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Early Death And Fame

By Matthew Arnold

Topics: classic

For him who must see many years,     I praise the life which slips away     Out of the light and mutely; which avoids     Fame, and her less fair followers, envy, strife,     Stupid detraction, jealousy, cabal,     Insincere praises; which descends     The quiet mossy track to age.     But, when immature death     Beckons too early the guest     From the half-tried banquet of life,     Young, in the bloom of his days;     Leaves no leisure to press,     Slow and surely, the sweets     Of a tranquil life in the shade;     Fuller for him be the hours!     Give him emotion, though pain!     Let him live, let him feel: I have lived!     Heap up his moments with life,     Triple his pulses with fame!

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"For him who must see many years,..." by Matthew Arnold

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Matthew Arnold

About Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) was an English poet and critic whose poems "Dover Beach" and "The Scholar Gipsy" explore Victorian doubt and the search for meaning. His critical work "Culture and Anarchy" (1869) remains influential in literary and cultural studies.

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