Selected Poems of Matthew Arnold Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ...for the Polar Star, past Orgunj e, Brimming, and bright, and large: then sands begin To hem his watery march, and dam his streams, And split his currents; that for many a league The shorn and parcell'd Oxus strains along Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles--Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had In his high mountain cradle in Pamere, A foi1'd circuitous wanderer: --till at last The long'd-for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bath'd stars Emerge, and shine upon the Aral Sea. THE STRAYED REVELLER. A YOUTH. CIRCE. Tm: Yourn. FASTER, faster, O Circe, Goddess, Let the wild, thronging train, The bright procession Of eddying forms, Sweep through my soul. Thou standest, smiling Down on me; thy right arm Lean'd up against the column there, Props thy soft cheek; Thy left holds, hanging loosely, The deep cup, ivy-cinctur'd, I held but now. Is it then evening So soon? I see, the night dews, Cluster'd in thick beads, dim The agate brooch-stones On thy white shoulder. The cool night-wind, too, Blows through the portico, Stirs thy hair, Goddess, Waves thy white robe. When the white dawn first Through the rough fir-planks Of my hut, by the chestnuts, Up at the valley-head, Came breaking, Goddess, I sprang up, I threw round me My dappled fawn-skin: Passing out, from the wet turf, Where they lay, by the hut door, I snatch'd up my vine-crown, my fir-stafi' All drench'd in dew: Came swift down to join The rout early gather'd In the town, round the temple, Iacchus' white fane On yonder hill. Quick I pass'd, following The wood-cutters' cart-track Down the dark valley;--I saw On my...