"There rises an unspeakable desire"
Here he is establishing that there is something that all people desire. This something is so universal that every single human being desires it, but it cannot be named. It has to be referring to societies disconnect with nature. The word choice is also very interesting. Unspeakable, which if you think of the definition, means that the speaker is unable to even comprehend the proper words to express this desire. This idea is reinforced by line 48:
"After Knowledge of our buried life;"
The title of the poem is in this line, I feel like it is talking about the fact that all of us recognize that we have some intimate connection with something beyond the normal constraints of ours societies demands and expectations. The unspeakable desire is to drop the responsibilities we hold and return to nature. However, after rereading the poem I feel like this has a much deeper meaning. The things which we toil and strive for are not the things that truly make us happy. Rational thought would suggest that I should pick the best things in my life if happiness is what is rationally the goal of my decisions. However when another medium of exchange is introduced, things become complicated. Money buys objects which in turn provide happiness. Or money buys 'time' to do something we love providing happiness. People have erased these connections and simply equated money with happiness, ignoring the mediums. So here we are a century later, working for money opposed to happiness. The money provides us with the substance to survive, and possibly find happiness but it is a medium of exchange. Money is not happiness itself.
I think Arnold was touching on a flaw in the society he saw at the time. We are supposed to be beings of rational thought, yet we are not choosing the decisions that are actually best for us. The things that are best for political machines and social circles are not the same as our individual needs.
I think Arnold was touching on a flaw in the society he saw at the time. We are supposed to be beings of rational thought, yet we are not choosing the decisions that are actually best for us. The things that are best for political machines and social circles are not the same as our individual needs.
I agree with you, it is very important to take the historical context into consideration when reading this poem. Many people in the Victorian era were transitioning into a lifestyle of long hours in working in a factory and struggling to support their families. In times like these, it is very easy to lose oneself and the things you were once passionate about. Life starts to become a daily struggle to survive and mere existence rather than truly living. However, in this poem Arnold gives a glimmer of hope to these people by explaining that love will set them free. When love is found, life is breathed back into the people and their path is set straight. So just like you mentioned above, the things in life that add value and meaning to our time here on earth, are not things that our hard earned money can buy for us.
ReplyDeleteThe poem does end with the glimmer of hope: :our eyes can in another's eyes read clear" (81) and then "a lost pulse of feeling stirs again" (85). However, the poem opens with the unfortunate fact that this is not happening: love is too weak to unlock the heart and he cannot read his beloved's inmost soul (12-13). This opening forces us to think about what exactly is being described at the end: is this really happening, or is this a kind of wishful thinking on the narrator's part? We might argue for the later position using the final stanza: why exactly is it in the third person and not the first person? Technically, the "he" in the final stanza is the "man" of line 88--but it isn't at all clear if the narrator believes he will experience what this hypothetical everyman could (provisionally) experience.
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