Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LALEHAM: MATTHEW ARNOLD'S GRAVE, by LIONEL PIGOT JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LALEHAM: MATTHEW ARNOLD'S GRAVE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beside the broad, gray thames one lies
Subject(s): Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888); Poetry And Poets



Beside the broad, gray Thames one lies,
With whom a spring of beauty dies:

Only one voice could sing aright
Among the willows, the pure wind
Calls all his wistful song to mind;
His brother poet, lost in night:
And, as the calm, strong river flows,
His voice, who lies not far away,
With it his mightier music goes;
The pure and perfect voice of Gray.
But those winds cool, those waters lave,
The sleep of humble men he sang,
For whom the tolling church bells rang
The country of his chosen grave.
Over their silent fields and vales,
Go past the cottage flowers, and see,
Whence no rude sound their calm assails.
Where Arnold held it good to be!
Half church, half cottage, comely stands
He knew their melancholy rest,
An holy house, from Norman hands:
And peaceful sleep, on earth's kind breast;
Their patient lives, their common doom,
By rustic Time well taught to wear
Some lowly, meditative air:
The beauty of their simple tomb.
Long ages of a pastoral race
One thing he left unsung: how some,
To share those village slumbers, come:
Have softened sternness into grace;
And many a touch of simpler use
Whose voices filled the world with joy,
Who made high thoughts their one employ.
From Norman strength hath set it loose.
Ah, loving hearts! Too great to prize
Here, under old, red-fruited yews,
Things whereon most men set their eyes:
And summer suns, and autumn dews,
The applauding crowd; the golden lure
With his lost children at his side,
Of wealth, insatiate and unsure;
Sleeps Arnold: Still those waters glide,
Those winds blow softly down their breast:
A life of noise! a restless death:
But he, who loved them, is at rest.
The sanctities of life's last breath

Profaned with ritual pride and state;
Last pageant of the little great!

But these, to whom all crowns of song,
And all immortal praise, belong,
Turn from each garish sight and sound,
To lay them down in humble ground:
Choosing that still, enchaunted sleep
To be, where kindly natures keep:
In sound of pleasant water rills,
In shadows of the solemn hills.
Earth's heart, earth's hidden way, they knew:
Now on their grave light falls her dew.
The music of her soul was theirs:
They sleep beneath her sweetest airs.


Beside the broad, gray Thames one lies,
With whom a spring of beauty dies:
Among the willows, the pure wind
Calls all his wistful song to mind;
And, as the calm, strong river flows,
With it his mightier music goes;
But those winds cool, those waters lave,
The country of his chosen grave.
Go past the cottage flowers, and see,
Where Arnold held it good to be!
Half church, half cottage, comely stands
An holy house, from Norman hands:
By rustic Time well taught to wear
Some lowly, meditative air:
Long ages of a pastoral race
Have softened sternness into grace;
And many a touch of simpler use
From Norman strength hath set it loose.
Here, under old, red-fruited yews,
And summer suns, and autumn dews,
With his lost children at his side,
Sleeps Arnold: Still those waters glide,
Those winds blow softly down their breast:
But he, who loved them, is at rest.






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