Thyrsis: A Monody, to Commemorate the Author's Friend, Arthur Hugh Clough

“Thyrsis” is a poem by 19-century English poet Matthew Arnold, published in 1866. It was written to commemorate another English poet, Arthur Hugh Clough, who had been Arnold’s close friend at Rugby School and Oxford University. Clough died in Florence, Italy, in 1861. As the framework for “Thyrsis,” Arnold employs the classical Greek and Latin pastoral tradition; the poem is thus known as a pastoral elegy. In the poem, the speaker returns to the rural area near Oxford for the first time in many years. There he recalls his friendship with Clough, who is referred to as Thyrsis. (In ancient Greek mythology, Thyrsis was a shepherd.) The poem expresses themes of nostalgia and loss, but the poet also finds hope that the youthful ideals that inspired both him and Clough have not entirely vanished. He can find them in the midst of his hectic city life if he listens to an inner voice that reminds him of his deeper purpose. “Thyrsis” is usually regarded as one of Arnold’s most successful poems, and its theme of how to live an authentic life in the midst of a changing society is one of Arnold’s frequent concerns.

“Thyrsis” contains slang and references stereotypes of Romani peoples appropriate to the period and

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