❐ Attempt a critical estimate of Memorial Verses.
= In Memorial Verses, it is rightly said that we have a moving tribute to Wordsworth, and also excellent literary criticism. Wordsworth was the greatest singer singer ever since Orpheus. Wordsworth like Goethe, lived in an age of doubt and decay and his poetry touched the depth and despair. His poetry regaled the hearts of men and invigorated them and it established a close communion between man and nature and in such a communion man felt relieved of dull stupor and ennui. In this period of spiritual doubt, uncertainty and listlessness and despair, the birth of a poet like Wordsworth in not possible. In course of time Europe may have a wise man like Goethe or a fiery man like Byron. But a poet of talent like Wordsworth will never be born. Along with Arnold's high estimation of Wordsworth, we have in the poem also an excellent literary criticism of Byron and Goethe. Arnold is of opinion that Byron's chief quality is force. His clash with all kind of orthodox was really awe-inspiring and this command awe as well as respect. Goethe was the wisest and he suggested measures to fight out the spiritual maladies.
Memorial Verses is somewhat elegiac in tone. Arnold is sad at heart and rues for the death of Wordsworth for a poet like Wordsworth will never be born. His death is an irreparable loss. The poet writes : "The last poetic voice is dumb - 'We stand to-day by Wordsworth's tomb", and exhorts Rotha, a stream on the banks of which Wordsworth was buried :
"Keep fresh the grass upon his grave
O Roth, with thy living wave !
Sing him thy best ! for few or none
Hears thy voice right, now he is gone.
Arnold's use of similes in Memorial Verses is noteworthy. Byron was a poet of titanic passion - Our soul/Had felt like the thunder's roll.' Goethe was a 'Physician of the iron age' He properly diagnosed the ailment of the age which was passing through a stage of spiritual decay and doubt. Life is compared to a pilgrimage - 'Goethe has done his pilgrimage'. The 'fitful dream and feverish power' refer to the Napoleonic wars and the confusion in Europe. Wordsworth's comparison with Orpheus is poetic and accurately points out the musical qualities of his poetry :
"And Wordsworth ! Ah, pale ghosts, rejoice !
For never has such soothing voice
Been to your shadowy world conveyed,
Since east, at morn, some wandering shade
Heard the clear song of Orpheus come
Through Hades and the mournful gloom."
Arnold's use of phrases in Memorial Verses is quite appropriate and poetic. They clearly bring out the senses the poet wants to convey. Amongst phrases sprinkled here and there in the poem, mention may be made of the following : 'reverential awe' (l. 12), 'Titanic strife' (l. 14), 'fitful dream and feverish power' (l. 24), 'insane distress' (l. 32), 'mournful gloom' (l.39), 'wintry clime' (l. 43), 'benumbing round' (l. 45), 'flowery lap' (l. 49), mortal destiny' (l. 68).
The style and language used in the poem are typically Victorian style and language. The style is an amalgam of the language that was then available for poetry. Let us quote the following :
"And Wordsworth ! Ah, pale ghosts, rejoice !
For never has such soothing voice
Been to your shadowy world conveyed,
Since east, at morn, some wandering shade
Heard the clear song of Orpheus come
Through Hades and the mournful gloom."
The passage quoted is not unimpressive. But once it is subjected to critical scrutiny the vagueness of its diction and the looseness of its of its thought are inescapable. The words are the ghost of words. Two words have to be used to do the work of one. And the trickle of meaning is obscured in a fog of associations conjured up by the implied reference to parallel passages in the Odyssey, the Georgies, and the Aeneid. The passage raises the questions : 'Was it necessary to describe Ghosts as pale?' If Hades is populated by wandering shades need we be told that is shadowy? Is not gloom always mournful? Wordsworth's soothing voice is compared to Orpheus's clear song. But why, especially in the gloom of Hades, should a clear song be soothing? What finally is the significance of the mourn? Is not Hades always equally dark? Or, if there are gradations of light, are we to visualize the relative darkness or the relative brightness of morning? Whatever and whatsoever may be the style, it would be unfair to lay all the blame on Arnold who merely accepted the style and the language current in his time. But perhaps the most outstanding feature of Arnold's chastening of style is his minimization of sensuousness. Colour is almost entirely absent. In such typical pieces as Memorial Verses, one is a long way from the world of dazzling colours which Keats had employed so lavishly.