Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum and Other Poems Part 26

=35. dais=. Here, a canopy or covering.

=69. erst=. See note, l. 42, _The Scholar-Gipsy_. ( Formerly.

(Obsolete except in poetry.))

=71. chancel=. The part of a church in which the altar is placed.

=72. nave=. See note, ll. 70-76, _Epilogue to Lessing's Laoc.o.o.n_.

=77. palmers=. Wandering religious votaries, especially those who bore branches of palm as a token that they had visited the Holy Land and its sacred places.

=109. fretwork=. Representing open woodwork.

II. THE CHURCH

=17. matin-chime=. Bells for morning wors.h.i.+p.

=21. Chambery=. Capital of the department of Savoy Proper, on the Leysse.

=22. Dight=. See l. 277, _Sohrab and Rustum_. (Adorned, dressed.)

=37. chisell'd broideries=. The carved draperies of the tombs.

III. THE TOMB

=6. transept=. The transversal part of a church edifice, which crosses at right angles between the nave and the choir (the upper portion), thus giving to the building the form of a cross.

=39. foliaged marble forest=. Note the epithet.

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=45. leads=. That is, the leaden roof. See l. 1, Part II. (Upon the glistening leaden roof).

REQUIESCAT

This poem, one of Arnold's best-known shorter lyrics, combines with perfect taste, simplicity and elegance, with the truest pathos. It has been said there is not a false note in it.

=13. cabin'd=. Used in the sense of being cramped for s.p.a.ce.

=16. vasty=. s.p.a.cious, boundless.

What is the significance of strewing on the roses? Why "never a spray of yew"? (See note, l.140, _The Scholar-Gipsy.)_ What seems to be the author's att.i.tude toward death? (Read his poem, _A Wish_.) Discuss the poem as to its lyrical qualities.

CONSOLATION

=14. Holy La.s.sa= (that is, Land of the Divine Intelligence), the capital city of Thibet and residence of the Dalai, or Grand Lama, the pontifical sovereign of Thibet and East Asia. Here is located the great temple of Buddha, a vast square edifice, surmounted by a gilded dome, the temple, together with its precincts, covering an area of many acres. Contiguous to it, on its four sides, are four celebrated monasteries, occupied by four thousand recluses, and resorted to as schools of the Buddhic religion and philosophy. There is, perhaps, no other one place in the world where so much gold is acc.u.mulated for superst.i.tious purposes.

=17. Muses.= See note, l. 120, _The Strayed Reveller_.

=18. In their cool gallery=. That is, in the Vatican art gallery at Rome.

=19. yellow Tiber.= So called by the ancients because of the yellowish, muddy appearance of its waters.

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=21. Strange unloved uproar.= At the time this poem was written,--1849,--the French army was besieging Rome.

=23. Helicon.= High mountain in Boeotia, legendary home of the Muses.

=32. Erst.= See note, l. 32, _The Scholar-Gipsy_.

=48. Destiny.= That is, Fate, the G.o.ddess of human destiny.

In what mood is the author at the opening of the poem? How does he seek consolation? How does the calm of the Muses affect him? Can you see how he might find help in dwelling on the pictures of the blind beggar and happy lovers? What is the final thought of the poem? Can you think of any other poem that has this as its central thought? What do you think of the author's philosophy of life as set forth in this poem? Discuss the verse form used.

LINES

WRITTEN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS

The Kensington Gardens form one of the many beautiful public parks of London. They are located in the Kensington parish, a western suburb of the city, lying north of the Thames and four miles west-southwest of St. Paul's. In his poem Arnold contrasts the serenity of nature with the restlessness of modern life. "Not Lucan, not Vergil, only Wordsworth, has more beautifully expressed the spirit of Pantheism."--HERBERT W. PAUL.

=4.= The pine trees here mentioned are since dead.

=14. What endless active life!= Compare with Arnold's sonnet of this volume, ent.i.tled _Quiet Work_, ll. 4-7 and 11-12.

=21. the huge world.= London.

=24. Was breathed on by rural Pan.= Note Arnold's cla.s.sic way of accounting for his great love for nature, Pan being the nature G.o.d.

See note, l. 67, _The Strayed Reveller_.

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=37-42.= Compare the thought here presented with the following lines from Wordsworth:--

"These beauteous forms, ... have not been to me As is a landscape to a blind man's eye.

But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, ... sensations sweet Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And pa.s.sing even into my purer mind, With tranquil restoration."

Read also Wordsworth's _Lines to the Daffodil_.