THYRSIS°

A monody to commemorate the author's friend, Arthur Hugh Clough, who died at Florence, 1861.

Throughout this poem there is reference to the preceding selection, The Scholar-Gipsy, of which it is the companion piece, and, in a sense, the sequel. It is one of the four great elegies in the English language.

Thyrsis is a name common to both ancient and modern literature. In the Idyls of Theocritus it is used as the name of a herdsman; in the Eclogues of Vergil, of a shepherd; while in later writings it has come to mean any rustic.

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), whose poetry is closely akin in spirit to Arnold's, was a young man of genius and promise. He studied at both Rugby and Oxford, where he and Arnold were intimately associated and became fast friends. In 1869 his health began to fail, and two years later he died in Florence, Italy, where he had gone in the hope of being benefited by the climate.

Arnold, in a letter to his mother dated April, 1866, says of his poem: "Tell dear old Edward [Arnold] that the diction of the Thyrsis was modelled on that of Theocritus, whom I have been much reading during the two years this poem has been forming itself, and that I meant the diction to be so artless as to be almost heedless. However, there is a mean which must not be passed, and before I reprint this I will consider well all objections. The images are all from actual observation.... The cuckoo in the wet June morning, I heard in the garden at Woodford, and all[p.204] those three stanzas, which you like, are reminiscences of Woodford. Edward has, I think, fixed on the two stanzas I myself like best: 'O easy access,' and 'And long the way appears.' I also like 'Where is the girl,' and the stanza before it; but that is because they bring certain places and moments before me.... It is probably too quiet a poem for the general taste, but I think it will stand wear." To his friend, John Campbell Shairp, Arnold wrote, a few days later: "Thyrsis is a very quiet poem, but, I think, solid and sincere. It will not be popular, however. It had long been in my head to connect Clough with that Cumner country, and, when I began, I was carried irresistibly into this form. You say, truly, that there was much in Clough (the whole prophetic side, in fact) which one cannot deal with in this way.... Still, Clough had the idyllic side, too; to deal with this suited my desire to deal again with that Cumner country. Anyway, only so could I treat the matter this time. Valeat quantum."

1. Note how the tone of the poem is struck in the first line.

2.In the two Hinkseys. That is, North and South Hinksey. See note, l. 125, The Scholar-Gipsy.

4. Sibylla's name. In ancient mythology the Sibyls were certain women reputed to possess special powers of prophecy, or divination, and who claimed to make special intercession with the gods in behalf of those who resorted to them. Do you see why their "name" would be used on signs as here mentioned?

6. ye hills. See note, l. 30, The Scholar-Gipsy.

14. Ilsley Downs. The surface of East and West Ilsley parishes, in Berkshire, some twelve or fourteen miles south of Oxford, is broken by ranges of plateau-like hills, known in England as downs.

15. The Vale. White Horse Vale; the upper valley of the River Ock, westward from Oxford. weirs. See note, l. 95, The Scholar-Gipsy.

19. And that sweet city with her dreaming spires.[p.205] Arnold's intense love for Oxford and the surrounding country appears in many of his essays and poems. In the introduction to his Essays on Criticism, Vol. I, occurs the following tribute: "Beautiful city! so venerable, so lovely, so unravaged by the fierce intellectual life of our century, so serene!

'There are our young barbarians all at play!'

And yet, steeped in sentiment as she lies, spreading her garments to the moonlight, and whispering from her towers the last enchantment of the Middle Age, who will deny that Oxford, by her ineffable charm, keeps ever calling us nearer the true goal of all of us, to the ideal, to perfection—to beauty, in a word, which is only truth seen from another side?... Home of lost causes and forsaken beliefs and unpopular names and impossible loyalties! what example could ever so inspire us to keep down the Philistine in ourselves, what teacher could ever so save us from that bondage to which we are all prone, that bondage which Goethe, in his incomparable lines on the death of Schiller, makes it his friend's highest praise ... to have left miles out of sight behind him: the bondage of 'was uns alle bändigt, Das Gemeine'?"

20. Compare with Lowell's lines on June, in The Vision of Sir Launfal.

22-23. Explain.

24. Once pass'd I blindfold here. That is, at one time I could have passed 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[p.206] song.

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 circumstances 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 God, 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 [p.207] 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.

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 passed 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 goddess 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, Sandford. 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.

135. sprent. Sprinkled. The preterit or [p.208] 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 goddess.

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.

What is the author's mood, as shown by the first stanza? What [p.209] 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 attitude 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 fortitude? 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[p.210] 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.

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. shore. A word common to hymns.

38-57. Discuss the poet's idea of the future life as set forth in these lines. Can you think of any other author or authors who have held a like view?

58-59. The poet asks this question only to answer it in the lines following. Compare and contrast the two classes of men spoken of; their aims in life and their achievements. Why is the path of those who have chosen a "clear-purposed goal" pictured so difficult?[p.211] Who are they that start well, but fall out by the wayside?

90-93. Compare with Byron's description of a storm in the Alps, Canto III, Childe Harold.

                                   "Far along,
From peak to peak, the rattling crags among
Leaps the live thunder."

98-101. So unstable is the hold of the "snow-beds" on the mountain sides that travellers passing beneath them are forbidden by the guides to speak, lest their voices precipitate an avalanche. See ll. 160-169, Sohrab and Rustum.

117-123. What human frailties are indicated in the answer to the host's question? Note the contrast in the succeeding lines.

124-144. The imagery of these lines is drawn from Dr. Arnold's life at Rugby. Under his care frequent excursions were made into the neighboring Westmoreland Hills. Nothing perhaps gives a better idea of the man than the description of his "delight in those long mountain walks, when they would start with their provisions for the day, himself the guide and life of the party, always on the lookout how best to break the ascent by gentle stages, comforting the little ones in their falls and helping forward those who were tired, himself always keeping with the laggers, that none might strain their strength by trying to be in front with him; and then, when his assistance was not wanted, the liveliest of all—his step so light, his eye so quick in finding flowers to take home to those who were not of the party."—ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY.

171. In the rocks. That is, among the rocks.

190. Ye. Antecedent?

208. City of God.

"There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God."
                                                                                               —Psalms, xlvi: 4.

INDEX TO NOTES