Who is Thyrsis in the poem of the same name?

Who is Thyrsis in the poem of the same name?

“Thyrsis” (from the title of Theocritus’s poem “Θύρσις”) is a poem written by Matthew Arnold in December 1865 to commemorate his friend, the poet Arthur Hugh Clough, who had died in November 1861 aged only 42. The character, Thyrsis, was a shepherd in Virgil’s Seventh Eclogue, who lost a singing match against Corydon.

Is Thyrsis an elegy?

The poem is a pastoral elegy lamenting Clough as Thyrsis, recalling his ‘golden prime’ in the days when he and Arnold wandered through the Oxfordshire countryside, their youthful rivalry as poets, and Clough’s departure for a more troubled world.

What does the Scholar-Gipsy symbolize?

What the poem actually offers is a charm of relaxation, a holiday from serious aims and exacting business. And what the Scholar-Gipsy really symbolises is Victorian poetry, vehicle (so often) of explicit intellectual and moral intentions, but unable to be in essence anything but relaxed, relaxing and anodyne.

Who wrote Thyrsis?

Matthew ArnoldThyrsis / Author
Thyrsis, elegiac poem by Matthew Arnold, first published in Macmillan’s Magazine in 1866. It was included in Arnold’s New Poems in 1867. It is considered one of Arnold’s finest poems.

What kind of mood is evoked in The Scholar Gypsy?

Note how this quote engages different senses with not only the sight of flowers, but also the feel of the “mild pastoral slope” and the sound of “nightingales.” All these aspects are part of the presentation of nature as a force for good and for healing, which helps create the overall tranquil mood of elegaic happiness …

What does city of Dreaming Spires mean?

Oxford
Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire and famous worldwide for its prestigious university, the oldest in the English-speaking world. In his poem ‘Thyrsis’ the Victorian poet Matthew Arnold called Oxford ‘the city of dreaming spires’ after the stunning architecture of these university buildings.

What is the purpose of the poem Thyrsis?

Arnold wrote “Thyrsis” to commemorate the lifetime of his friend Arthur Hugh Clough, who died in 1861, after having left Oxford a few years before. The walking tour described in “Thyrsis” is predicated on Arnold’s 1861 return visit to the Oxford countryside, to think through his friend’s life and their relationship.

What is the meaning of thrysis in Virgil’s poem?

Thyrsis is an extended illusion from Virgil’s poetry and also in Arnold’s life. Thyrsis lost a singing match with Corydon and died. There is a deeper meaning in this entire formation. On one hand, Virgil blames the god for Thrysis’s death whereas Arnold blames the latter himself for the cause of his own demise.

What happened to Thyrsis in the Odyssey?

Though Thyrsis was defeated in battle by Corydon, the speaker blames Thyrsis for his own death. Stanzas 9 and 10 recall the Sicilian tradition of playing a tragic song on a pipe when a shepherd died, so that in Hades, Proserpine (Persephone) would return the dead to life.

What happened to Thyrsis in the 7th Eclogue?

In Virgil’s Seventh Eclogue, Thyrsis lost a singing match to Corydon and died. Whereas Virgil implies that the gods are responsible for the man’s death, Arnold alters the parable responsible Thyrsis himself. This shift is central and connects to the poem’s autobiographical quality.