Matthew arnold the scholar gypsy. The Scholar Gypsy poem 2022-10-17
Matthew arnold the scholar gypsy
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Matthew Arnold's poem "The Scholar Gypsy" is a meditation on the theme of lost opportunity and regret. The poem follows the story of a young scholar who, while studying at Oxford, becomes fascinated with the gypsy way of life and dreams of leaving academia to live a more free and wild existence. However, he ultimately decides against this course of action and remains in the academic world, regretting the opportunity he missed and longing for the freedom and adventure of the gypsy life.
The poem is structured as a monologue, with the scholar addressing the reader directly and recounting his tale. It begins with a description of the scholar's love for the gypsy way of life, which he sees as being more authentic and fulfilling than the life he is currently leading. He imagines leaving his books and his studies behind and joining the gypsies on their travels, living a life of freedom and adventure.
However, despite his desire to embrace this new way of life, the scholar ultimately decides against it, choosing instead to remain in the academic world. He admits that this decision was made out of fear and cowardice, and he now regrets the opportunity he missed. He longs for the freedom and spontaneity of the gypsy life, and he mourns the loss of his youth and the passage of time.
Throughout the poem, Arnold uses vivid and descriptive language to paint a picture of the gypsy way of life and the longing of the scholar. The theme of lost opportunity and regret is central to the poem, and the scholar's monologue serves as a reflection on the choices we make in life and the consequences of those choices.
Overall, "The Scholar Gypsy" is a thought-provoking and poignant meditation on the human condition, exploring themes of regret, lost opportunity, and the search for meaning and fulfillment. It is a powerful reminder of the importance of following our passions and living life to the fullest, even when that path may be uncertain or difficult.
The Scholar
That Scholar Gipsy never came back to Oxford. The Scholar Gipsy Thou hast not live, why shouldst thou perish, so? We have to resign ourselves to the miseries and tribulations of life and endure them patiently in a spirit of calm resignation. From the uplands throughout the pleasant day of summer. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. It has often been called one of the best and most popular of Arnold's poems, — Lines 203—204 and implores the scholar gipsy to avoid all who suffer from it, in case he too should be infected and die.
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The Scholar Gypsy poem
For most, I know, thou lov'st retired ground! Soothing images of calm seas, seen in 'Dover Beach', are set against fraught images of fever and illness: the scholar gypsy is urge This small volume contains Matthew Arnold's nine most famous poems. He had one aim in life to learn the gipsy lore and its secret; one desire to learn and then propagate it for the good of the world. For early didst thou leave the world, with powers Fresh, undiverted to the world without, Firm to their mark, not spent on other things; Free from the sick fatigue, the languid doubt, Which much to have tried, in much been baffled, brings. I adore everything Arnold writes "like us distracted, and like us unblest. And near me on the grass lies Glanvil's book— Come, let me read the oft-read tale again! Who fluctuate idly without term or scope, Of whom each strives, nor knows for what he strives, And each half lives a hundred different lives; Who wait like thee, but not, like thee, in hope. Thou hadst one aim, one business, one desire; Else wert thou long since number'd with the dead! He should still fly to the wood of the countryside which will give him shelter and protection from contamination of the strange disease of modem life, which is so common now.
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The Scholar Gipsy. Poems; A New Edition. 1853. Matthew Arnold. 1909. The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840
The Scholar Gipsy by Matthew Arnold The way the poem is introduced is an extract from Glanvill, which weaves around the story of an impecunious Oxford student who left his studies to join a band of gypsies. And once, in winter, on the causeway chill Where home through flooded fields foot-travellers go, Have I not pass'd thee on the wooden bridge, Wrapt in thy cloak and battling with the snow, Thy face tow'rd Hinksey and its wintry ridge? No longer leave thy wistful flock unfed, Nor let thy bawling fellows rack their throats, Nor the cropp'd herbage shoot another head. Two hundred years are flown Since first thy story ran through Oxford halls, And the grave Glanvil did the tale inscribe That thou wert wander'd from the studious walls To learn strange arts, and join a gipsy-tribe; And thou from earth art gone Long since, and in some quiet churchyard laid— Some country-nook, where o'er thy unknown grave Tall grasses and white flowering nettles wave, Under a dark, red-fruited yew-tree's shade. Still clutching the inviolable shade. For early didst thou leave the world, with powers Fresh, undiverted to the world without, Firm to their mark, not spent on other things; Free from the sick fatigue, the languid doubt, Which much to have tried, in much been baffled, brings. Thou hadst one aim, one business, one desire; Else wert thou long since numbered with the dead! When Dido was deserted, she in despair took her own life. Once he was immersed within their community, he learned the secrets of their trade.
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The Scholar Gypsy by Matthew Arnold
All his doubts were dispelled when he left Oxford a long time ago and joined the band of Gipsies and dedicated himself to one aim. Life is a long torturing dream. Admiration of this section, almost to the exclusion of the rest of the poem, has been long the stock response to the poem. Averse, as Dido did with gesture stern From her false friend's approach in Hades turn, Wave us away, and keep thy solitude! The story of the Oxford scholar poor, Of pregnant parts and quick inventive brain, Who, tired of knocking at preferment's door, One summer-morn forsook His friends, and went to learn the gipsy-lore, And roam'd the world with that wild brotherhood, And came, as most men deem'd, to little good, But came to Oxford and his friends no more. We have to bear all pangs and sorrows patiently.
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The Scholar Gipsy Summary
London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. Averse, as Dido did with gesture stern From her false friend's approach in Hades turn, Wave us away, and keep thy solitude! He was born earlier and hence was unaware of this strange disease of modem life, its sick hurry, its divided aims. Even those who try to avoid modern life will eventually become infected. Screen'd is this nook o'er the high, half-reap'd field, And here till sun-down, shepherd! Till having used our nerves with bliss and teen, And tired upon a thousand schemes our wit, To the just-pausing Genius we remit Our worn-out life, and are—what we have been. Born in days why wits were fresh and clear Born in days why wits were fresh and clear, And life ran gaily as the sparkling Thames; Before this strange disease of modem life, With its sick hurry, its divided aims, Its heads overtaxed, its palsied hearts, was rife Fly hence, our contact fear! In the twenty-five ten-line stanzas, Matthew Arnold provides the indispensable elements of the legend in lines 31 through 56 of the poem.
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The Scholar Gipsy by Matthew Arnold
Arnold deftly expresses the speaker's split priorities through this juxtaposition. Though hadst one aim, one business, one desire Else went thou long, since numbered with the dead! T HE S CHOLAR G IPSY. Screened is this nook o'er the high, half-reaped field, And here till sundown, shepherd! We go on fluctuating idly without term or scope, aimlessly. Else hadst thou spent, like other men, thy fire! They have been untouched by the perils of modernity. Here, where the reaper was at work of late— In this high field's dark corner, where he leaves His coat, his basket, and his earthen cruse, And in the sun all morning binds the sheaves, Then here, at noon, comes back his stores to use— Here will I sit and wait, While to my ear from uplands far away The bleating of the folded flocks is borne, With distant cries of reapers in the corn— All the live murmur of a summer's day. Most men thought that he was wasting his talents by roaming with the gipsies. Go, for they call you, shepherd, from the hill; Go, shepherd, and untie the wattled cotes! Physically, he's still located in the world he rejects, but his mind has completely transcended it.
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The Scholar Gipsy & Thyrsis by Matthew Arnold
Through the thick corn the scarlet poppies peep, And round green roots and yellowing stalks I see Pale pink convolvulus in tendrils creep; And air-swept lindens yield Their scent, and rustle down their perfumed showers Of bloom on the bent grass where I am laid, And bower me from the August sun with shade; And the eye travels down to Oxford's towers. This makes it different from a poem like "A Summer Night," which explores the same theme but laments the cost of separation that individuality requires. The scholar is thoroughly disillusioned by life in the modern world, and wishes to proclaim his individuality in an increasingly conformist society. The very lucid depiction of the pastoral landscape in the dream vision is generally and justly appreciated for its charm, its visual accuracy, and fidelity to nature. He left Oxford on a summer morning to have occult and mystical knowledge possessed by the gipsies. More importantly, he is willing to entirely repudiate normal society for the sake of his transcendence.
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Matthew Arnold: Poems “The Scholar
At some lone homestead in the Cumner hills, Where at her open door the housewife darns, Thou hast been seen, or hanging on a gate To watch the threshers in the mossy barns. Children, who early range these slopes and late For cresses from the rills, Have known thee eyeing, all an April-day, The springing pasture and the feeding kine; And mark'd thee, when the stars come out and shine, Through the long dewy grass move slow away. And I myself seem half to know thy looks, And put the shepherds, wanderer! And yet he is also studying the towers of Oxford, which as mentioned above represents the rapidly changing, strictly structured world that the scholar-gipsy renounced. Then fly our greetings, fly our speech and smiles! Arnold ends with an extended simile of a Tyrian merchant seaman who flees from the irruption of Greek competitors to seek a new world in Iberia. But once, years after, in the country-lanes, Two scholars, whom at college erst he knew, Met him, and of his way of life enquired; Whereat he answer'd, that the gipsy-crew, His mates, had arts to rule as they desired The workings of men's brains, And they can bind them to what thoughts they will. There he met Dido. Thou through the fields and through the woods dost stray, Roaming the countryside, a truant boy, Nursing thy project in unclouded joy, And every doubt long blown by time away.
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