What is it to grow old?
Is it to lose the glory of the form,
The lustre of the eye?
Is it for beauty to forego her wreath?
Yes, but not for this alone.
Is it to feel our strength –
Not our bloom only, but our strength — decay?
Is it to feel each limb
Grow stiffer, every function less exact,
Each nerve more weakly strung?
Yes, this, and more! but not,
Ah, ’tis not what in youth we dreamed ‘twould be!
‘Tis not to have our life
Mellowed and softened as with sunset-glow,
A golden day’s decline!
‘Tis not to see the world
As from a height, with rapt prophetic eyes,
And heart profoundly stirred;
And weep, and feel the fulness of the past,
The years that are no more!
It is to spend long days
And not once feel that we were ever young.
It is to add, immured
In the hot prison of the present, month
To month with weary pain.
It is to suffer this,
And feel but half, and feebly, what we feel:
Deep in our hidden heart
Festers the dull remembrance of a change,
But no emotion -none.
It is – last stage of all –
When we are frozen up within, and quite
The phantom of ourselves,
To hear the world applaud the hollow ghost
Which blamed the living man.
By: Matthew Arnold @ Poetic Outlaws
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) was an English poet, cultural critic, and educator, renowned for his significant contributions to literature and thought in the Victorian era.
Arnold began his career as a poet, producing works like Dover Beach and The Scholar-Gypsy, which are celebrated for their lyrical beauty and exploration of themes such as faith, doubt, and the challenges of modernity. But he’s probably best known for his essays and criticism, particularly in the areas of culture and education.
Matthew Arnold remains a prominent figure in the study of Victorian literature and culture, recognized for his efforts to reconcile traditional values with the emerging modern world.
