RUGBY CHAPEL (MATHEW ARNOLD)-IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

 

RUGBY CHAPEL- BY MATHEW ARNOLD

 

Question-1-Write down the critical appreciation of the poem ‘Rugby chapel’

Answer- Introduction

‘Rugby Chapel’ is an elegy written by a famous poet of the 19th century, Mathew Arnold. It is one of the most famous poems of Mathew Arnold. The poem describes the magnificent qualities of the father of Mathew Arnold. His father died when he was fifteen years old. This sad song is a personal elegy that reminds him of a sad event of his father’s death. His father was a man of divine qualities. He was a principal in Rugby Chapel and after death, he was buried in its boundary.

About Poem

The poem begins with the description of an evening in autumn. The poet reminds his father as he passed from the chapel. He notices that the evening is rather cold and still. The field is strewn and full of dry, dead, and decaying leaves. He looks around but there is darkness all around. As he sees the school he reminds his father who was buried in the chapel of the school. The remaining poem has the description of his father as well as a philosophical note of man’s life on the earth. The poem peeps inside the Nature of humans’ attitude towards living life on the earth.

A Strain Of Melancholy

In the first stanza, the poet feels alone and he beautifully describes the loneliness of his heart through the gloomy description of surrounding –

Coldly, sadly, ……..

…The field strewn, with its dark 

yellow drift of wither’d leaves…….

……. Solemn, unlighted………………..

He finds the signs of sadness all around, the roads are dark, streets are silent. weather is cold and sad. Leaves are dry and withered which makes the ground strewn. Though there is light coming from the window of the chapel, nothing makes changes in gloomy surroundings.

As the poet moves and sees the chapel, the gloomy sight reminds him of his father who was a very lively and cheerful person. The site of the chapel takes his thoughts towards his father and his divine qualities. Poet slowly discloses the qualities of his father and side by side he also compares his father with lifeless people who come and go without helping and caring for others. The ideas, in the poem, are logical and make this elegy attractive.

He reminds us that when his father was alive all the days were fearless and happy. He was so radiant. Even November also looked bright with his father.

In the gloom of November, we pass’d

Days not of gloom at thy side.

But now, after fifteen years of his father’s death, the family feels alone and sad.

Philosophical Note

At this point, when he remembers his father he becomes philosophical and explores the course of the lives of the people on earth. Why do people come to life and what do people do in the world? He talks about some people who come to life and go back to the abode of God without doing anything good. Nobody notices them. They move here and there, waste their time. Poet compares them to the unnoticed waves of the ocean.

What is the course of the life

Of mortal man on earth?

Most men eddy about

Here and there- eat and drink,

Side by side, he appreciates some of the people who value their lives and have passion. They do hard work to reach their goal. Though their path is filled with obstacles, they move on and on. The path is long but they never turn back and move ahead with their friends.

And there were some,…..

…….Path to a clear purpose goal……

………but it leads

A long steep journey.

In the mid of their journey, a storm comes and they get separated and only a few people reach the destination.

Friends who set forth at our side

Falter, are lost in the storm!

Here, the poet tells about his vibrant father who is very helpful to others. If his father were there, he would have helped others to cross the storm, too. His father never showed that he is weak or suffering. He was always happy and helped others.

The hope of ray-

Poet says that it is his father who made him believe that there are certain people with such divine qualities as his father has. These people are great souls and they help others. These people never make life look ugly and bad place. They are heroic and good helpers of mankind. They are considered as the sons of God as they understand the thoughts of God and that’s why they helped others.

 Poet makes note that as humans move onwards in this world which is full of difficulties, they feel tired with thirst and plagues. One by one, they get their way lost in the world, and become lonely, and, in the end, they died alone. At this time when mankind is tired, sad, and ready to die, people like his father appear and help them to reach their destination. They are like angels who come to save mankind.

Poetic Qualities-

Poet picked a very serious philosophical thought but his manner of presenting that thought is very simple. The subject matter matches perfectly with the manner of the description of the matter. The tone of the poem is serious as it is required by the subject matter. The poem is emotional but the poet very nicely controlled his emotion and turned the poem from personal melancholy (sad) tone to a serious tone.

The poet used metaphors and similes very aptly.

Such thou wast! And I stand

In the autumn evening

We who till then in thy shade

Rested as under the boughs

No particular rhyming scheme is followed in the poem. To make his emotional feelings easy to understand; the poem used simple and easy to understand diction

And through thee I believe

In the noble and great who are gone…

The poem gives us pleasure reading and it has a moral message to convey. It discussed a very deep thought about life.

 

QUESTION-2 – Write a note on the elegy and melancholy tone in the poetry of Mathew Arnold.

Answer- Arnold: The Victorian Poet

Mathew Arnold is very famous for the elegiac note in his poetry. He laments not only on personal loss but also on the loss of Nature, loss of peace, loss of faith, etc. as he was deeply influenced by his age (Victorian age). It was an age in which the Industrial Revolution had increased the wealth and prosperity of the nation. The people had become materialistic in attitude and the spiritual life had been given up by the people. As a result, society was full of conflict between science and religion. Hence, there was a spiritual crisis. It was no longer possible to believe blindly in the biblical story. The man was wavering between religion and science.

The reaction of Arnold to the age impact:

Arnold has shown this crisis with agonized heart and elegiac tone. Being a sensitive poet, Arnold belongs to the classical age in his temperament and grace though we can, clearly see the impact of romantic poets like Wordsworth and Shelly in his poetry. He loves the way of Wordsworth’s treatment of Nature but he has his way to give melancholy treatment in his poetry.

In the poetry of Mathew Arnold, we can see the impact of intellectualism. The selection of the theme of the poetry proves him a serious thinker and philosopher. In his many poems, he treated life as his subject and criticized it in various ways.

Melancholy is a key element in Arnold's poem and is also a part of his moral and intellectual approach to life as known to and seen by him in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, that was so impressive an affair in the Victorian world yet confounding, chaotic, and degenerating in the ultimate turn of events.

 An elegy is a poem of mourning or a song of lamentation. And Arnold is a poet of melancholy and in this respect, he is, definitely different from his great contemporaries, like Tennyson, Browning. His well-known poems like "The Scholar Gipsy", "Rugby Chapel", “The Drover Beach”, "Thyrsis" etc bear thoroughly his melancholic and elegiac tone.

Elegiac note in ‘The Drover Beach’-

He was very upset with the transition phase of modern life. Arnold's elegiac note is also predominant in "Dover Beach" as usual. The poet lamented here not for the death of any person, but for the loss of the simple faith and the loss of beauty and culture in the prevalent situation in the world of scientific discovery and commercial progress during the Victorian age. He laments deeply about this state of the contemporary age. He described that age as it has

".....neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain."

In this poem, he is more particular in revealing the cause of his sadness and depicts a beautiful picture of the sea only to relate that it reminds him of human suffering. The grating roar of the withdrawing pebbles brings in his mind ‘the eternal note of sadness’. The waves of the sea are a reminder of the violent and threatening process. In this poem, Arnold uses 'sea' as a metaphor for religious faith. ‘The Sea of Faith’ was once ‘at the full’ but now the poet hears ‘Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar’.

Listen! You hear the granting roar

Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,

………… and bring

The eternal note of sadness in.

At the end of the poem, the poet says that the world appeared to be a dreamland of beauty in past, but now -

"We are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and fight

Where ignorant armies clash by night."

Pensive melancholy note in ‘Scholar Gipsy’

In many of the poems of Arnold, we find an elegiac note which is reflected over the misfortune and misery of life. His verses are full of pain in human life due to materialism. The more he criticized the modern materialistic lifestyle the more he becomes pensive in his thoughts. He thinks that the man is a puppet in the hands of powerful destiny. In his poetry ‘The Scholar Gipsy’ has a pastoral setting. Arnold wishes to say that Nature can provide relief to mankind who is distressed by the materialism of the urban world. Gipsy could not cope with the materialism of urban life and become a member of the gypsy society. Again, the Scholar Gipsy lived almost two hundred years ago. That age was peaceful, calm, and quiet. People then were not torn by doubt and uncertainty regarding religion. The Scholar Gipsy had ‘one aim, one business, one desire’. He did not see the problems of the present time. Victorian people have no definite aim. They shift from one idea to another and, in that sense; they live a thousand different lives. He writes

Before this strange disease of modern life,

With its sick hurry, its divided aims,

Its heads o’ertarxed; its palsied hearts, was life.

Arnold is so disgusted with contemporary society that he urges the Scholar Gipsy to fly like the legendary Dido; otherwise, he may be contaminated.

Depression in Thyrsis

In his poem ‘Thyrsis’ Arnold, once again, feel sorry for Nature and laments the death of a golden age. He remembers his student days at Oxford the hill-slopes used to be happy with all kinds of green wild bushes and shrubs, that area was full of different kind of flowers, cowslips, and spiked orchids, which could be seen from afar. But in the name of development man has taken away their home and now these flowers are not seen anymore. The bank on the Thames has now been brought under cultivation. In the place of natural vegetation modern farms have been developed. Now, the poet finds only primroses in the hidden recesses of the brook. As the primroses are the sole remnants of the flowery spring season, they appear as orphans. Thus, Arnold laments the death of the golden age that is symbolized by the flowery prime of the Oxford countryside. 

Sadness in theme

Arnold is an intellectual thinker who doesn’t accept the so-called religion of the world. He was compelled to give up the false religion and accept modern thoughts. But on the other hand, he sees the problems and sufferings of human life. He cannot find any peaceful place which can help him to take happiness. He calls his age a tough time-

The iron time

Of doubts, disputes, distractions, fear”.

He was very upset with the great conflict in the society and people were in doubt what to choose and what to follow, what to reject, what is good or bad to them. He very clearly, presents doubts and sadness through his verses.

His pessimistic thoughts:

Arnold is the representative poet of his age which is known as an age of pessimism. He is a poet of pessimistic thoughts which all prevails in his elegies. Arnold’s genius is, basically elegiac. Hugh Walker considered him as the greatest elegiac poet of England. He says-

“Nothing in Arnold’s verse is more arresting than its elegiac note.”

He has written many fine elegies which may be personal as well as impersonal. His Personal Elegies are the result of any of the following–

1.     Disappointment in love

2.     His occupation which is not his liking

3.     A strain of unfavourable situation in life

4.     Contemporary conflicts between science and religion

5.     Conflicts in his own soul

6.     His sensitivity towards surrounding etc

‘Rugby Chapel’ is a personal elegy that is written to mourn his deceased father. His father Dr. Thomas Arnold was a Principal of Rugby. Through this elegy, he pays his tribute to his reverend father. The elegy was full of the various noble qualities of his father. He thinks that the death of his father created a vacuum in his life and the world has become a gloomy and cold place to live in. he compares both the situations in his life- with his father and without his father.

Conclusion

Mathew Arnold is a great elegiac poet of his time. His poetry is full of high seriousness and melancholy. He put melancholy in all his poems from the gayest to the gravest and from shortest to the youngest. His poetry is full of sadness and elegiac in tone.

 

QUESTION-3- Describe Mathew Arnold as a poet of Nature.

ANSWER- Introduction

All authors who are considered romantic poets will be concerned with Nature, imagination, emotions instead of reason. Some of them are Edgar Allen Poe and Washington Irving; Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Keats, Arnold, and Wordsworth.

Mathew Arnold is considered one of the best poets of Nature. He takes place among Nature poets like Wordsworth who was a prominent Romantic poet. In the treatment of Nature in his compositions, he is very close to the romantic poets but he is a poet of classical grace. It seems that he admires Wordsworth very much and follows him in his poetry as far as Nature is concerned but he is very original and unique.

Arnold and Wordsworth

Although Wordsworth is a Romantic poet and Arnold a Victorian poet, the two men exhibited a comparably simple style and deal with some of the same topics and themes, such as Nature.

As Arnold admires Wordsworth very much, his poetry should share many notable similarities with Wordsworth's but Both are different in their treatment of Nature in their compositions. For example –

In Wordsworth's poem ‘Tintern Abbey,’ the speaker revisits the banks of the Wye River after five long years and discovers the healing power Nature has on a person's weary soul. Arnold is more skeptical than Wordsworth; he comes to a different conclusion in his famous poem ‘Dover Beach’. The speaker declares that we must be "true / To one another" because the "melancholy" world offers no peace.

Wordsworth personifies Nature (gives personality to Nature) and attributes a divine power to Nature and offers a mystical way to worship. As far as Arnold’s treatment of Nature is concerned he observes Nature with all her beautiful sights. He enjoys the beauty of Nature and also makes us enjoy the same with him. Unlike Wordsworth, he doesn’t follow the mystical note in his Nature poetry. This is the main difference between Wordsworth and Arnold.

Wordsworth – a source of Inspiration

Yes! it is true that despite the difference in treatment of Nature, Arnold regards Wordsworth very much. He treats him as his spiritual guide and teacher. He takes inspiration from Wordsworth for his poetry on Nature. It is the impression of Wordsworth that he (Arnold) takes Nature as one part of his poetry but due to his own style and uniqueness, Arnold makes his own place among Nature poets.

Arnold as lover of Nature

The themes of Arnold’s poems are modest, simple, touching, and emotional. Matthew didn’t apply complicated concepts to his poems, he used themes such as faith, love, and Nature. But he paid close attention to the use of Nature. He respected and admired it. Matthew used a variety of natural allegories throughout his writings. In Arnold’s poetry, we can clearly see the connection between man and Nature. One of the good examples of Arnold's use of Nature is in "A Wish," in which the speaker's dying wish is to be placed by a window as he dies, so that he may look out at the beautiful landscape that will be there long after he is gone. He sees Nature as a source of joy, beauty, stress buster, peace and mystery of doubts, and many others.

Nature as a source of joy/beauty

Nature is not the creation of any being. It is always there surrounding us. Wordsworth thinks that Nature has a mystical supernatural power to soothe. He believes that Nature is for joy and peace. But for Arnold Nature is a source of enjoyment only. It is beautiful and we must enjoy its beauty. In his poem ‘dover beach’ he says-

“The tide is full; the moon lies fair

Upon the straits; on the French coast……”

Nature as a stress buster

The world is full of woes, worries, and tension. In such a world that is full of machinery and noise, only Nature serves as a source of mental peace. He seeks Nature as an escape from the fret and fury of life. he feels that this mechanical life has done caused good damage to our lives and he seeks comfort from Nature. He is fad-up of –

“This iron time of doubts, disputes, distractions, fears.”

It shows that Arnold doesn’t worship Nature as Wordsworth does. He turns to Nature to find solace and comfort.

“the quiet of Nature with the disquietude of man”

Nature as a source of peace

He becomes sentimental and finds that the secret of life Is nowhere but with Nature. He thinks and Nature is not only for love and enjoyment, man can learn the lesson of peace from Nature. He looks all around and then he realizes that life wants nothing but peace. In his poem ‘Resignation’ he writes-

“Before him he sees life unroll

A placid and continue whole

That general life; which does not ease

Whose secret is not joy, but peace”

In his poem “Dover Beach” he describes the sea to give the reader a picture of how peaceful and quiet the seaside is.

“The sea is calm tonight,

Nature is full of doubts

Mathew Arnold witnessed the tough life in the Victorian age. He discloses doubt and uncertainty in Nature, in her poem ‘Dover Beach-

…For the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain

Conclusion

Mathew Arnold belongs to the Victorian age but likes romantic poets he loves Nature. He is inspired by the great Nature poet William Wordsworth but treated Nature as an object of beauty, peace, love, joy, etc. His uniqueness and original style give him distinction among other Nature poets. He stands between classicism and romanticism. In his poems ‘The Dover Beach’, ‘The Scholar gypsy’, ‘Thyrsis’ etc he expresses Nature by describing either sun or moon or sea or river or star, etc. he finds Nature as a rest house for mankind where they can find peace and rest.