Matthew
Matthew - context Summary
Published in Lyrical Ballads
Published in the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads, "Matthew" commemorates a local rustic figure who embodied Wordsworth's ideal of simple, affable rural life. The poem asks readers to recognize and mourn the modest humanity of Matthew, contrasting his youthful mirth with later stillness and spiritual depth. It reflects Wordsworth's interest in ordinary people and the moral seriousness he finds in everyday rural experience.
Read Complete AnalysesIF Nature, for a favourite child, In thee hath tempered so her clay, That every hour thy heart runs wild, Yet never once doth go astray, Read o'er these lines; and then review This tablet, that thus humbly rears In such diversity of hue Its history of two hundred years. --When through this little wreck of fame, Cipher and syllable! thine eye Has travelled down to Matthew's name, Pause with no common sympathy. And, if a sleeping tear should wake, Then be it neither checked nor stayed: For Matthew a request I make Which for himself he had not made. Poor Matthew, all his frolics o'er, Is silent as a standing pool; Far from the chimney's merry roar, And murmur of the village school. The sighs which Matthew heaved were sighs Of one tired out with fun and madness; The tears which came to Matthew's eyes Were tears of light, the dew of gladness. Yet, sometimes, when the secret cup Of still and serious thought went round, It seemed as if he drank it up-- He felt with spirit so profound. --Thou soul of God's best earthly mould! Thou happy Soul! and can it be That these two words of glittering gold Are all that must remain of thee?
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