REVELATION OF THEME THROUGH TECHNIQUE IN
MATTHEW ARNOLD'S "SWITZERLAND" POEMS
by
STEVE LEE WILLIAMS, B. A
A THESIS
IN
ENGLISH
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for
the Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Approved
Chairman of the Committee
Accepted
May, 1973
/Hi' b'^ ^"^
T3
1973
No.gZ
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply indebted to Professor Kenneth W. Davis
for direction of this thesis and to the other member of my
committee. Professor John R. Crider, for his helpful criticism.
11
(^l-b^^"^
T3
1973
No.gZ
Clop- \o
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply indebted to Professor Kenneth W. Davis
for direction of this thesis and to the other member of my
committee. Professor John R. Crider, for his helpful criticism.
11
CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ii
CHAPTER
I.
II.
III.
IV.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE "SWITZERLAND" POEMS.
1
THEME THROUGH TECHNIQUE
7
Image and Symbol
8
Mechanics
13
The Fusion of Style and Sense
16
THE SINGULAR ENTITY OF THE POEMS
27
REFLECTIONS OF THE POET AND HIS AGE . . . .
33
The "Unquiet Soul" of a Victorian . . .
34
The Man:
A Quest for Permanence and
Peace
38
LIST OF REFERENCES CITED
45
LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED
45
111
CHAPTER I
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
"SWITZERLAND" POEMS
Matthew Arnold•s "Switzerland" or "Marguerite"
poems concern events that confronted the poet in 1848 and
1849.
The poems in their present form and sequence did
not evolve until 1877.
The reshuffling of lines and the
deletion and adding of entire poems illustrate the maturing nature of the poet as well as the wisdom of evaluation
in retrospect.
The conception of the "Marguerite" poems precipitates from an ill-fated love affair with a young woman that
1
Arnold met in Switzerland during the fall of 1848.
The
identity of Marguerite, the supposed lover, is somewhat
clouded to say the least.
Moreover, the very existence of
Marguerite rests on two or three lines written to Arthur
Hugh Clough
and on the strength of the poetry of itself.
To think of Marguerite as a mere representation of
a vague abstraction is ostensibly absurd.
As Lionel Trill-
ing observes in his voluminous work on the poet.
-'-Some scholars have speculated that Arnold may have
met Marguerite when he visited Europe in 1847. No mention
of any meeting is recorded in Arnold's letters.
^H. F. Lowry, ed.. The Letters of Matthew Arnold
to Arthur Hugh Clough (London: Oxford University Press,
1932), pp. 91 and 110.
. . . even without the refutation of external evidence, it is almost impossible to read the poems
themselves without being convinced that here is
the attempt of a man to tell the truth about an
important experience. Arnold is a very intimate
poet; he is an occasional poet who writes of the
hour as it passes; he is a literal poet who tries
to say what he means at the moment even if what he
says contradicts what he has said the moment before . -^
In the "Switzerland" poems, Arnold is unmistakably the type
of poet that Trilling perceives him to be.
If there is
any question concerning Marguerite's existence, the poetry
seems to answer the charges most convincingly.
In pursuit of the identity or existence of Marguerite, many critics have spent pages of speculative investigation.
Any greater attention to that pursuit would seem
fruitless.
Indeed, the pursuit has already past the point
of published absurdity.
The main thrust of the present con-
sideration will aim at the poetry, its conception, its
style and theme, and its reflection of the poet.
Marguerite and the emotions surrounding her were
first mentioned in "To My Friends, Who Ridiculed a Tender
Leave-Taking" which was published in 1849.
In 1853, when
others of the series were ready for print, the poem served
as the introductory piece for the "Switzerland" group.
In
1857, Arnold changed the somewhat juvenile title to "A
Memory Picture."
A change in name, however, could not save
3
Lionel Trilling, Matthew Arnold (New York:
Norton & Co., 1939), p. 122.
W. W,
the sometimes melodramatic and overly emotional poem, and
Arnold wisely deleted the verses in the 1877 printing of
the "Switzerland" series.
If the poem is of any value,
that value lies in the adding of a few more details to the
Marguerite mystery.
The elusive Marguerite was fond of
wearing a "lilac kerchief...her hair around," and she had
strikingly blue eyes.
The poem demands no more investiga-
tion, and following Arnold's exemplary wisdom, I shall
omit further consideration.
Through the 1857 printing, "A Dream" was included
in the "Switzerland" group.
Although the poem is neither
good nor bad (perhaps a case could be made for the latter),
it is inconsistent with the intellectual musings on the
emotions presented in the other poems of the series. Fortunately, Arnold chose to delete the poem from the 1869
edition.
"A Farewell" was added to the group in 1854.
In
1853, "To Marguerite—Continued" was included under the
title "To Marguerite."
In 1857, "To Marguerite" became
"Isolation," and finally in 1869, the poem appeared under
its present title.
"The Terrace at Berne," a retrospective
view of the events of 1848 and 1849, was supposedly composed ten years after the love affair in Switzerland.
The
poem was first published in 1867, and in 1869 it became
the concluding poem of the series.
Varying shuffling of the poems occurred in each
edition.
With the omission and addition of poems, the
preceding discussion may seem a little confusing.
Perhaps
a recapitulation of the evolution of the Switzerland series
would aid in clarification.
In 1853, the poems appeared
in the following sequence.
1.
"A Memory Picture"
2.
"The Lake"
—later called "Meeting"
3.
"A Dream"
4.
5.
"Parting"
"To Marguerite"
—later called "Isolation" and
finally "To Marguerite—Continued"
6.
"Absence"
In 1854, with "A Farewell" added, the poems appeared:
1.
"A Memory Picture"
2.
"The Lake" ("Meeting")
3.
"A Dream"
4.
"Parting"
5.
"A Farewell"
6.
"To Marguerite" ("To Marguerite—
Contunued")
7.
"Absence"
"Isolation.
To Marguerite" was added in the 1857
edition under the title "To Marguerite."
Kenneth Allott
suggests in his edition of Arnold's poems that the poem was
omitted from earlier printings because of Arnold's recent
4
marriage.
The stanzas do indeed paint a dreary picture
of the futility of seeking love.
In any event, eight poems
were included in the 1857 edition in the following sequence and under these titles:
1.
"A Memory Picture"
2.
"Meeting"
3.
"A Dream"
4.
"Parting"
5.
"A Farewell"
6.
"To Marguerite" ("Isolation.
To Marguerite")
7.
"Isolation" ("To Marguerite—
Continued")
8.
"Absence"
In 1869, the poems were again reshuffled, and "The
Terrace at Berne" was added and "A Dream" was deleted.
1.
"A Memory Picture"
2.
"Meeting"
3.
"Parting"
4.
"A Farewell"
5.
"Absence"
6.
"Isolation.
7.
8.
"To Marguerite—Continued"
"The Terrace at Berne"
To Marguerite"
%enneth Allott, ed.. The Poems of Matthew Arnold
(New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1972), p. 121.
In 1877, Arnold presented the final arrangement of
the "Switzerland" poems with "A Memory Picture" omitted.
1.
"Meeting"
2.
"Parting"
3.
"A Farewell"
4.
"Isolation.
5.
"To Marguerite—Continued"
6.
"Absence"
7.
"The Terrace at Berne"
To Marguerite"
Like Wordsworth's constant refining of The Prelude, Arnold's
revision strengthened and polished his verse.
Like Words-
worth, Arnold may have lost some of the primary and spontaneous emotion of his poetry, but that loss of emotion
seems to be by design in the "Switzerland" poems.
Unlike
Wordsworth's tamperings with The Prelude, Arnold's refinement of the "Switzerland" group achieves a unified and
well-defined purpose.
The poems become a cohesive unit
fused in sound and sense, and it is with this last grouping of poems, arranged and polished as Arnold had developed
them, that this study is primarily concerned.
CHAPTER II
THEME THROUGH TECHNIQUE
Much of Arnold's poetry has failed to evoke enthusiasm in literary circles.
Except for reading "Dover
Beach" in anthologies of English literature, many have been
exposed to little of Arnold's talents. When the reader
merely skims Arnold's poetry, a lack of enthusiasm is understandable.
Arnold never captured the melodic tones and
rhythms of the Romantics, nor did he acquire the creativity
of a Browning.
He did, however, produce a poetry that em-
braced form as a portion of its content and theme.
He
created verses in which mechanical, symbolic, and euphonious elements assure us of his thematic implications.
In
short, he refined his style to a point of harmony with his
message, and his accomplishment is no small achievement for
a poet.
Praise for Arnold's "Switzerland" poems is well
deserved.
In the seven poems of the group, Arnold comes
as near to a union of sense and style as any poet could
hope to do.
This is not to say that Arnold achieves beau-
tiful and memorable verse throughout the series of poems,
but in defense, his theme is not always beautiful nor is
his thought always sublime.
Indeed, his theme is more of-
ten one of contradiction, loneliness and isolation.
These
8
thematic considerations combined with Arnold's intellectual
approach may seem to make the material more suitable for
prose than for poetry.
Perhaps Arnold would agree.
Regard-
less of this possibility, the world of verse is much the
richer for Arnold's choice of poetry for his expression of
the "Marguerite" episode.
Despite this digression, the point is that a detailed analysis of the "Switzerland" group can not solely
rely on individual matters of style.
symbol is not enough.
To consider image and
The mechanics of the poetry is in
harmony with theme, but a mere study of mechanics will not
illuminate the fullness of Arnold's consideration.
Con-
sidering the many aspects of Arnold's style and technique,
however, can lead to a revelation of the important themes
that Arnold sought to develop.
By observing the technique
of Arnold's poetic analysis, I seek to illuminate his
themes more vividly, and, at the same time, to clarify his
use of poetic techniques to augment some themes as well as
to generate others.
Image and Symbol
Arnold constructs two poles of imagery in the
"Switzerland" poems.
The distinction between the poles is
most clearly evident in "Parting."
At one extreme are the
mountains, cold, still, and intellectually crisp.
other extreme are the lower lands.
At the
The lower lands are the
habitat of Marguerite and the sultry emotion that she not
only embraces but also represents.
Between these two sep-
arate poles lies a symbolic sea of division that becomes
an inevitable force of isolation.
Arnold is torn between the mountains and the emotional world of Marguerite.
In "Parting," Arnold presents
the symbolic division between Marguerite and himself as
the sea:
In the void, toward thee.
My stretch'd arms are cast;
But a sea rolls between u s —
Our different pastl^
Once Arnold has recognized the division that separates him
from Marguerite, the "sea" becomes the predominant symbol
for the isolation and loneliness that haunts the remaining
poems in the grouping.
Interestingly, because Arnold and Marguerite are
from two different worlds, they must meet on the sea that
separates them and that must inevitably divide them once
again.
On that symbolic sea, the two lovers have found the
love that has allowed the relationship to develop.
In "A
Farewell," Arnold speaks of the passing peace that they
briefly possessed:
5
C. B. Tinker and H. F. Lowry, eds., The Poetical
Works of Matthew Arnold (London: Oxford University Press,
1950), 11.63-66. All future references are to this edition
and will be incorporated in the text.
10
How sweet, unreach'd by earthly jars.
My sister! to maintain with thee
The hush among the shining stars.
The calm upon the moonlit sea!
(11. 77-80)
Indeed, on that "moonlit sea" that lies between their worlds,
Arnold and Marguerite had found a common ground (if nothing
more than their brief love).
The common ground that the lovers had found could
not endure for long.
The basis for their relationship was
one of emotion and feeling.
Like the sea, emotions can not
remain stable and calm indefinitely.
In "Isolation.
To
Marguerite," Arnold again uses the sea to illustrate the
tide that the love affair has necessarily followed:
The heart can bind itself alone.
And faith may oft be unreturn'd.
Self-sway'd our feelings ebb and swell—
Thou lov'st no more;—Farewell! Farewell!
(11. 9-12)
Just as the sea "ebbs and swells," so do matters of the
human heart.
Built only on a sea of emotion, love can not
grow and survive.
If a reader of the "Switzerland" poems failed to
note any sea imagery or symbolism in the first four poems
of the series, he could not miss the abundance of that
imagery in "To Marguerite—Continued."
The poem is satu-
rated with references to that sea that estranges not only
Arnold from Marguerite but also each human being from all
other men.
From the first line to the last, Arnold's sea
of life metaphor is developed:
11
Yes! in the sea of life enisled.
With echoing straits between us thrown.
Dotting the shoreless watery wild.
We mortal millions live alone.
The islands feel the enclasping flow.
And then their endless bounds they know.
But when the moon their hollows lights.
And they are swept by balms of spring.
And in their glens, on starry nights.
The nightingales divinely sing;
And lovely notes, from shore to shore.
Across the sounds and channels pour—
Oh! then a longing like despair
Is to their farthest caverns sent;
For surely once, they feel, we were
Parts of a single continent!
Now round us spreads the watery plain—
Oh might our marges meet again!
Who order'd, that their longing's fire
Should be, as soon as kindled, cool'd?
Who renders vain their deep desire?—
A God, a God their severance ruled!
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
(11. 1-24)
Arnold and Marguerite, once "parts of a single continent, "
are now separated by "the unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea."
Douglas Bush is one recent critic who recognizes
the strength of the extended metaphor in "To Marguerite—
Continued."
He perceives the intrinsic relationship of the
symbol to the immediacy of Arnold's problem as well as the
universal nature of the metaphor:
Among the poems to Marguerite, the signal exception to mediocrity that was mentioned above is
the swift, impassioned outburst, "Yes! in the
sea of life enisled," which some critics have
thought Arnold's finest achievement. Through the
closely coherent working out of the one simple
metaphor of separated islands, once perhaps
united as a continent, the theme of love is
12
submerged in the larger idea that all hiiman beings—once perhaps united in the "mind of One
all-pure" (to quote In Utrumque Paratus)—are
inevitably isolated from one another in "the unplumbed, salt, estranging sea" of life.^
Although Bush is somewhat stringent on the other poems of
the group without greater evidence than he offers, his
evaluation of "To Marguerite—Continued" allows little room
for argument.
The poem is a superb development of metaphor
and symbol, but its strength relies greatly on the prior
groundwork of the first poems of the series.
The poem is
the high point, the climax of the symbol and imagery development that began with "Parting."
"The Terrace of Berne," a recollection and reevaluation of the love affair, offers a recapitulation of
the imagistic, symbolic metaphor.
"Like driftwood spars,"
the lovers had met "upon the boundless ocean-plain."
They
had met on "the sea of life" where there is a basic futility in human relationships.
On this sea, briefly "man
meets man—meets, and quits again."
From this sea, Arnold
had gone to his world of mountains and intellect, and Marguerite (we are led to believe) has returned to her world:
I knew it when my life was young;
I feel it still, now youth is o'er.
— T h e mists are on the mountain hung.
And Marguerite I shall see no more.
(11. 49-52)
Douglas Bush, Matthew Arnold: A Survey of His
Poetry and Prose (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971),
p. 52.
13
The imagery and symbol that Arnold uses throughout
the grouping is well-developed and appropriate.
The moun-
tains of intellect, the emotion of the lower lands of
Marguerite, and the sea that forever separates, all become
a part of the style that is Arnold's poetry.
That style,
as we shall see, fuses with the theme and message of the
"Switzerland" group of poems.
Mechanics
In reviewing matters of versification in the "Marguerite" poems, two elements seem both distinctive and appropriate in Arnold's prosody.
First, his use of caesura
and end-stopped lines adds emphasis to his technique of
thematic development.
Second, Arnold's use of stanza pat-
terns develops in correlation to his presentation of thought,
To consider the mechanics line by line seems pointless.
Most of these observations will be obvious to the
careful reader.
Therefore, without sighting too many ex-
amples, I shall seek a distillation of my observations and
offer generalizations that are reflective of Arnold's use
of prosody to generate themes.
Arnold uses caesura and end-stopped lines to stop
the reader and engage him in the internal arguments and
contradictions that confront Marguerite's lover.
Without
regard to the numerous commas and periods used, the number
of semicolons, exclamation points, question marks, and
14
dashes employed to halt the reader is astonishing.
So
much strong punctuation may seem out of place in most love
poems (especially in the free-flowing stereotyped variety),
but as Arnold applies reason to the more painful side of
emotion, that inspection of the emotion of love becomes
more argumentative and more demanding of careful, hesitating examination.
In "Isolation.
To Marguerite" is an example of
the strength of the punctuation that Arnold uses to attract
the reader's more careful examination:
The fault was grave! I might have known.
What far too soon, alas! I learn'd—
The heart can bind itself alone.
And faith may oft be unreturn'd.
Self-sway'd our feelings ebb and swell—
Thou lov'st no more;—Farewell! Farewell!
(11. 7-12)
The strong punctuation causes the reader to stop and ponder
each fragment of thought.
We might ask only that Arnold
had been a little more discerning in his extensive use of
the exclamation point.
Surely, we tend to believe that
Arnold felt exclamatory pain, but the expression of that
pain suffers from over exaggeration to a point nearing
triteness.
Arnold then, through his love poetry, does not attempt to create a mood of romantic love and its beauty that
we too often associate with love poems.
On the contrary,
Arnold tries to depict the mental anguish, the contradictions of mind, and the intellectual problems that haunt the
15
introspective person in love.
The person in love is a
hesitating, questioning being, and Arnold's use of punctuation reflects the nature of such a person.
In observing the stanza patterns of the poems, we
should note that Arnold begins and ends the group with
poems of carefully constructed quatrains.
The quatrain
provides Arnold with a mode of succinct and orderly expression which is reflective of man's intellectual aspect.
In
"Meeting," the first of the poems, and in "The Terrace at
Berne" which concludes the series, the poet is not possessed
by the throes of emotion that plague him through other
poems of the series.
In "Meeting," the future pain is ex-
pected but not yet experienced.
In "The Terrace at Berne,"
the poet has soothed his wounded emotions through the salve
of time.
Two other poems in the grouping, "Absence" and "A
Farewell," make use of the quatrain.
"Absence," the sixth
and the next to the final poem, seems to be a portion of
the ending that "The Terrace at Berne" completes.
"A Fare-
well, " the third poem of the "Switzerland" series, offers
a moment of quiet and attempted rationality in the midst
of the emotion that the other poems present.
The quatrains used in these two poems seem emblematic of the calmer, more rational side of man's nature.
As a form, the quatrain does offer an excellent mode for
the expression of that characteristic of man.
16
The poems that are sandwiched between "Meeting,"
"A Farewell," and the final two poems employ a longer stanza
form.
These poems ("Parting," "Isolation.
To Marguerite,"
and "To Marguerite—Continued") provide the meat of the
dilemma which evoked the creation of poems.
In these poems,
the problems and the pains of love are presented.
Emotion-
alism precipitates the problems, and with emotionalism the
poet must deal.
To Arnold, the problem is of some magnitude
and he must deal with the issue on its terms. Therefore,
the stanza paragraph would necessarily demand greater length
7
for dealing with a problem of such significance.
Many other observations are possible when attempting to relate theme to mechanics, but those observations
seem either minor and trite or more speculative than the
observations which have been offered.
Caesura and end-
stopped lines as well as differing stanza forms seem most
exemplary of Arnold's consciousness of mechanics as a reflection of and as a means to thematic content.
The Fusion of Style and Sense
To say that Matthew Arnold believed in a blending
of style and sense in poetry would seem somewhat elementary.
^Particularly important is the relationship between
form and theme in "Parting." For a more detailed discussion of the relationship of elements of form and style to
theme, see the section of this chapter entitled "The Fusion
of Style and Sense" immediately following.
17
Indeed, all literature is a combination of both style and
sense, one enhancing the other.
For Arnold, poetry was
more than the mere blending of style and meaning.
In his
poetry, there is a fusion of these poetic characteristics
that is so bonded and inseparable that analysis of one
without the other is absurd.
According to Alan Roper in
his book, Arnold's Poetic Landscapes, this bonding of style
and meaning is the crucial point in an analysis of Arnold's
poetry:
Arnold's total position, in fact, involves the unstated belief that as soon as a man's style becomes amenable to rhetorical analysis it ceases to
be adequate, because the manner of expression must
be detachable from the matter in order to be capable of separate scrutiny.^
If we accept Roper's observation, and his comment
does seem astute, any analysis of Arnold's style must include at least a partial analysis of the sense of the poetry,
In all of Arnold's poetry, this necessity for the dual aspect of analysis seems no clearer than in the "Switzerland"
or "Marguerite" poems.
In these love poems, Arnold's blend-
ing of sound and sense often defies dissection while, at
the same time, it welcomes the curiosity of inspection.
If Marguerite, the mysterious lady of the poems,
has attracted, as Henry Charles Duffin deduces, "an almost
Q
Alan Roper, Arnold's Poetic Landscapes (Baltimore
The John Hopkins Press, 1969), p. 30.
18
Q
embarrassing amount of attention,"
the first of the group
of poems, "Meeting," has perhaps attracted too little critical appraisal.
To be sure, it is not an overwhelming poem;
it is not saturated with imagery and symbolism.
It is,
however, a rapidly moving poem of quick but succinct verse.
The poem possesses plainness in thought, syntax,
and diction, a Homeric quality much ac3mired by Arnold.
In essence, "Meeting" is a direct recounting of Arnold's
return to Switzerland, of his sensitive impressions, and
of his mental and emotional dilemma.
There is no outpour-
ing of emotion, no unnecessary exposition.
The style is
quiet and subdued even in the expression of Arnold's inner
confusion.
In this quietness of expression, Arnold sets the
tone and mood of his poetry.
There is little physical ac-
tion, but there is a great deal of emotional activity.
The emotion is buried deeply within the sense of the poem.
Although this restraint may seem contradictory to Arnold's
fusion of style and theme, the meaning is not impaired by
emotional repression.
It is, on the contrary, indicative
of Arnold's approach to emotion in his poetry as well as
^Henry Charles Duffin, Arnold the Poet (New York:
Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1963), p. 68.
Trilling, p. 167.
•^ Hugh Kingsmill, Matthew Arnold (New York:
Press, 1928), pp. 141-142.
The Dial
19
in his life.
Through "Meeting," Arnold establishes his
quiet, rational approach to his poetry, to his life, and
to his more immediate problem.
In "Parting," the second of the "Switzerland" poems,
Arnold offers variations in form without sacrificing the
lucid nature of his style.
The poem's form takes the char-
acteristics of an inner argument.
The style varies in
accordance with the shifts between intellectual debate and
emotional persuasion.
In staccato verse, the intellect
tugs at Arnold's being with its mountainous peaks and clear
air of lofty, unemotional reason:
Ah! with you let me go
Where your cold, distant barrier.
The vast range of snow.
Through the loose clouds lifts dimly
Its white peaks in air—
Ah, would I were there!
(11. 9-16)
Here is Arnold viewing the intellectual pursuits of life
and their lofty heights and crisp tranquillities.
On the other hand, there is Marguerite with her
emotional persuasion.
The verse, the style, is reflective
of her beauty and the sensuous nature of her persuasion:
But who is this, by the half-open'd
door.
Whose figure casts a shadow on the
floor?
The sweet blue eyes—the soft, ashcoloured hair—
The cheeks that still their gentle
paleness wear—
The lovely lips, with their arch
smile that tells
The unconquer'd joy in which her
spirit dwells—
20
Ah! they bend n e a r e r —
Sweet l i p s , t h i s way!
(11. 35-42)
In this passage, Arnold allows emotion to enter his poetry,
but he does not sacrifice his lucid style, his clear, succinct verbalization of thought and feeling.
For Arnold,
the resolve of the dilemma is a compromise not only in
sense but also in style.
His choice is not a rejection of
one argument for another.
It is a choice of serenity and
comfort that, for Arnold, is only found in intellectual
pursuit.
He does not deny the emotionalism associated with
Marguerite, but neither can he accept it as his own guiding
directive.
Forgive me! forgive me!
Ah, Marguerite, fain
Would these arms reach to clasp thee!
But seel 'tis in vain.
In the void air, toward thee.
My stretch'd arms are cast;
But a sea rolls between u s —
Our different past!
(11. 59-66)
Arnold's style in the closing stanzas of "Parting" represents a compromise between the terse world of intellect and
the free-flowing mood of emotionalism.
His style is not
like that style used to describe intellect or that style
which represents emotion.
By compromise, it is a new, com-
plete style that is not merely a mixture of the two other
forms.
Once again, Arnold rejects neither world, but he
must resort to the world in which he is more comfortable
and in which he can find peace.
It is to the world of
21
intellect that Arnold pleads for solace:
Ah, calm me, restore me;
And dry up my tears
On thy high mountain-platform.
Where morn first appears;
Where the white mists, for ever.
Are spread and upfurl'd—
In the stir of the forces
Whence issued the world.
(11. 83-90)
In the intellectual world, Arnold can find some degree of
tranquillity without denying completely, however, the value
of the emotionalism that he can not personally accept and
enjoy.
If Arnold had resolved his questionings in "Parting, " he supports his conclusions in "A Farewell."
It is
almost as if Arnold is rationalizing his decision, for the
form of the poem is similar to a lawyer's closing remarks
at a trial. Arnold recaps the love affair and provides
precise reasoning in explanation of the futility of the
relationship.
The stanzas and the verses are compact and
precise:
How sweet to feel, on the boon air.
All our unquiet pulses cease!
To feel that nothing can impair
The gentleness, the thirst for peace—
The gentleness too rudely hurl'd
On this wild earth of hate and fear;
The thirst for peace a raving world
Would never let us satiate here.
(11. 81-88)
The resolve has been made; Arnold rejustifies the decision
in "A Farewell."
22
Henry Duffin complains that "A Farewell" is too
12
long and lacks succinctness,
but the length is perhaps
indicative of the size of the problem that faced Arnold.
Perhaps Arnold "doth protest too much," but in rationalization, one tends to draw his reasoning beyond the necessary
length in order to convince himself of a position. Also,
all farewells tend to surpass a comfortable length.
If this
is a farewell, as Arnold entitles the poem, length must
necessarily coincide with sense in the same way that style
does.
After "A Farewell," the fourth "Switzerland" poem
is appropriately called "Isolation.
To Marguerite."
After
the ending of the relationship, there is a void, an emptiness that haunts an individual.
In this poem, Arnold's
word choice is more than appropriate.
Arnold paints the
emptiness with words such as "unreturn'd," "unmating,"
"removed," and "forsook," "haunt," and "fear'd."
With word
imagery, Arnold creates an "isolation without end prolong'd."
The words not only reflect the thought but also become the
meaning.
The words illustrate the isolation and loneliness,
but they do so without destroying the simple verses of sadness with scowls of pain.
Once again, Arnold controls the
emotion through style and reason and preserves a coolness
of attitude toward both his poetry and his poetry's subject.
12
Duffin, p. 79.
23
"To Marguerite—Continued" preserves much the same
sense and style of the first isolation poem.
It adds notes
of despair, however, as well as hints of resolution to the
theme of isolation.
It may well be that this poem, as Duf-
fin proclaims, is so fused in "form and feeling, conception
and execution," that it defies dissection for the sake of
analysis and critical inspection.
Duffin continues:
Whether or not Arnold is right in seeing the individuals who make up humanity as completely cut off
from vital communication with one another, the
extended figure by which he represents this condition
is beyond criticism, and is embodied in a quite
flawless form of words: the "sea of life" in which
each being is "enisled," the "echoing straits" that
separate the "islands" except "on starry nights the
nightingales divinely sing," when "a longing like
despair" almost brings about the miracle of union,
but desire is vain against the fate that has decreed their severance, . . .-^
Indeed, any attempt at paraphrasing or interpreting
this poem proves as futile and insignificant as rewriting
Paradise Lost in twentieth century prose.
Any honest ap-
praisal must revert to the poet's own words.
"To Marguerite
—Continued" is a somber blending of the feeling of remorse
and sadness with the knowledge of finality.
In Arnold's
words:
Who order'd, that their longing's fire
Should be, as soon as kindled, cool'd?
Who renders vain their deep desire?—
A God, a God their severance ruled!
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
(11. 19-24)
^^Duffin, p. 80.
24
After isolation, there is yet a longing for the
past.
The loneliness does not disperse with the immediacy
of separation.
In "Absence," the sixth poem of the series,
Arnold remembers his experience with love and longs for
some reunion of spirits. Arnold realizes that even divine
reason can not "blot our passions from our brain."
Arnold
pictures this problem with such words as "shiver," "blot,"
"storms," and "barren" contrasted by "calmer," "nobler,"
and "light."
The style, the clear and succinct verse, re-
mains in unaltered measure.
Although "time's barren,
stormy flow" tortures internally, "a nobler, calmer train"
dominates the poetry and outward emotions of Arnold.
"The Terrace at Berne," the last of the "Switzerland" series, was supposedly written about ten years after
the other poems.
Switzerland.
The occasion is Arnold's return to
In the content of the poem, Arnold wonders
about Marguerite's fate.
The poem becomes a voicing of
fears and doubts as the mind remembers old emotions.
The
verse does not show the irregularities of the emotions,
however, for old emotions and pains do not remain surface
matters.
They become as subdued as does the subtleness of
Arnold's style.
The stanzas are nearly perfect iambic tetrameter.
In this frame, Arnold's voice is clear and concise, but not
clipped.
The poetry tumbles not freely, but easily from
the mind that has had years to consider past occurrences.
25
decisions, and actions.
It is with this gentleness, "this
quietness" as Duffin calls it,^"^ that Arnold remembers the
past, conjectures Marguerite's fate, and restates the reasoning and the result of his past decision:
Like driftwood spars, which meet and pass
Upon the boundless ocean-plain.
So on the sea of life, alas!
Man meets man—meets, and quits again.
I knew it when my life was young;
I feel it still, now youth is o'er.
— T h e mists are on the mountain hung.
And Marguerite I shall see no more.
(11. 45-52)
These final lines of the poem and the series of poems leave
the observer with the same quiet stillness and contemplative introspection that Arnold must have felt.
They are
of a style that shows little emotion, but by provocation
through subject matter, the style induces the reader to a
calm contemplation of emotion.
The subtleness of style is
a characteristic that almost denies description in Arnold's
production of the "Switzerland" poems.
Emotion and intellectual evaluation are locked together throughout the "Switzerland" poems.
in interaction, fused in style.
They are welded
As the forces meet, they
repel and embrace in an inner turmoil.
The sounds of com-
bat fuse with the sense of rational evaluation.
The sounds,
the style, of Arnold's poetry fuse with emotionalism and
-'-'^Duffin, p. 45.
26
intellectualism.
The resolution is the quiet, but power-
ful intensity of Arnold's "cool" style—a style that becomes, in a very real aspect, the sense of his poetry.
CHAPTER III
THE SINGULAR ENTITY OF THE POEMS
Several critics have attempted to criticize the
poems of the "Switzerland" series as individual pieces.
This approach seems as absurd as the more popular biographical approach.
In analyzing these poems, the first
consideration should be their poetic content; of equal importance, must be a consideration of them as a closely related group or entity.
If there has been some failure in
presenting the grouping as a single entity with contributing parts, perhaps a review of the thematic and psychological impact that the poems make as an ordered sequence would
be helpful.
Superficially, the "Switzerland" poems are about
the pains of human involvement and love. Arnold begins
with the specifics of what was probably an actual relationship.
From the initial poem of the set, the relationship
is doomed and the pain is inevitable:
Again I spring to make my choice;
Again in tones of ire
I hear a God's tremendous voice:
'Be counsell'd, and retire.'
Ye guiding Powers who join and part.
What would you have with me?
Ah, warn some more ambitious heart.
And let the peaceful be!
(11. 9-16)
The poems seem to depict the futility of love and human
27
28
emotions.
Even the power of love cannot bridge that salty
and sometimes bitter ocean that forever separates two human
beings.
G. Robert Stange views the group of poems in a similar way.
The poems are poems of love, but they are not
necessarily poems of praise for love:
But Arnold tried, it seems to me, to make Switzerland bear the weight of his idea of love; in this
set of poems the first sign love brings with it is a
premonition of parting, and the lover yearns less
for the fulfillment of his passion than for peace
and freedom from the bonds of feeling. The cycle
leaves with us an impression of delicate irony, wise
disenchantment, and moral seriousness; but it may
be that the reader who will be convinced of the desirability of escaping from the trammels of passion
must also be convinced that the poet has felt some
of that passion on his own pulses. •'-^
The series is a grouping of poems about the futility of
human relationships.
They are indeed love poems, but love
poems with a painful and perhaps peculiar twist of perspective.
The real power of the poems derives from a transcending of the futility of this one specific love affair.
The "Switzerland" group becomes a universal statement of
the condition of all men.
Each man is forever isolated and
estranged from all other beings.
This theme permeates all
the poems from "Meeting" to "The Terrace at Berne." Throughout the series, not even the powerful bond of human love
G. Robert Stange, Matthew Arnold: The Poet As
Humanist (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967),
p. 248.
29
can align the disjointed spirits of mankind.
It is this
kind of existential realization that confronts the mind and
heart of the being engaged in a futile, hopeless love.
Another somewhat universal theme perhaps too sketchily hinted at is one surrounding the head in opposition to
the heart.
The confrontation between intellectual and emo-
tional reasoning is another aspect of the dilemma that
faced Arnold.
Little doubt or suspense is evident in the
poems concerning the direction Arnold feels that he must
take.
It is not so much the dilemma that concerns the poet.
More important for Arnold is the strife that results when
two such powerful forces as intellect and emotion conflict
within one human soul.
As Arnold chooses the path of in-
tellect, he denies, in a sense, a very real portion of himself.
He leaves behind, at least for a time, the emotion,
the love that has led him to the pain and wisdom that his
seemingly unfortunate human encounter has precipitated.
Involved with the theme of head and heart confrontation is the contradictory nature of human action in a
state of confusion.
When elements within man are at war,
any action must contradict at least one of the conflicting
forces.
For Arnold, if he chooses the paths of intellect,
some of the earthly joys of emotionalism will be lost.
If
Arnold pursues the passionate ways of emotion, the quiet,
tranquil life of intellectualism would be destroyed.
The
resulting state is one of loss and pain regardless of the
choice.
30
In attempting to describe the thematic polarization in the "Switzerland" poems, one could, perhaps, point
to lesser themes (such as the loss-gain motif hinted above),
but each motif seems to fall into one of two camps. One
camp or pole attracts themes involving the isolated nature
of individual man in "the sea of life enisled."
The other
encompasses themes surrounding man as a being estranged
from himself and his own feelings and thoughts.
These two
groups of themes result from the love affair with Marguerite, but the implications and ramifications of Arnold's
poetry need not stop with the Marguerite episode.
themes are applicable in a more universal setting.
The
To be
sure, the Arnold-Marguerite intrigue would be of little
import if its impact did not extend beyond the limits of
one particular time and place.
The poems do, however, tran-
scend their spatial limitations.
The "Switzerland" poems
become a diagnosis of the eternal human condition above and
beyond the symptoms of one human situation.
Not alone is
Arnold estranged and alienated in this world of human relations; all men are strangers to one another as well as
to themselves individually, and not even love can rejoin
the disassociated continents of human existence.
All of the themes noted here are so closely related
that to divide them may be destructive.
Nevertheless, the
potency of the various themes is greater because of the
correlation.
Also, because of the careful craftsmanship
31
of the poet, the poems become a comment which is unified
in theme, style, image, and symbol.
In style, the poems are as quiet and intense as
the inner emotions that they depict.
We are eminently
aware of the pain and the passion that plague Arnold, but
the style allows us the "cool" detachment that Arnold so
sincerely pursued in his own life.
In this light, style
is a reflection of the method through which Arnold approaches his themes in poetry and his problems in the world
of human reality.
The careful construction of the mountain, valley,
and sea imagery is so extensively developed that it does
more than augment Arnold's themes.
These examples of
imagery are aligned with theme to such a degree that they
become thematic considerations in and of themselves.
The
symbols, such as mountains and valleys, represent Arnold's
dilemma.
The mountains of intellect and the valleys of
emotion do more than reflect Arnold's choices of directions.
The sea becomes the world of human existence in which all
must live.
Through Arnold's stylistic technique, the thematic
development of the "Switzerland" poems becomes effective.
The fusion of image, symbol, mechanics, and style with
theme and motif is presented in such harmony that any distinction between style and theme seems superficial.
Arnold, such is the nature of poetry.
For
Poetry is the bonding
32
of words and thought to produce a criticism of -the human
condition.
In no other poems is Arnold more successful in
achieving the presentation of theme through technique than
in the "Switzerland" poems.
CHAPTER IV
REFLECTIONS OF THE POET AND HIS AGE
The "Switzerland" poems are undeniably a reflection
of Arnold the man and of Arnold the Victorian.
Such a
statement does not mean that Arnold's depiction of a doomed
love affair is strictly biographical.
The poems may well
be biographical, but the importance lies not so much in historical fact.
More importantly, the style and the theme
say a great deal more about the poet than mere documented
data.
If carefully studied, the "Switzerland" grouping
offers attitudes, morals, and the in depth philosophic opinions of one sensitive, introspective man.
Most human be-
ings would be grateful to gain as much from a close friend.
The intriguing aspect of the poems, then, is that
they reveal not so much of literal, biographical fact about
Arnold as they reveal of the essence of Arnold's thoughts
and feelings.
In the "Switzerland" poems, Arnold offers
his own emotions and his own intellect as example and as
instruction.
From this instruction, the reader may perceive
reflections of the age in which Arnold lived.
From the ex-
ample of Arnold's experience, the reader can not avoid seeing the individual man.
To be sure, Arnold is a Victorian,
and he is a result of his environment.
In the "Switzerland"
poems, one can see the influence of the age upon the man.
The poems also reveal Arnold's response to the age and its
33
34
perplexities, and in this revelation, Arnold becomes a
living man—a man unique, engaging and emotional.
The "Unquiet Soul" of a Victorian
In analyzing the "Marguerite poems. Stopford A.
Brooke notes in his bbok. Four Victorian Poets, that the
demise of the love between Arnold and Marguerite is due in
no small part to the Victorian nature of the poet:
His love and her love faded for different reasons,
and they slid away from one another. It is no
wonder she ceased to care, for he mingled too much
of his unquiet soul with his love; and women, in
the matter of love, have no patience, and for good
reason, with a lover whose psychology is engaged
with his own soul, and not with theirs. It is no
wonder, on the other hand, that he ceased to care,
for her nature was unfitted to his, and, moreover,-.g
as we are unartistically informed, she had a past.
Arnold's "unquiet soul" is one plagued with the dilemma
caused by a manumitted intellect conflicting with a more
traditional heart.
The intellect of Matthew Arnold is one
engaged in the psychology of introspection in the midst of
a revolutionary world of thought and a somewhat prudish
world of emotion.
This Victorian dilemma of head in conflict with the
heart is one that breeds alienation and reflection, isolation and skepticism.
The alienation and isolation that
Arnold must have felt as a Victorian are magnified by the
York:
•'"^Stopford A. Brooke, Four Victorian Poets (New
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908), p. 111.
35
Marguerite affair.
Throughout the "Switzerland" poems,
aloneness seems to haunt the relationship.
In "Parting,"
Arnold ccamplains:
Far, far from each other
Our spirits have grown;
And what heart knows another?
Ah! who knows his own?
(11. 71-74)
Each heart is isolated and alienated from other hearts as
well as from itself.
Arnold continues to expostulate his
complaint of eternal loneliness in "Isolation.
guerite."
To Mar-
After the brief encounter with Marguerite, Arnold
must return to the solitude of his own heart:
Farewell!—and thou, thou lonely heart.
Which never yet without remorse
Even for a moment didst depart
From thy remote and spher'd course
To haunt the place where passions reign—
Back to thy solitude again!
(11. 13-18)
Again, throughout "To Marguerite—Continued" the loneliness
of solitude that the individual must endure is reiterated:
Yes! in the sea of life enisled.
With echoing straits between us thrown.
Dotting the shoreless watery wild.
We mortal millions live alone.
The islands feel the enclasping flow.
And then their endless bounds they know.
(11. 1-6)
As if all men are individual islands "in the sea of life
enisled, . . . we mortal millions must live alone."
Ten years later, as Arnold looked back upon the
events of the past, the feeling of alienation and isolation
still existed.
Man may briefly escape his prison of
36
solitude, but he must inevitably return to the isolated
confines of his own heart.
In the final poem, "The Terrace
at Berne," the innate loneliness of all men is again expressed:
I will not know! For wherefore try.
To things by mortal course that live,
A shadow durability.
For which they were not meant, to give?
Like driftwood spars, which meet and pass
Upon the boundless ocean-plain.
Soon the sea of life, alas!
Man meets man—meets, and quits again.
(11. 41-48)
The surcease from loneliness is transitory, and man can not
escape his alienated existence.
The Victorian alienation also seems to breed a certain skepticism of human involvement as well as of humanity
in general.
From the i n i t i a l poem of the "Switzerland"
series, there can be l i t t l e doubt that the relationship will
fail.
In "Meeting," Arnold hears "a God's tremendous
voice" (1. 11) telling him of the futility of his involvement with Marguerite.
The voice is merely an echo of the
skepticism within Arnold's own breast.
Skepticism is more abundant in retrospect as Arnold
looks back in "The Terrace at Berne."
He wonders about
Marguerite's fate, and his speculations are far from optimistic:
And from the blue twin-lakes i t comes.
Flows by the town, the churchyard fair;
And 'neath the garden-walk i t hums.
The house!—and is my Marguerite there?
-S?r
37
Ah, shall I see thee, while a flush
Of startled pleasure floods thy brow.
Quick through the oleanders brush.
And clap thy hands, and cry: 'Tis thou!
Or hast thou long since wander'd back.
Daughter of France! to France, thy home;
And flitted down the flowery track
Where feet like thine too lightly ccDme?
Does riotous laughter now replace
Thy smile; and rouge, with stony glare.
Thy cheek's soft hue; and fluttering lace
The kerchief that enwound thy hair?
(11. 9-24)
This somewhat unkind speculation is quite indicative of
Arnold's opinion of humans who allow emotionalism to become their guiding directive.
Speculation of this kind
might also have been responsible for Arnold's hesitation
and reluctance to allow his emotions to supersede his intellect in the immediacy of the love affair. Regardless,
the skepticism of his thoughts about humanity and human relationships is illustrative of the introspective, doubting
Victorian.
For many literary Victorians, the answer to the intellectual-emotional dilemma was believed to reside in education and intellectual enlightenment.
As the "Switzerland"
poems illustrate, Arnold is no exception.
To the mountains
of intellect, Arnold appeals for peace and tranquility and
for escape from pain:
Ah! calm me, restore me;
And dry up my tears
On the high mountain-platforms.
Where morn first appears;
38
Where the white mists, for ever.
Are spread and upfurl'd—
In the stir of the forces
Whence issued the world.
("Parting," 11. 83-90)
To the realms of intellectual forces, Arnold pleai for deliverance from the emotional throes of the world.
To escape the dilemma that faced Arnold as a Victorian, the poet sought a harmony of spirits (with mankind
and with himself) through the intellect.
The encounter
with Marguerite, however, is representative of all the
human factors that prevent the harmony desired.
As E. D. H
Johnson observes in The Alien Vision of Victorian Poetry,
"in a social order built on pretense and subterfuge, lasting attachments are formed with difficulty.
The group of
poems inspired by Arnold's early failure in love involves
most of the factors in modern life which the author found
17
most disruptive of inner harmony."
An education to a
point of inner harmony seems as futile in a Victorian setting as did the future of the Arnold-Marguerite affair in
Switzerland.
The Man: A Quest for
Permanence and Peace
As a Victorian, Arnold struggled with the world in
which he lived.
The age was certainly a perplexing and
-"-^E. D. H. Johnson, The Alien Vision of Victorian
Poetry (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952), p.
150.
39
confusing period.
The problems of human relationships
would be difficult enough in a vacuum, but adding the intellectual and emotional complexities of the philosophic,
economic, and religious upheaval of the age, magnifies the
human difficulties to the point of near insoluble riddle.
In the uncertain world of 19th century England, Arnold came
as close as any man to coping with his environment while
realizing his condition.
Perhaps Arnold's success (or near success) in coping with his world was due to an uncompromising persistence
in pursuing his "deepest passion"—a passion, H. F. Lowry
believes, "for what is permanent in the human mind and the
human heart."18 Arnold's poetry appears to originate from
this same passion, and understanding this passion clarifies
the decision that Arnold makes in the Marguerite affair.
Marguerite represents all that is inconsistent and transitory.
By her nature, she appears somewhat capricious. The
bond between the two lovers is the uncertain link of human
emotion.
For Arnold, the feeling for Marguerite was unfor-
tunate for it offered little chance for permanence and less
hope for peace.
Lowry also sees in Arnold's letters a "constant effort to live by what is permanent, to seek some principle
•"•^Lowry, The Letters of Matthew Arnold to Arthur Hugh
Clough, p. 36.
40
by which he can possess his spirit and obtain the clarity
19
that accompanies such poise."
it is to this quest that
Arnold turns as he turns from Marguerite.
The "Switzerland"
poems offer a view of a man questing and searching not in
unknowing blindness or ardent emotion, but in rationality
and intellectual decision.
Arnold turns from Marguerite
in realization, knowing the futile nature of their relationship.
The style of the "Switzerland" poems reflects Arnold's
desire for harmony and peace.
They picture a man searching
for permanence and consistency in all that he endeavors:
his questionings of his emotional life with Marguerite, his
analysis of his own intellect, and his attempt to create a
poetry possessing a unified thrust of theme and style.
A man who attempts to achieve such high goals must
necessarily be a strong man, an inquisitive being, and an
analytical individual.
As Stopford A. Brooke notes, these
traits are good characteristics, but they are not all
poetic:
He was unfortunate in the time in which he began to
be a poet, if any man who has a strong will, a
clear aim, a joyous temper, and a bold faith, can
be called unfortunate at any time. Arnold had a
strong will, but it was not strong enough to master within himself the sceptical spirit of his
age (which, however useful, is not poetical) , or
the unpoetic spirit of self-analysis, which, in men
•'"^Lowry, The Letters of Matthew Arnold to Arthur
Hugh Clough, p. 35.
41
of the poetic temperament, naturally accompanies
the habit of scepticism. Inquiry is a good thing,
but it is prosaic.^^
Arnold's skepticism may be a result of his age, but his
"strong will," "clear aim," "joyous temper," and "bold
faith" are elements of a unique and engaging man bound to
no limits of time.
Excluding a "joyous temper," each of
these elements is visible in the Arnold inherent in the
"Switzerland" poems. Arnold's "strong will" and "bold faith"
give him the strength and courage not only to make his decision concerning Marguerite, but also to survive the aftermath of that decision.
Arnold's "clear aim" is one that
allows him the insight to diagnose the problem and prescribe
the proper solution.
That solution, as noted above, en-
tails the ending of the Marguerite relationship and the continued pursuit of the "clear aim" for permanence and peace.
Brooke, in Four Victorian Poets, compared Arnold to
Arthur Hugh Clough.
Brooke's comparison reveals a distinct
dichotomy between the two spirits, and he succinctly describes the essence of Arnold's inner being:
was of another temper.
"But Arnold
He hated noise, quarrel, confusion;
he loved tranquillity, tolerance, clearness, plainness,
moderation, ordered thought, and passions brought under control, especially those passions which belong to the theological contests of the intellect."^-'20]Brooke, p. 56
21,Brooke, p. 69.
Each of these
42
qualities of life, both those that Arnold hated and those
that he loved, has a direct relationship to the "Switzerland" poems.
style.
The relationship is applicable in theme and
Because of the noise, quarrel, and confusion that
he hated, Arnold denied the excess emotionalism of the
Marguerite affair.
Because of the qualities of life that
he loved (tranquillity, tolerance, clearness, plainness,
moderation, ordered thought, and passions brought under
control) , Arnold chose an intellectual quest which he hoped
might lead to an enduring peace and happiness.
In style,
Arnold chose a clear and lucid voice—clear in diction,
exact in thought, and precise in symbol.
In Arnold's style,
there exists ordered thought in harmony with technique.
In the "Switzerland" poems, Arnold failed to achieve
any real peace or permanence.
He did discover that the
emotionalism that Marguerite represents is not the answer.
He also succeeded in diagnosing and describing the problem
that prevented him from finding the harmony with spirit
that he so desired.
He pictures well the isolation, the
alienation, and the skepticism that forbid
the acquiring
of a sense of peace and permanence in this estranging world
of human involvement.
The Arnold who wrote the "Switzerland" poems was
a young man, but the problems haunted him for as long as
he wrote poetry.
For as long as he wrote poetry, the goals
of peace, permanence, and harmony lay somewhere before him.
43
Arnold, however, quit his poetic pursuits at a comparatively
early age.
Perhaps he never achieved his goals, or perhaps
his intellectual musings in poetry led him near enough to
his purpose.
In any event, Arnold's poetry is an attempt
to reach those lucid ambitions that he established for himself.
For Arnold, poetry was an experience like life itself, and experience should lead to a greater understanding of the varied aspects of existence.
In the "Switzer-
land" poems, Arnold experiences a painful and tragic love
affair, but the experience was not fatal. Arnold learned
from his experience; he chose his directions and pursued
his goals.
Although Arnold may have failed in achieving the
aims of permanence and harmony that he decided to strive
for in life, he attained his goal of fusion of theme and
technique in the "Switzerland" poems.
In his poetry, if
no where else, Arnold blended the clearness, plainness, and
ordered thought of his style with his themes of alienation,
isolation, and passions brought under control.
In the
"Switzerland" series, Arnold approaches the grand style of
the Greek poetry that he so admired.
Although Arnold can complain in "absence" that the
"curse of life" is "that not / A nobler, calmer train / Of
wiser thoughts and feelings blot / Our passions from our
brain," (11. 5-8) the reader of the "Switzerland" poems
44
can not level such a complaint against Arnold's poetry.
In the poetry, "a nobler, calmer train / Of wiser thoughts
and feelings" does prevail in Arnold's theme and technique.
l!he end result of the application of Arnold's nobler, calmer
train of thought to the poetry, is a stylistic technique
that is inseparable from theme.
Theme, in fact, becomes
a portion of style, and technique finds a permanent place
in an indivisible alignment with theme.
On this one par-
ticular occasion at least, Arnold finds a permanence in
the harmonious unification of theme and technique in the
"Switzerland" poems.
LIST OF REFERENCES CITED
Allott, Kenneth, ed. The Poems of Matthew Arnold.
York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1972.
Brooke, Stop ford A. Four Victorian Poets.
Putnam's Sons, 1908.
New
New York:
G. P,
Bush, Douglas. Matthew Arnold: A Survey of His Poetry
and Prose. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971.
Duffin, Henry Charles. Arnold the Poet.
and Noble, Inc., 1963.
New York:
Barnes
Johnson, E. D. H. The Alien Vision of Victorian Poetry.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952.
Kingsmill, Hugh. Matthew Arnold.
Press, 1928.
New York:
The Dial
Lowry, H. F., ed. The Letters of Matthew Arnold to Arthur
Hugh Clough. London: Oxford University Press, 1932.
Roper, Alan. Arnold's Poetic Landscapes.
John Hopkins Press, 1969.
Baltimore:
The
Stange, G. Robert. Matthew Arnold: The Poet As Humanist.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967.
Tinker, C. B., and H. F. Lowry, eds. The Poetical Works
of Matthew Arnold. London: Oxford University Press,
1950.
Trilling, Lionel. Matthew Arnold.
& Co., Inc., 1939.
New York:
W. W. Norton
LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED
Books
Brown, E. K. Matthew Arnold.
Chicago Press, 1948.
Chicago:
Buckley, Vincent. Poetry and Morality.
and Windus, 1968.
45
The University of
London:
Chatto
46
Chambers, E. K. Matthew Arnold:
Russell & Russell, 1947.
A Study.
New York:
Dawson, William H. Matthew Arnold and His Relationship
to the Thought of Our Time. New York: G. P. Putnam's Son's, 1904.
Drinkwater, John. Victorian Poetry.
H. Doran Company, 1924.
New York:
George
Eells, John Shepard, Jr. The Touchstones of Matthew Arnold,
New York: Bookman Associates, Inc., 1955.
Faverty, Frederic E., ed. The Victorian Poets; A Guide
to Research. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1956.
Harvey, Charles H. Matthew Arnold; A Critic of the Victorian Period. London: James Clark & Company,
Limited, 1931.
Hicks, Granville. Figures in Transition.
Macmillan Co., 1939.
New York:
Johnson, W. Stacey. The Voices of Matthew Arnold.
Haven: Yale University Press. 1961.
Jump, J. D. Matthew Arnold.
Co., 1955.
London:
The
New
Longmans, Green and
LeRoy, Gaylord C. Perplexed Prophets. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1953.
Russell, G. W. E. Matthew Arnold.
Stoughton, 1904.
London;
Saintsbury, George. Matthew Arnold.
Blackwood and Sons, 1899.
Hodder and
Edinburgh;
William
Sherman, Stuart P. Matthew Arnold.
Merrill Company, 1917.
New York:
The Bobbs-
Stanley, Carleton. Matthew Arnold.
sity of Toronto Press, 1938.
Toronto;
The Univer-
Thorpe, Michael. Matthew Arnold.
ing Company, Inc., 1971.
New York;
Arco Publish-
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M,^»^m^\ai>
47
Articles
Farrell, John P. "Matthew Arnold's Tragic Vision." PMLA
85 (1970), 107-17.
--^^'
Roper, Alan. "The Moral Landscape of Arnold's Poetry."
PMLA, 77 (1962), 289-96.