Cadmus and Harmonia

Matthew Arnold 1822 (Laleham) – 1888 (Liverpool)



Far, far from here,
     The Adriatic breaks in a warm bay
     Among the green Illyrian hills; and there
     The sunshine in the happy glens is fair,
     And by the sea, and in the brakes.
     The grass is cool, the sea-side air
     Buoyant and fresh, the mountain flowers
     More virginal and sweet than ours.

     And there, they say, two bright and aged snakes,
  Who once were Cadmus and Harmonia,
  Bask in the glens or on the warm sea-shore,
  In breathless quiet, after all their ills;
   Nor do they see their country, nor the place
   Where the Sphinx lived among the frowning hills,
   Nor the unhappy palace of their race,
   Nor Thebes, nor the Ismenus, any more.

   There those two live, far in the Illyrian brakes!
   They had stay'd long enough to see,
   In Thebes, the billow of calamity
   Over their own dear children roll'd,
   Curse upon curse, pang upon pang,
   For years, they sitting helpless in their home,
   A grey old man and woman; yet of old
   The Gods had to their marriage come,
   And at the banquet all the Muses sang.

   Therefore they did not end their days
   In sight of blood, but were rapt, far away,
   To where the west-wind plays,
   And murmurs of the Adriatic come
   To those untrodden mountain-lawns; and there
   Placed safely in changed forms, the pair
   Wholly forgot their first sad life, and home,
   And all that Theban woe, and stray
   For ever through the glens, placid and dumb.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 10, 2023

1:14 min read
62

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABBCBDD CXEFGFGE CHHIJKILJ MAMLBBKAL
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,435
Words 246
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 9, 9

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. more…

All Matthew Arnold poems | Matthew Arnold Books

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