Matthew Arnold (1) (1822–1888)

I found myself only vaguely interested in the first half of this slim collection of Arnold's verse, disappointing as I'd really enjoyed the first volume, but ... the second half!
"Empedocles on Etna" is a longish poem in dramatic form telling of the philosopher's final night, as supposed, entering into his thoughts on life, humans and the Gods. Empedocles is depressed, world-sick & contemplating suicide by throwing himself into the volcano. Two friends seek in vain to dissuade him, and it seems to me unlikely that Arnold's atheistic (agnostic, at least) sentiments were wholeheartedly embraced during the high Victorian era. Perhaps being placed in the mouth of a pagan, he got away with it.

While others of his poems felt like a slog to get through, "Empedocles" definitely rewarded my time. 5+🌟 for that poem, even if the other poems were no more than 3🌟.… (mere)

Favourites: “So some tempestuous morn in early June” from “Thyrsis”; “The Forsaken Merman” (“a ceiling of amber, a pavement of pearl”) and “Dover Beach”. Although I am a Christian, I have always found “Dover Beach” a deeply moving poem. Its main theme is the loss of faith in the nineteenth century, but the last lines are haunting: “Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain: And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night”. It certainly feels like that much of the time....… (mere)