University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poems by Matthew Arnold

Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888)

collapse sectionI. 
[VOLUME I] EARLY POEMS, NARRATIVE POEMS AND SONNETS
collapse section 
EARLY POEMS
collapse section 
SONNETS.
  
QUIET WORK.
  
TO A FRIEND.
  
SHAKESPEARE.
  
WRITTEN IN EMERSON'S ESSAYS.
  
WRITTEN IN BUTLER'S SERMONS.
  
TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
  
IN HARMONY WITH NATURE.
  
TO GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
  
TO A REPUBLICAN FRIEND, 1848.
  
CONTINUED.
  
RELIGIOUS ISOLATION.
  
MYCERINUS.
collapse section 
THE CHURCH OF BROU.
 I. 
I. The Castle.
 II. 
II. The Church.
 III. 
III. The Tomb.
  
A MODERN SAPPHO.
  
REQUIESCAT.
  
YOUTH AND CALM.
  
A MEMORY-PICTURE.
  
A DREAM.
  
THE NEW SIRENS.
  
THE VOICE.
  
YOUTH'S AGITATIONS.
  
THE WORLD'S TRIUMPHS.
  
STAGIRIUS.
  
HUMAN LIFE.
  
TO A GIPSY CHILD BY THE SEA-SHORE, DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN.
  
A QUESTION.
  
IN UTRUMQUE PARATUS.
  
THE WORLD AND THE QUIETIST.
  
THE SECOND BEST.
  
CONSOLATION.
  
RESIGNATION.
collapse section 
NARRATIVE POEMS
  
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM.
  
THE SICK KING IN BOKHARA.
collapse section 
BALDER DEAD.
 1. 
1. SENDING.
 2. 
2. JOURNEY TO THE DEAD.
 3. 
3. FUNERAL.
collapse section 
TRISTRAM AND ISEULT.
 I. 
I. Tristram.
 II. 
II. Iseult of Ireland.
 III. 
III. Iseult of Brittany.
  
SAINT BRANDAN.
  
THE NECKAN.
  
THE FORSAKEN MERMAN.
collapse section 
SONNETS
  
AUSTERITY OF POETRY.
  
A PICTURE AT NEWSTEAD.
  
RACHEL. I.
  
RACHEL. II.
  
RACHEL. III.
  
WORLDLY PLACE.
  
EAST LONDON.
  
WEST LONDON.
  
EAST AND WEST.
  
THE BETTER PART.
  
THE DIVINITY.
  
IMMORTALITY.
  
THE GOOD SHEPHERD WITH THE KID.
  
MONICA'S LAST PRAYER.
collapse sectionII. 
[VOLUME II] DRAMATIC AND LATER POEMS
collapse section 
DRAMATIC POEMS
  
MEROPE
collapse section 
EMPEDOCLES ON ETNA
collapse sectionI. 
ACT I.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
 II. 
ACT II.
collapse section 
LATER POEMS
  
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
  
GEIST'S GRAVE.
  
POOR MATTHIAS.
collapse sectionIII. 
[VOLUME III] LYRIC AND ELEGIAC POEMS
collapse section 
LYRIC POEMS
collapse section 
SWITZERLAND.
 1. 
1. MEETING.
 2. 
2. PARTING.
 3. 
3. A FAREWELL.
 4. 
4. ISOLATION. TO MARGUERITE.
 5. 
5. TO MARGUERITE.—CONTINUED.
 6. 
6. ABSENCE.
 7. 
7. THE TERRACE AT BERNE.
  
THE STRAYED REVELLER.
  
FRAGMENT OF AN “ANTIGONE.”
  
FRAGMENT OF CHORUS OF A “DEJANEIRA.”
  
EARLY DEATH AND FAME.
  
PHILOMELA.
  
URANIA.
  
EUPHROSYNE.
  
CALAIS SANDS.
collapse section 
FADED LEAVES.
 1. 
1. THE RIVER.
 2. 
2. TOO LATE.
 3. 
3. SEPARATION.
 4. 
4. ON THE RHINE.
 5. 
5. LONGING.
  
DESPONDENCY.
  
SELF-DECEPTION.
  
DOVER BEACH.
  
GROWING OLD.
  
THE PROGRESS OF POESY.
  
NEW ROME.
  
PIS-ALLER.
  
THE LAST WORD.
  
THE LORD'S MESSENGERS.
  
A NAMELESS EPITAPH.
collapse section 
BACCHANALIA; OR, THE NEW AGE.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
EPILOGUE TO LESSING'S LAOCOÖN.
  
PERSISTENCY OF POETRY.
  
A CAUTION TO POETS.
  
THE YOUTH OF NATURE.
  
THE YOUTH OF MAN.
  
PALLADIUM.
  
PROGRESS.
  
REVOLUTIONS.
  
SELF-DEPENDENCE.
  
MORALITY.
  
A SUMMER NIGHT.
  
THE BURIED LIFE.
  
LINES WRITTEN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS.
  
A WISH.
  
THE FUTURE.
collapse section 
ELEGIAC POEMS
  
THE SCHOLAR-GIPSY.
  
THYRSIS.
  
MEMORIAL VERSES.
  
STANZAS IN MEMORY OF EDWARD QUILLINAN.
  
STANZAS FROM CARNAC.
  
A SOUTHERN NIGHT.
  
HAWORTH CHURCHYARD.
  
EPILOGUE.
  
RUGBY CHAPEL.
  
HEINE'S GRAVE.
  
STANZAS FROM THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE.
  
STANZAS IN MEMORY OF THE AUTHOR OF “OBERMANN.”
  
OBERMANN ONCE MORE.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Poems by Matthew Arnold
next section
48

URANIA.

I too have suffer'd; yet I know
She is not cold, though she seems so.
She is not cold, she is not light;
But our ignoble souls lack might.
She smiles and smiles, and will not sigh,
While we for hopeless passion die;
Yet she could love, those eyes declare,
Were but men nobler than they are.
Eagerly once her gracious ken
Was turn'd upon the sons of men;
But light the serious visage grew—
She look'd, and smiled, and saw them through.
Our petty souls, our strutting wits,
Our labour'd, puny passion-fits—
Ah, may she scorn them still, till we
Scorn them as bitterly as she!
49

Yet show her once, ye heavenly Powers,
One of some worthier race than ours!
One for whose sake she once might prove
How deeply she who scorns can love.
His eyes be like the starry lights—
His voice like sounds of summer nights—
In all his lovely mien let pierce
The magic of the universe!
And she to him will reach her hand,
And gazing in his eyes will stand,
And know her friend, and weep for glee,
And cry: Long, long I've look'd for thee.
Then will she weep; with smiles, till then,
Coldly she mocks the sons of men.
Till then, her lovely eyes maintain
Their pure, unwavering, deep disdain.
previous section Poems by Matthew Arnold
next section