Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum and Other Poems Part 29

=2. Cobham.= See note above.

=3. Farringford,= in the Isle of Wight, was the home of Lord Tennyson.

=5. Pen-bryn's bold bard.= Sir Lewis Morris, author of the _Epic of Hades_, lived at Pen-bryn, in Caermarthans.h.i.+re.

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=11-12.= In Burns's poem, _Poor Mailie's Elegy_, occur the following lines:--

"Come, join the melancholious croon O' Robin's reed."

=20. Potsdam.= The capital of the government district of Potsdam, in the province of Brandenburg, Prussia; hence the dog's name, _Kaiser_.

=41. the Grand Old Man.= Gladstone.

=50. agog.= In a state of eager excitement.

=65. Geist.= Also remembered in a poem ent.i.tled _Geist's Grave_, included in this volume.

=76. chiel.= A Scotch word meaning lad, fellow.

"Buirdly _chiels_ an clever hizzies."

--BURNS, _The Twa Dogs_.

=Skye.= The largest of the Inner Hebrides. See note, l. 7, _Saint Brandan_.

THE LAST WORD

In this poem Arnold describes the plight of one engaged in a hopeless struggle against an uncompromising, Philistine world too strong for him.

State the central thought in the poem. To whom is it addressed? What is the _narrow bed_, l. 1? Why give up the struggle? With whom has it been waged? Explain fully l. 4. What is implied in l. 6? What is meant by _ringing shot_, l. 11? Who are the victors, l. 14? What would they probably say on finding the body near the wall? Can you think of any historical characters of whom the poem might aptly have been written?

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PALLADIUM

At the time of the Trojan war there was in the citadel of Troy a celebrated statue of Pallas Athene, called the Palladium. It was reputed to have fallen from heaven as the gift of Zeus, and the belief was that the city could not be taken so long as this statue remained within it. Ulysses and Diomedes, two of the Greek champions, succeeded in entering the city in disguise, stole the Palladium and carried it off to the besiegers' camp at Argos. It was some time, however, before the city fell.

=1. Simois.= A small river of the Troad which takes its rise in the rocky, wooded eminence which, according to Greek tradition, formed the acropolis of Troy. The Palladium was set up on its banks near its source, in a temple especially erected for it (l. 6), and from this lofty position was supposed to watch over the safety of the city and her defenders on the plains below.

=3. Hector.= Hector, son of Priam, king of Troy (Ilium), and his wife, Hecuba, was the leader and champion of the Trojan armies. He distinguished himself in numerous single combats with the ablest of the Greek heroes; and to him was princ.i.p.ally due the stubborn defence of the Trojan capital. He was finally slain by Achilles, aided by Athene, and his body dragged thrice around the walls of Troy behind the chariot of his conqueror.

=14. Xanthus.= The Scamander, the largest and most celebrated river of the Troad, near which Troy was situated, was presided over by a deity known to the G.o.ds as Xanthus. His contest with Achilles, whom he so nearly overwhelmed, forms a notable incident of the _Iliad_.

=15. Ajax, or Aiax.= One of the leading Greek heroes in the siege of Troy, famous for his size, physical strength, and beauty. In bravery and feats of valor he was second only to Achilles. Not being awarded the armor of Achilles after that hero's death, he slew himself.

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=16.= Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, was celebrated for her beauty, by reason of which frequent references are made to her by both cla.s.sic and modern writers. Goethe introduces her in the second part of _Faust_, and Faustus, in Marlowe's play of that name, addresses her thus:--

"Oh! thou art fairer than the evening air Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars."

Her abduction by Paris, son of Priam (see note, l. 3), was the cause of the Trojan war, the most notable incident of Greek mythology, which forms the theme of Homer's greatest poem, the _Iliad_.

What is the central thought of the poem? Of what is the Palladium typical? Explain the thought in stanza 3. What is the force of the references of stanza 4? Discuss the use of the words "rust" and "s.h.i.+ne," l. 17. Just what is meant by "soul" as the word is used in the poem?

SELF-DEPENDENCE

_Self-Dependence_ is a poem in every respect characteristic of its author. In it Arnold exhorts mankind to seek refuge from human troubles in the example of nature.

Picture the situation in the poem. What is the poet's mood as shown in the opening stanzas? From what source does he seek aid? Why? What answer does he receive? What is the source of nature's repose? Where and how must the human soul find its contentment?

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GEIST'S GRAVE

This poem appeared in the January number of the _Fortnightly Review_ for 1881.

=12. homily.= Sermon.

=15. the Virgilian cry.= _Sunt lacrimae rerum!_ These words are interpreted in the following line.

=42. On lips that rarely form them now.= Arnold wrote but little poetry after 1867.

=55-56. thine absent master.= Richard Penrose Arnold, the poet's only surviving son.

EPILOGUE TO LESSING'S LAOc.o.o.n

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) was a celebrated German dramatist and critic. For a time he studied theology at Leipsic, then turned his attention to the stage, and later to criticism. His greatest critical work (1766) is a treatise on Art, the famous Greek statuary group, the Laoc.o.o.n, which gives the work its name, forming the basis for a comparative discussion of Sculpture, Poetry, Painting, and Music.

=1. Hyde Park.= The largest park in London, and the princ.i.p.al recreation ground of that city.

=15. Phoebus-guarded ground.= Greece. Phoebus, a name often given Apollo, the sun G.o.d.

=16. Pausanias.= A noted Greek geographer and writer on art who lived in the second century. "His work, _The Gazetteer of h.e.l.las_, is our best repertory of information for the topography, local history, religious observances, architecture, and sculpture of the different states of Greece."--K.O. MuLLER, _History of the Literature of Ancient Greece_.

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=21-22. Dante= (1265-1321), =Petrarch= (1304-1374), =Ta.s.so= (1544-; 1595), =Ariosto= (1475-1533). Celebrated Italian poets.

=25. Raphael= (1483-1520). The famous Italian painter.