The hills where our lives rise

The Buried Life by Matthew Arnold is a beautiful and inspiring poem that urges readers to reflect on themselves and rediscover their passions in life. Arnold believes that, in the flurry of day to day labor and routine, we lose who we truly are at the expense of "all the thousand nothings of the hour" and their "stupefying power". We dream of experiencing things, going places, and accomplishing personal goals but more often than not those dreams never come to fruition because we become so wrapped up in the mundane hum of day to day life. Those dreams are what Arnold calls our "buried life" - it is the life that we long for but are not brave enough to sacrifice stability necessary to pursue. The tone of the poem, though, is not one of despair. Instead, Arnold conveys a message of truth and peace and a "lull in the hot race" that modern man finds himself stuck in. Arnold encourages man to fearlessly mine deep into his own heart and discover what causes it to beat.