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INTRODUCTION
A Summer Night by Matthew Arnold was first published in 1852 and appeared in the 1853 volume. The identity of the exact setting of the poem and the lady mentioned in it is not established beyond doubt. Some critics think that its inspiration and the experience mentioned owe their origin to a night in Switzerland near Lake Thun. But others like Prof. Kenneth Allot rejects this on the ground that Arnold mentions spring tide in the poem. Lake Thun, being land-locked possibly could not have the tidal effect in it. Perhaps in the poem Arnold is thinking of Frances Lucy Wightman and his courtship with her. Professor Saintsbury has this to say about the poem: "There is a cheering doctrine of mystical optimism which will have it that a sufficiently intense devotion to any ideal never fails of at least one moment of consummate realisation and enjoyment. Such a moment is granted to Matthew Arnold when he wrote A Summer Night. Whether that rather vague life-philosophy of his, that erection of a melancholy agnosticism plus asceticism into a creed, was anything more than a not ungraceful or undignified will-worship of Pride, we need not here argue out......here it rings not only faithfully, but almost triumphantly. The lips are touched at last: the eyes are thoroughly opened to see what the lips shall speak: the brain almost unconsciously frames and fills the adequate and inevitable scheme. And, as always at these right poetic moments, the minor felicities follow the major. The false rhymes are nowhere; the imperfect phrases, the title sham simplicities or pedantries, hide themselves; and the poet is free, from the splendid opening landscape through the meditative exposition, and the fine picture of the ship-wreck to the magnificent final invocation of the 'Clearness divine'.
LINE BY LINE SUMMARY
Line. 1-10: In the deserted moon blanch'd street: The poem begins with a rather melancholic picture of a deserted street bathed in moonshine. As the poet walks through the street he could hear the echo of his own footsteps making him conscious of his loneliness. The white windows he looks at remain unopened and silent. They appear to be disapproving of him. Then, through the gap among the housetops he could see the moon, against a background of the dew filled sky, that extends to the horizon.
Line. 11-25: The disquiet of the poet: The moon and the sky brings to his mind the memory of a similar night at a far away place. The headland jutted into the sea lit by the very bright moon. The high tide made the dazzling water flow fast. The row of white houses remained like a girdle to the shining sea. Behind the houses could be seen the mountains in the distance. The restless to and fro pacing, and the throbbing of heart which he feels now was present on that occasion too. The same bright and calm moon too was there.
Line. 26-33: The calm moon's message: The moon seems to ask whether the poet has the same disquiet in him that neither dies out nor frees him from the troubled thoughts; does it only make him alternate between overwhelming passion and a feeling of numbness born out of the influence of the worldly life.
Line. 34-50: The slavish life: The poet is not certain whether he should continue to live with his own identity or to live a life like the rest of the people of the world. Most men live as if they are in a prison, enslaved by their daily toil. They use up all their energy in meaningless tasks. They cannot think of anything beyond their own limited life experience. Year after year, they do their tiring work making themselves gloomy. The unhappiness of the mind is so great that they reach a miserable and unblest death. Even death is not able to free them from their miseries.
Line. 51-73: The romantic life: Other men are there who escape from the narrow kind of life described earlier. Freed from the narrow life they indulge into a whimsical life style. They do not know what their quest is and go after some unknown goals. In their pursuit they face all sorts of difficulties. They continue their pursuit until they meet with their inevitable doom. The sea voyage in this section represents human life. The mariner who sails in the sea without any particular goal is the romantic adventurer who meets his doom by drowning in his own sea of passion.
Line. 74-92: The noble destiny of man: The author asks whether there is a third alternative other than the life of the slave or of the person mad with passion. He suggests that a life of plainness and clearness will be a life without any unhappiness. He wants mankind to learn a lesson from the heavens. In the pure dark regions of heaven there is no inaction, but there is a calm without troubles arising out of passion. The heavenly objects, though are of a noble position, do their duty steadfastly, free from the baser activities. The stars may have had their own share of desires and longings along with the possible resultant frustrations, but they remain far above the humans. From them man can learn how clear his soul can be, how vast his mental horizons can grow, and how noble his destiny is. He can fulfill his promises despite the human limitations.
CRITICAL APPRECIATION AND ANALYSIS
The Summer Night is among the important philosophic poems of Matthew Arnold where his attitude to life comes out very clearly. In the two stanzas at the beginning of the poem, Arnold depicts the disquiet and the restlessness he felt in a summer night. He had experienced the same feelings during another night in another place at a former time. The bright moon too was there on that occasion. The peculiar restlessness of his heart would neither die down nor grow intense into a wild passion.
Then comes a description of two kinds of human beings. Most of the humans spend their whole life toiling hard in the customary way but without achieving anything tangible. They are the slaves of custom. Those who escape this slavery are the second type: the romantic adventurers. Without any clear goal before them they indulge into adventurous activities and meet their doom drowning in the sea of their own passion.
In the concluding part Arnold says there must be a third alternative to life - other than that of the slave and the mad man. The man should learn a lesson from the heavenly objects which fulfill their duty, all the time remaining calm and untroubled. Watching the heavenly objects, man can understand how vast and clear are his mental horizons and what a noble role man has to play in this world.
Great poetry according to his own definition: Arnold himself defined poetry as criticism of life. In this poem Arnold's philosophy of life, or attitude to life comes out. We see the result of the poet's meditations on man and his life. He doesn't approve of the dreary customary life most people lead in this world; there is an undertone of bitter sarcasm at such a life. The poem has a moral and the didacticism becomes clear towards the end. The exact ideal Arnold tries to display before the readers is vague or obscure; but he clearly states that man should have noble or high aspirations.
The Arnoldian melancholy: The characteristic melancholy found in Arnold's other poems are present here too. The melancholy he feels at present was there with him, on a previous occasion at a different place too. The poem is built upon this idea that,
... the same restless pacings to and fro,
And the same vainly-throbbing heart was there.
And the same bright calm moon.
(Line. 23-5)
After depicting the ever present restlessness he contrasts it with the calm and tranquillity of the heaven and heavenly objects. The disquietude, the restiessness and the melancholy vanishes in the end giving way to a mood of hopefulness. If only man learns a lesson from the calm and tranquility the heavens display, then he will be able to live a life without passion and can aim at nobler goals. Surely it is an optimistic view but it lacks the vigour and radiance; one can say it is a kind of subdued optimism.
The Style: The picturesque description of the night skyscape in the beginning of the poem is haunting. With the words and phrases like 'deserted moon blanch'd street, 'lonely rings the echo', 'windows which I gaze at, frown', and repellent as the world, he succeeds in bringing in a mood of melancholy. Recalling the previous scene, he pictures a night sca-scape, of an equally sad mood.
In describing the life of the slave of the custom, the poet uses an extended metaphor. Man who leads a life just like the other man is considered a slave and customs make the prison walls. The romantic adventurer, the 'mad man', again is presented through another extended metaphor as a mariner who steers his ship over the stormy sea, without any clear destination in mind, destined to doom. He disappears in the tempest of his own passionate living;
.....then the tempest strikes him, and between
The lightning bursts is seen
Only a driving wreck,
And sterner comes the roar
Of sea and wind, and through the deepening gloom
Fainter and fainter wreck and helmsman loom,
And he too disappears, and comes no more.
(Line. 62-73)
The felicity of the language of the poem is noteworthy. Some of the long syllabled phrases do sound Homeric, or Epic like. 'Moon blanched street', 'far horizon's rein', 'spring tide's brimming flow', blue haze-cradled mountains', 'vainly throbbing heart', old unquiet breast', 'waves of mournful thought', 'some false impossible shore' are some of them. Then there are the aphoristic lines like:
Is there no life but these alone?
Madman or slave, must man be one?
How fair a lot to fill
Is left to each man still.
Arnold uses free verse; verse of various metre and rhythm are combined, in this poem. The verse swings along with case and power, agreeing with the changing thought-development. But the sheer musical quality of the lyric-form is beyond reach of Arnold. No wonder some critics thought him to be one without an ear for the musical.
The poem has an exquisite opening, and a sublime end, but the middle is brazenly bitter. The acidity with which he disparages the slave type of people is really cruel.
...most men in a brazen prison live.
............................................................
Dreaming of naught beyond their prison wall.
His opinion of the romantic adventurer too is pungent.
...where'er his heart
Listeth will sail
No does he know how there prevail
And then the tempest strikes him;
(Line. 37-62)
The question "Madman or slave, must man be one?" is surely impregnated with pessimism.
LINE BY LINE EXPLANATIONS
1. In the deserted ..... heaven disclose. Line. 1-10
A Summer Night has a sublime beginning. The first line sets the mood of the poem, that of melancholy with the words 'deserted' and 'moon blanch'd'. The poet is walking through the deserted streets alone during a night and the echo of his own footsteps accentuates the feeling of loneliness. He looks at the silent and white windows, but they appear as unopening as the unsympathetic world itself. Then, suddenly, the poet gets a beautiful view of the moon through a gap among the house tops, against a dewy dark background of the sky extending up to the horizon.
The passage is highly suggestive even to the point of becoming symbolie. The street is life itself and the loneliness is that any thinking mind feels in this world. The echo of the feet could be the memories of his own past actions and his meditations over it. The phrase 'Moon blanch'd' gives a melancholy colour to human life. Then he gets a beautiful sight of the Moon in the skies, which heaven discloses. The ironic isolation of man in this well populated world is a pet theme of Arnold, often repeated. Isolation, tells of the life of the mortal millions in the sea 'enisled'. The same idea appears in a different setting here. The line reminds one of the Scholar Gipsy waiting for heaven send moments to comprehend wisdom and truth. The words, "but see...the moon" gives the impression of a sublime scene appearing before the poet, almost like a flash from heaven. This beginning rather forces upon the poet the conclusion that Nature can restore the calm which allows man to possess his soul".
2. Host thou ..... word's sway? Line. 27-33
After describing a moon blanch'd night scene Arnold thinks of another similar moonlit night that remains in his memory. Then the poet says that the moon appears to be asking him some questions about the restlessness of his: Has he got the same restlessness which he once had, even now? That restlessness which neither dies down nor allows the spirit to a noble fluctuation that frees from passion and the benumbing influence or routine of life? In simpler words the questions are the following. Are you still having the restless mind and a peaceless spirit? Are you not dullened by the influence of custom by contact with convention and by habit and your feelings? Have you got that enthusiasm which carries you out of your thoughts and which subjects you to constant changes?
Arnold is always conscious of the incapacitating disquietude that affects the thinking man. He is equally aware of the great heights to which human soul can rise if it is not benumbed by passion and enslaved by the dreary customs of the world.
3. For most men ..... prison wall. Line. 37-41
Arnold thinks that most men in the world live a life imprisoned by their own custom-imposed routine. Their life is narrow and limited. They live in strong prisons doing hard tasks without realizing the purpose of such work. They are not able to think of anything beyond the narrow field of their own dreary experience.
After beginning the poem with a sublime description Arnold goes into a bitter disparagement of the usual life most people live. Majority of humans are the slaves of custom. They imprison themselves within the strong walls of customs and habits. They do not have a strong imagination to have high aspirations in life. Arnold always disparaged people who lead such a life. He has qualified people of low taste and imagination as Philistins and throughout his life he fought a war against Philistinism. But the pungent criticism directed against most people is the world and calling them slaves in an act approaching pessimism. However towards the end of the poem, after disparaging the slaves and the madman Arnold indulges into an obvious optimism.
4. And as ..... still unblest. Line. 42-50
Here Arnold continues to disparage those people who lead a slavish life, imprisoned by customs and habits. They feel the pressure of gloomy and depressing thoughts which they unsuccessfully fight. They are unable to escape from their custom-built prison; neither can they ennoble themselves with fresh experience. They become gloomy as they find their labour becoming rewardless. Pressed by their unhappy thoughts, they face death, still unburdened, and without getting at the meaning of life.
5. And the rest ..... cones no more. Line. 51-73
After disparaging the slaves of custom Arnold turns his attention to the romantic adventurer. They are the ones who have escaped from the slavish life most people live. But they lead an uncontrolled life led by their passions. They are like mariners sailing their ships through a perilous sea. However, they do not have a clear destination to sail to. Neither they know the currents and cross currents that flow in the sea. But without losing heart he goes forward to an unknown destination. But the tempest grow wilder and he disappears and is seen no more.
The concept that life is a voyage across the sea of time is an old man and his thinking. Arnold by extending the metaphor, brings out very beautifully, the similarity between the romantic adventurer and mariner in a tempestuous sea. The tempest stands for passion in man. The romantic man is like a mariner who tries to reach an unknown destination across the sea; both are aimless, one in life and the other in sea. But both are at least courageous in moving away from the dreary customs and habits. Both want to achieve something though they do not know what they want to achieve. As the mariner mentioned is not knowledgeable about the trade winds the romantic adventurer is unaware of the current and cross currents affect man's life in this world. The pale master ... with anguish'd face and troubled hair' is an apt description of a romantic person torn by his passions. The tempest that strikes him is the intensity of his own passions that inevitably lead to his doom. Through the extended metaphor Arnold succeeds in pointing out that the romantic man's life is equally meaningless as that of the one who is the slave of custom.
6. Ye Heavens ... dust and soil Line. 78-82
After describing the life of custom's slave and the mad romantic, Arnold hints at the possibility of a third alternative life without passion. For leading such a life the plainness and clearness of the skies can give guidance to man.
The heavenly object in the sky shows no sign of inaction. At the same time they remain calm. Though they do great work they do so dispassionately and in an untroubled manner. Though they are very noble they take part in the worldly duties. But they do their duty without being contaminated by earthly evils.
Arnold's idea of an ideal life comes out clear through these lines and those that follows. There will not be any inaction in him; but he indulges into action, dispassionately, untroubled. The duty they do, is noble, but they keep in touch with the lowly and the ordinary, but without being touched by the squalor found in the world.
Perhaps Arnold was influenced by the Bhagawad Gita, which he recommended to Clough as a tool to discipline the latter's mind. What Arnold considers as noble life, is that Gita upholds, a dispassionate life, where one does his duty disregarding the reward one may get.
7. I will not ..... each man still. Line. 83-92.
In the optimistic conclusion of A summer Night, Arnold suggests that mankind should learn a lesson from the heavenly objects and lead a life of plainness and clarity without passion.
The poet does not think that the heavenly objects retain even a small part of the throbbings of broken hopes and unfulfilled ambitions, that are found amongst human beings. He thinks the heavenly objects do have a message for man. Placed far above the reach of humans, the stars appear to show to man, how one can have noble aspirations and desires and still be plain and clear. How good it can be to remain free like them and do one's duty. Each man has his duty to fulfill, and it will be wonderful to do one's duty dispassionately.
Here we find the thought of Bhagawad Gita permeating the conclusion of the poem. It is for man to do his job dispassionately. He should not think of the reward for his actions.