Matthew Arnold
British poet and cultural critic (1822–1888)
1822–1888, born in Laleham
- Born
- 24 December 1822
- Birthplace
- Laleham
- Died
- 15 April 1888
From their work
Calm soul of all things! make it mine To feel, amid the city’s jar, That there abides a peace of thine, Man did not make, and cannot mar.
A region desolate and wild.Black, chafing water: and afloat,And lonely as a truant childIn a waste wood, a single boat:No mast, no sails are set thereon;It moves, but never moveth on:And welters like a human thingAmid the wild waves weltering.Behind, a buried vale doth sleep,Far down the torrent cleaves its way:In front the dumb rock rises steep,A fretted wall of blue and grey;Of shooting cliff and crumbled stoneWith many a wild weed overgrown:All else, black water: and afloat,One rood from shore, that single boat.
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0). Texts of this author are in the public domain in the UK.