sammyuk
02-09-2010, 08:18 PM
Hi all. Hopefully this is the right place to put a topic like this, here goes.
Today in English we looked at Matthew Arnold's Shakespeare. Now I don't think this is an interpretation that many people share, but it seems to me like Arnold is trying to convey a slightly sarcastic, angry view of Shakespeare. All the imagery etc is obviously giving great praise to Shakespeare but it seems to me that he's saying that Shakespeare is so special and so far superior to everyone else that it's a little unfair - it seems like he's satirising other people's endless praise of him. That's just the impression I got from the poem, anyone else feel the same way? Or am I just misinterpreting Arnold's incredibly high praise for Shakespeare?
Here's the poem for people who haven't read it.
Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask: Thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,
That to the stars uncrowns his majesty,
Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,
Making the Heaven of Heavens his dwelling-place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foil'd searching of mortality:
And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,
Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure,
Didst walk on earth unguess'd at. Better so! All pains the immortal spirit must endure,
All weakness that impairs, all griefs that bow,
Find their sole voice in that victorious brow.
Btw I know nothing about Arnold except that he wrote Dover Beach, so if I'm looking at this completely wrong, please enlighten me.
Today in English we looked at Matthew Arnold's Shakespeare. Now I don't think this is an interpretation that many people share, but it seems to me like Arnold is trying to convey a slightly sarcastic, angry view of Shakespeare. All the imagery etc is obviously giving great praise to Shakespeare but it seems to me that he's saying that Shakespeare is so special and so far superior to everyone else that it's a little unfair - it seems like he's satirising other people's endless praise of him. That's just the impression I got from the poem, anyone else feel the same way? Or am I just misinterpreting Arnold's incredibly high praise for Shakespeare?
Here's the poem for people who haven't read it.
Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask: Thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,
That to the stars uncrowns his majesty,
Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,
Making the Heaven of Heavens his dwelling-place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foil'd searching of mortality:
And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,
Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure,
Didst walk on earth unguess'd at. Better so! All pains the immortal spirit must endure,
All weakness that impairs, all griefs that bow,
Find their sole voice in that victorious brow.
Btw I know nothing about Arnold except that he wrote Dover Beach, so if I'm looking at this completely wrong, please enlighten me.