Longing by Matthew Arnold

Presented by:

Lydia Chai Yee Xuan Teh Joo Kiat

Done On 3.10.2012 | All Rights Reserved

Come to me in my dreams, and then By day I shall be well again! For so the night will more than pay The hopeless longing of the day.

Longing
Matthew Arnold

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times, A messenger from radiant climes, And smile on thy new world, and be As kind to others as to me! Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth, Come now, and let me dream it truth, And part my hair, and kiss my brow, And say, My love why sufferest thou? Come to me in my dreams, and then By day I shall be well again! For so the night will more than pay The hopeless longing of the day.

Our Perception:
Persona: An ugly, lonely and low self esteem man. He has been insulted and boycotted because of his appearance. Thus, he chooses to exile himself from the community.

Come to me in my dreams, and then By day I shall be well again! For so the night will more than pay The hopeless longing of the day.

STANZA 1:

Briefly, the persona hopes that someone (a woman) will appear in his dream. Through the dream, the persona gains courage and confidence to face every new day. With the help of the dream he makes every night, he seems to give himself an imaginary protection or barrier from the communitys negative remarks on his appearance. In this case, night is a symbol of protection and barrier to the persona.

Come to me in my dreams, and then By day I shall be well again! For so the night will more than pay The hopeless longing of the day.

STANZA 1: (continuation)

At the same time, it eases his psychological pain of the day (Reasons: (i) People are usually active in daytime (ii) His appearance is more obvious in daytime). night is an irony because night usually connotes negative meaning but in this case, the persona likes the night more than the day, when he says, the hopeless longing of the day.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times, A messenger from radiant climes, And smile on thy new world, and be As kind to others as to me!

STANZA 2:

Thou, thy and Messenger refer to the personas imaginary woman. The persona feels that seeing the girl for one time is the same as seeing her a thousand times. He describes her presence is as rare as a messenger from radiant climes. The way the persona describes her presence is a little exaggerated he used hyperbole here. From the point of view of a humanist, a messenger from radiant climes is the same as the presence of God/Goddess/Fairy from Heaven to Earth which is something impossible. From here, we can know that this mans hope is absolutely impossible to achieve.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times, A messenger from radiant climes, And smile on thy new world, and be As kind to others as to me!

STANZA 2: (continuation)

Yet, he carries the hope that she will give him a smile and treat him as kind as others when she sees him. He hopes that she is different from the others who look down on him because of his appearance. new world usually means something good, pleasant and Heavenliked. However, it appears as an irony because the new world symbolises the personas disastrous world. The persona describes his wish of the woman smiling at him in thy new world because he understands that he and her are from two different world. He generalizes everybody is good looking except himself.

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth, Come now, and let me dream it truth, And part my hair, and kiss my brow, And say, My love why sufferest thou?

STANZA 3:

Due to his low self esteem, he thinks of another alternative not being able to meet the woman in real. He is still very persistent in meeting this woman through his dream when he says, Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth, Come now, and let me dream it truth,. In his dream, he wishes the woman to be able to willingly show love and care to him through - part..hair and kiss..brow (imagery). The persona wants the readers to imagine his desires by describing them so clearly using words.

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth, Come now, and let me dream it truth, And part my hair, and kiss my brow, And say, My love why sufferest thou?

STANZA 3: (continuation)

These are two intimate actions which people will only do if they could accept the persons appearance. Besides, he also wishes the woman to understand his pain for being boycotted and insulted by others, which lead him to become a low self esteem person. Thus, that is the reason why he wishes the woman to ask him the question, My love why sufferest thou?.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times, A messenger from radiant climes, And smile on thy new world, and be As kind to others as to me!

STANZA 4:

This is a repeated stanza in the poem. We believe that it is because the persona is trying to emphasize on his wish/desire/longing towards someone to really able to accept who he is a lifetime partner, woman. The persona uses the word come repeatedly in the 4 stanzas. Come is a verb that means order and desire. Repetition is used to show emphasis.

Come to me in my dreams, and then By day I shall be well again! For so the night will more than pay The hopeless longing of the day.

Longing
Matthew Arnold

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times, A messenger from radiant climes, And smile on thy new world, and be As kind to others as to me! Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth, Come now, and let me dream it truth, And part my hair, and kiss my brow, And say, My love why sufferest thou? Come to me in my dreams, and then By day I shall be well again! For so the night will more than pay The hopeless longing of the day.

THEME: The desire for affection from the opposite sex. SUBJECT MATTER: A low self esteem young boy who desires for love, care and attention from the opposite sex.

ISSUES RAISED: In reality, people judge the book by its cover generally, the ugly ones will lose out in many aspects (for example, love, job opportunity etc) Low self esteem people usually feel hopeless about themselves and tend to dream for things that they are longing for.
Come now, and let me dream it truth, (S3 L2)

These people always hope for miracles to happen in their life.

A messenger from radiant climes, (S2, L2)

Tone
Personas feelings towards the poem. Desperate
The persona wants attention from the opposite sex despite knowing that he doesnt have a good appearance.

Mood
Readers feelings towards the poem. Sad and Sympathetic
The readers feel sad when they read such a poem The personas desperation for peoples acceptance and love. Yet, the readers cannot do anything but to sigh after reading his poem.

Structure
Iambic Tetrameter
Stanza 1

Come to me in my dreams, and then

By day I shall be well again! For so the night will more than pay

The hopeless longing of the day.

Red = Stressed Black = Unstressed Main

 Rhyming Couplet
Is two line of the same length that rhyme and complete one thought. There is no limit to the length of the lines. Rhyming words are words that sound the same when spoken, they don't necessarily have to be spelt the same.

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth, Come now, and let me dream it truth, And part my hair, and kiss my brow, And say, My love why sufferest thou?

a
b b
Main

Moral Values
Do not judge a book by its cover. Learn to accept your own weaknesses. Think positively about yourself.

The End.