Tillys Shelf | Victober Poetry Challenge 6: Matthew Arnold @tillysshelf | Uploaded October 2020 | Updated October 2024, 7 hours ago.
To Marguerite - Continued by Matthew Arnold, 1852
Yes! in the sea of life enisled,
With echoing straits between us thrown,
Dotting the shoreless watery wild,
We mortal millions live alone.
The islands feel the enclasping flow,
And then their endless bounds they know.
But when the moon their hollows lights,
And they are swept by balms of spring,
And in their glens, on starry nights,
The nightingales divinely sing;
And lovely notes, from shore to shore,
Across the sounds and channels pour—
Oh! then a longing like despair
Is to their farthest caverns sent;
For surely once, they feel, we were
Parts of a single continent!
Now round us spreads the watery plain—
Oh might our marges meet again!
Who order'd, that their longing's fire
Should be, as soon as kindled, cool'd?
Who renders vain their deep desire?—
A God, a God their severance ruled!
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
My inspiration for this Victorian Poetry Challenge came from Matthew of the channel Mayberry Bookclub and his Norton Anthology readings earlier this year https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
The hosts of Victober this year are:
Katy at Books and Things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD0-Q...
Kate Howe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5so...
Lucy the Reader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Gr-...
And here are the challenges (of which I am successfully achieving precisely none)
1. Katie’s challenge: Read a Victorian book that equates to your favourite modern genre
2. Lucy’s challenge: Read a Victorian diary or collection of letters
3. Kate’s challenge: Read a new to you book and/or short story by a favourite Victorian author
4. Readers’ challenge: Read a Victorian book from a previous Victober TBR that you didn't get to, or one you’ve been meaning to read for ages
5. General challenge: Read a Victorian book while wearing something Victorian/Victorian-esque
Group readalong: Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
#victober
To Marguerite - Continued by Matthew Arnold, 1852
Yes! in the sea of life enisled,
With echoing straits between us thrown,
Dotting the shoreless watery wild,
We mortal millions live alone.
The islands feel the enclasping flow,
And then their endless bounds they know.
But when the moon their hollows lights,
And they are swept by balms of spring,
And in their glens, on starry nights,
The nightingales divinely sing;
And lovely notes, from shore to shore,
Across the sounds and channels pour—
Oh! then a longing like despair
Is to their farthest caverns sent;
For surely once, they feel, we were
Parts of a single continent!
Now round us spreads the watery plain—
Oh might our marges meet again!
Who order'd, that their longing's fire
Should be, as soon as kindled, cool'd?
Who renders vain their deep desire?—
A God, a God their severance ruled!
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
My inspiration for this Victorian Poetry Challenge came from Matthew of the channel Mayberry Bookclub and his Norton Anthology readings earlier this year https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
The hosts of Victober this year are:
Katy at Books and Things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD0-Q...
Kate Howe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5so...
Lucy the Reader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Gr-...
And here are the challenges (of which I am successfully achieving precisely none)
1. Katie’s challenge: Read a Victorian book that equates to your favourite modern genre
2. Lucy’s challenge: Read a Victorian diary or collection of letters
3. Kate’s challenge: Read a new to you book and/or short story by a favourite Victorian author
4. Readers’ challenge: Read a Victorian book from a previous Victober TBR that you didn't get to, or one you’ve been meaning to read for ages
5. General challenge: Read a Victorian book while wearing something Victorian/Victorian-esque
Group readalong: Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
#victober
