The Buried Life (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Matthew Arnold
- First Published: 1852
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Love or romance, Self, Individuality, Emotions, Rivers or waterways, Personality, Life, philosophy of, Consciousness, Soul
The Poem
“The Buried Life” is a ninety-eight-line poem divided into seven stanzas of varying length with an irregular rhyme scheme. A monologue in which a lover addresses his beloved, the poem yearns for the possibility of truthful communication with the self and with others.
The first line evokes the banter of a loving couple, but it is immediately checked by the deeply sad feelings of the speaker. Troubled by a sense of inner restlessness, he longs for complete intimacy and hopes to find it in his beloved’s clear eyes, the window to her “inmost soul.”
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