Worldly Place

By Matthew Arnold 1822–1888 Matthew Arnold

Even in a palace, life may be led well!

So spake the imperial sage, purest of men,

Marcus Aurelius. But the stifling den

Of common life, where, crowded up pell-mell,

Our freedom for a little bread we sell,

And drudge under some foolish master's ken

Who rates us if we peer outside our pen—

Match'd with a palace, is not this a hell?

Even in a palace! On his truth sincere,

Who spoke these words, no shadow ever came;

And when my ill-school'd spirit is aflame

Some nobler, ampler stage of life to win,

I'll stop, and say: "There were no succour here!

The aids to noble life are all within."

Biography

Among the major Victorian writers sharing in a revival of interest and respect in the second half of the twentieth century, Matthew Arnold is unique in that his reputation rests equally upon his poetry and his prose. Only a quarter of his productive life was given to writing poetry, but many of the same values, attitudes, and feelings that are expressed in his poems achieve a fuller or more balanced formulation in his prose. . . .

Continue reading this biography