Tag Archives: matthew arnold

The White Cliffs of Dover May Remain

The white cliffs of Dover may remain
Though the express train
Negotiates a perilous ledge.

Or over the edge
We may go
Though ignorant armies say, “below
Lies salvation
For the nation”.

I shall read Arnold’s “Dover Beach”
And think on bad
Faith
And mad
Men

Requiescat by Matthew Arnold

Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew!
In quiet she reposes;
Ah, would that I did too!
Her mirth the world required;
She bathed it in smiles of glee.
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.
Her life was turning, turning,
In mazes of heat and sound.
But for peace her soul was yearning,
And now peace laps her round.
Her cabin’d, ample spirit,
It flutter’d and fail’d for breath.
To-night it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death.