward to reading more of his works.

Arnold, Matthew. Selected Poems of Matthew Arnold. London: MacMillan and Co., 1912.