ART STILL HAS TRUTH - Mathew Arnold 1850

 

Memorial Verses April 1850

Arnold, Matthew (1822 - 1888)

Original Text

 

Fraser's Magazine (London, 1832-82). AP 4 F8 ROBA

1Goethe in Weimar sleeps, and Greece,

2Long since, saw Byron's struggle cease.

3But one such death remain'd to come;

4The last poetic voice is dumb--

5We stand to-day by Wordsworth's tomb.

6When Byron's eyes were shut in death,

7We bow'd our head and held our breath.

8He taught us little; but our soul

9Had felt him like the thunder's roll.

10With shivering heart the strife we saw

11Of passion with eternal law;

12And yet with reverential awe

13We watch'd the fount of fiery life

14Which served for that Titanic strife.

15     When Goethe's death was told, we said:

16Sunk, then, is Europe's sagest head.

17Physician of the iron age,

18Goethe has done his pilgrimage.

19He took the suffering human race,

20He read each wound, each weakness clear;

21And struck his finger on the place,

22And said: Thou ailest here, and here!

23He look'd on Europe's dying hour

24Of fitful dream and feverish power;

25His eye plunged down the weltering strife,

26The turmoil of expiring life--

27He said: The end is everywhere,

28Art still has truth, take refuge there!

29And he was happy, if to know

30Causes of things, and far below

31His feet to see the lurid flow

32Of terror, and insane distress,

33And headlong fate, be happiness.

34And Wordsworth!--Ah, pale ghosts, rejoice!

35For never has such soothing voice

36Been to your shadowy world convey'd,

37Since erst, at morn, some wandering shade

38Heard the clear song of Orpheus come

39Through Hades, and the mournful gloom.

40Wordsworth has gone from us--and ye,

41Ah, may ye feel his voice as we!

42He too upon a wintry clime

43Had fallen--on this iron time

44Of doubts, disputes, distractions, fears.

45He found us when the age had bound

46Our souls in its benumbing round;

47He spoke, and loosed our heart in tears.

48He laid us as we lay at birth

49On the cool flowery lap of earth,

50Smiles broke from us and we had ease;

51The hills were round us, and the breeze

52Went o'er the sun-lit fields again;

53Our foreheads felt the wind and rain.

54Our youth return'd; for there was shed

55On spirits that had long been dead,

56Spirits dried up and closely furl'd,

57The freshness of the early world.

58Ah! since dark days still bring to light

59Man's prudence and man's fiery might,

60Time may restore us in his course

61Goethe's sage mind and Byron's force;

62But where will Europe's latter hour

63Again find Wordsworth's healing power?

64Others will teach us how to dare,

65And against fear our breast to steel;

66Others will strengthen us to bear--

67But who, ah! who, will make us feel?

68The cloud of mortal destiny,

69Others will front it fearlessly--

70But who, like him, will put it by?

71Keep fresh the grass upon his grave,

72O Rotha, with thy living wave!

73Sing him thy best! for few or none

74Hears thy voice right, now he is gone.

Notes

1]First published in Fraser's Magazine, June 1850. For the ideas expressed in the poem compare the essays on Wordsworth and on Byron in Essays in Criticism.
Goethe: died in 1832, and was buried in Weimar, Germany. Back to Line

2]Byron: succumbed to fever in 1824 while assisting the Greek nationalists against the Ottoman overlords, and was buried in the family church near Newstead. Back to Line

Publication Start Year

 

1850

Tom Tour of SLAM 2-22-26

Tom Shaughnessy agreed to an impromptu tour of my museum The Saint Louis Art Museum. (That's Tom with his faithful dog Finnegan in photo above.) I was more than happy to oblige him with the usual caveat that my museum sometimes moves my stuff around.  The recent Anselm Kiefer display continues to dominate sculpture hall. Great stuff - yes...but clearly the museum had to accommodate the volume and scope of the Kiefer work. The museum calendar and hours may or may not include carnival like family activities or random groups but not on this Sunday. The relatively slow traffic could be due to the brisk wind chill below freezing keeping crowds  at bay.   

My tour had to include this Mark Rothko work. I explained that I was fortunate enough to see a production of the play RED that added to my appreciation of the personality of Mark Rothko who tragically took his own life. An art critique review of Rothko's life I read indicated that Rothko's suicide took place when he took a handful of barbitutes before cutting his vein at the elbow, He was found (apparently) in a pool of his own blood as large as one of his paintings.

I prepared a sort of syllabus/checklist of works I hoped to share with Tom. My personal favorites often include a tid-bit of something I've learned about the artist, Faith Ringgold's quilts contain copy (which have been published), Born in 1929, she is part of the Harlem Renaissance.

Thomas Hart Benton is a regional artist I came to appreciate after I lived in Joplin, MO for a time (near Neosho where Thomas Hart Benton was born). The painting shown below was done prior to Benton's mural in Jefferson City. 

Norman Rockwell allowed me to share my personal experience growing up. My father owned and operated a commercial art studio (Morgan Studio art/advertising /photography in Cleveland, Ohio). He aspired to be an illustrator like Rockwell as he was entering the business world. He managed to be very successful in selling commercial art services.

Edgar Degas' Dancer of 14 stands proudly in a gallery space adjacent to Degas painting of Milliners. I didn't get a chance to mention that Degas has a relative in New Orleans. I hope to visit his painting of the Cotton Exchange Degas painted while living it the town where my brother lives.

Andy Goldworthy's site specific Stone Sea is made of 300 tons of Missouri limestone quarried in the Show Me State. I also shared that I was able to view Goldworthy's wall at Storm King in New York. Storm King is a 500 acre Sculpture Park I was fortunate enough to visit with my son, hia wife and their remarkable boy James (when James was about 7 or 8 years old). 

 

Aristide Maillol's the Mountain in the sculpture garden is a favorite but the brink chill in the air caused me to delay going outside to ponder Maillol's muse Dina Vierny. But, Tom is already hatching a plan to visit the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City sometime in the next couple of months. (His daughter Grace is an event planner there. How great is that?)

No trip to SLAM is complete without admiring Claude Monet's Water Lillies. This piece is actually part of a triptich that was a work in progress in his Giverny studio when the artist died in 1926. (The three segments now live at Nelson Atkins Museum in KC, The Saint Louis Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art). 

The museum has the largest collection of Max Beckmann paintings including this spectacular large painting of the Titanic from 1912-13. The painting serves as an interesting contrast to paintings created after the German expressionist was labeled a degenerate in Nazi Germany.

 

  

Magic

This panel lead by moderator Briana on Thursday February 19, 2026 brought together marketers redefining how brands connect with audiences by moving fast, testing often, and focusing on how consumers feel at every interaction. Panelists including Lisa Grimm and Sam Craig discussed the value of short-form content as a playground for new ideas, from trying different messaging angles to exploring new channels and audiences. The conversation examined how thoughtful, human-centered user experiences shape brand perception, proving that every touchpoint is an opportunity to build trust and connection.