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Who prop, thou ask'st, in these bad days, my mind?
He much, the old man, who clearest-sould of men,
Saw The Wide Prospect, and the Asian Fen,
And Tmoius' hill, and Smyrna 's bay, though blind.
Much he, whose friendship I not long since won,
That halting slave, who in Nicopolis
Taught Arrian, when Vespasian's brutal son
Clear'd Rome of what most sharn'd him. But be his
My special thanks, whose even-balanc'd soul,
From first youth tested up to extreme old age,
Business could not make dull, nor Passion wild:
Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole:
The mellow glory of the Attic stage;
Singer of sweet Colonus, and its child.
INTRODUCTION
One of Arnold's early works, this sonnet is addressed to Arthur Hugh Clough whom he commemorated in Thyrsis, later, after the latter's death. Arnold wrote about Clough as follows "...he possessed ... two invaluable literary qualities - a true sense for his object of study, and a single-hearted care for it. He had both: but he had the second even more eminently than the first. He greatly developed the first through means of the second. In the study of art, poetry or philosophy, he had the most undivided and disinterested love for his subject in itself, the greatest aversion to mixing up with it anything accidental or personal. His interest was in literature itself; and it was this which gave so rare a stamp to his character which kept him so free from all taint of littleness: In the saturnalia of ignoble personal passions, of which the struggle for literary success, in old and crowded communities, offers so sad a spectacle, he never mingled. He had not yet traduced his friends, nor flattered his enemies, nor disparaged what he admired, nor praised what he despised.. In him... is the Homeric simplicity of his literary life".
Clough and Arnold were close to each other for a time. Both had their education at Rugby under Dr. Thomas Arnold, and both were at Oxford, though not together. Later in life the friends drifted apart. Clough had great appreciation for Arnold, but he didn't like this piece addressed to him. Clough dubbed Arnold's classicism, an escapism. Reviewing the poem in The North American Review, Clough had said,
"Not by turning and twisting his eyes, in the hope of seeing things as Homer, but by seeing them, by accepting them as he sees them and faithfully depicting accordingly, will he attain the object he desires".
Arnold writes about three great Greeks whom he admired, and whose thoughts supplied him with spiritual sustenance! Homer, Sophocles and Epictetus. They were his guiding philosophers. His views on Homer comes out often and again in his writings, prose as well as poetry. He admired the out of door freshness, life, naturalness and buoyant rapidity". In his lecture On Translating Homer, Arnold gives supreme praise to the bard: "Homer himself is eternally interesting; he is a greater poetical power than even Sophocles or Aeschylus".
Sophocles too fascinated Arnold. This is what he has to say about the sagely Greek dramatist.
If in the body of Athenians of that time there was ... the utmost energy of mature manhood, public and private; the most entire freedom, the most unprejudiced and intelligent observation of human affairs - in Sophocles there is the same energy, the same maturity, the same freedom, the same intelligent observation; but all these idealized and glorified by the grace and light shed over them from the noblest poetical feeling. And, therefore, I have ventured to say of Sophocles, that he 'saw life steadily and saw it whole'
In Dover Beach too one can find Arnold's admiration for Sophocles over-flowing.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery.
SUMMARY
Arnold imagines his friend Clough asking the poet a question, as to what is the force, that sustains him in the bad days of Victorian materialism. When traditional values are in the decline; life is losing its purpose. But there are sources of strength for him and Arnold tells about them. Arnold thinks that Homer the blind epic poet of Greece is a greatest source of strength, and support, to mankind.
Wise and noble, Homer, had a true insight into life and its problems. He was the person of the clearest mental vision. Though he was blind and lived in Greece, he could see the drama of life in the continents of Europe and Asia which he portrayed in his epics. On reading those great works Arnold gets consolation and strength.
Epictetus, the ancient Greek philosopher is another from whom Arnold draws his strength. The lame philosopher who lived in Nicopoles was the teacher of Arrian. But emperor Domitian, the cruel son of emperor Vespasian banished him and that act, remains a blot on that tyrant.
To the next, Sophocles, Arnold is deeply indebted. His was an evenly balanced outlook of life and he had a remarkable moral integrity and intellectual excellence. Sagely and sensible he retained a serenity of mind from early youth to ripe old age. That child of Greece brought in great glory to the whole of the motherland as the sweetest dramatist who wrote Oepus at Colonus.
CRITICAL APPRECIATION AND ANALYSIS
Arnold was one of the most sensitive writers of the Victorian age. The pomp and glory that the material prosperity has brought to England was of no enchantment to him. The crass materialism and the scientific progress of the age led to skepticism. The age old values of life were declining and he uttered in disappointment. These are damned times". Arnold's soul could not feel easy with life. The feverish fret and hectic excitement the men of the world were seeking, make him shudder.
His sensitive mind was distressed deeply and the resulting frustration and despair were recorded in a few poems. To a Friend is one such poem.
Where could he find consolation to calm his mind and strength to steady himself in the journey of life? He turned to the classical past, to the ancient Greece. Homer, Epictetus and Sophocles could guide him. Their sagely wisdom could give him a purpose in life, and give him hope in the encircling gloom and disillusionment. Of the three, Sophocles's spell on him was greatest for he 'saw life and saw it whole'.
In the poem, we find Arnold upholding the values of classicism. All around in contemporary literature there was found romantic excess and exuberance of passion, which was not to his liking. So he looks back in time when restraint and order used to be the sought for aims, in literature. Art for Arts sake was anathema for him. Literature according to him must be related to life. His dictum that poetry is criticism of life amply illustrates this point. This sonnet is to be seen as a criticism of Victorian way of life and its values where majority of the people worshipped the money-god. The more the age prospered materially, the more it deteriorated morally and spiritually.
Arnold shows his appreciation for Homer, Epictetus and Sophocles who stood steadfastly for certain values in life. Though they were not conscious moralists, they upheld the dignity of moral and intellectual principles and thereby exhorted man to fresh adventures and to excellence in life.
With the characteristic brevity of sonnet, Arnold sums up the qualities of the trio whom he admires very much. He very well exemplifies the classical brevity, order, restraint and felicity of expression.
We find beautiful criticism of life in this short poem. This life Arnold saw around him is, in biblical words, weighed in the balance and found wanting. The majority of the people in the world are frivolous, seeking the materialistic success as the sole purpose of life. But Arnold knows that there are a few heroic souls too in this world, those who are the helpers of mankind. Theirs is the ideal life, not that of the Victorians. All these ideas are compressed into fourteen lines of this sonnet. There is criticism of life in it and there is beauty in that criticism, making it a literary piece of great artistic quality.
LINE BY LINE EXPLANATIONS
1. Who prop ..... though blind. Line. 1-4
In the first quatrain of the octave of the sonnet To a Friend, Arnold imagines his some time close friend Arthur Clough asking him what sustains the poet's life during the bad times of Victorian age. The answer is given in the sonnet: Homer, Epictetus and Sophocles and their thoughts.
In the first quarter the poet deals with Homer and his greatness. The grand old sagely poet was blind, still he had clear insight into the life of people of the continents of Asia and Europe. Asian Fen refers to the muddy areas created by the rivers of Asia Minor. Txiolus hell is in the modern Turkey which was in Asiatic Greece during Homer's time. Smyrna bay is a gulf in the Aegean sea near Smyrna, the birthplace of Homer.
Homer was said to be a blind bard. But his insight into life and its problems is unequalled among poets or visionaries. Though he could not see with his physical eye, Arnold implies that his vision at a mental plane enabled to understand the problems of people of Asia and Europe.
2. Much he ..... sham'd him, Line. 5-8
The quoted lines are from the second quartet of the octave of the sonnet, To a Friend. Here Arnold pays his tribute to Epictetus the philosopher. He is one of the classical trio who gave consolation and strength to the poet.
Epictetus was born lame, in the city of Nicopolis. He was a philosopher in the stoic tradition, and the teacher of another philosopher, Arrian. Emperor Domitian, son of emperor Vespasian banished him from the country and the banishment was considered to be one of the shameful acts of his. Arnold's praise of Epictetus is remarkable for its restraint. Yet his nobility clearly brought out by his banishment by a tyrant. The steadfast belief in truth only could have been the cause of the banishment. As it was affected by an emperor known to be a tyrant, one can conclude that the philosopher stood for noble qualities.
3. But to his ..... its child
In the sextet of the Sonnet, To a Friend, Arnold pays the most glowing tribute to Sophocles, the Greek dramatist. He considered the extant plays of Sophocles, as the depository of wisdom and mature understanding of the problems of life.
Arnold extends special thanks to Sophocles for the balanced view of life of that sagely poet which remained with him from his youth to his ripe old age.
The troubles of life did not make his clear vision dull at all. Neither did passion make it go wild. He saw life without any prejudice and he saw it in its entirety. He brought in great glory to the Greek drama. His play Oedipus at Colonus is as dear as sweet music to mankind.
Arnold expresses special thanks to Sophocles because he has derived great consolation and strength from him. He has very often, through his writings acknowledged his indebtedness to that dramatist. In Dover Beach, he says how Sophocles heard the eternal note of sadness of human misery and portrayed them in his plays. Arnold was irresistibly drawn to Sophocles and his view of life that is found in his plays.