Summary & analysis
The poem "Shakespeare" is written by the famous English poet Matthew Arnold. This poem is in the form of sonnet. Sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines. This poem is a tribute to the great poet Shakespeare. According to Matthew Arnold Shakespeare is not only a human being born in this world but also a spiritual soul in his thought. He was a great personality in the world of English literature. He occupies a special place among the English poets. He was a supreme soul among the English dramatists.
The poet appreciates Shakespeare and his artistic skills in the poem. He says that an ordinary person can not understand Shakespeare because his literary skills are too mysterious to understand for ordinary people. His knowledge is very deep and subtle.
The poet further says that the skills of other poets can be understood by critics. But the dramatic skills of Shakespeare are not easy to understand by ordinary critics and philosophers. His poetic genius is mysterious in the world of English literature. We may ask him questions but he only smiles and gives answer through his poetic works. He is far from our knowledge. he is out of our reach because his knowledge is very deep like bottom of the sea and very high like the top of a mountain.
On both sides we can not reach near him. Here poet wants to explain that his knowledge is so deep like the bottom of a sea where we can not reach and very high in his thought that we can not understand him. It seems to the poet as he is talking to the high stars in the sky. But his roots are in the sea. Here the poet explains that the meaning of Shakespeare's literary works is very deep and mysterious to understand.
The poet further says that the skills of other poets can be understood by critics. But the dramatic skills of Shakespeare are not easy to understand by ordinary critics and philosophers. His poetic genius is mysterious in the world of English literature. We may ask him questions but he only smiles and gives answer through his poetic works. He is far from our knowledge. he is out of our reach because his knowledge is very deep like bottom of the sea and very high like the top of a mountain.
On both sides we can not reach near him. Here poet wants to explain that his knowledge is so deep like the bottom of a sea where we can not reach and very high in his thought that we can not understand him. It seems to the poet as he is talking to the high stars in the sky. But his roots are in the sea. Here the poet explains that the meaning of Shakespeare's literary works is very deep and mysterious to understand.
His literary skills are very deep and very high in thought. It is not easy for ordinary people to understand his artistic skills. Even most of the critics and philosophers are unable to understand his mysterious artistic skills because his personality is very mysterious. We can not hold his thinking because it is very high like the top of a mountain. That is out of our reach. On the other hand, we can not understand his mysterious artistic quality as it is very deep like the bottom of the sea. Neither we can reach at the bottom of the sea nor at the top of the mountain. According to Arnold he is the highest tower of knowledge.
In the second part of the sonnet, the poet appreciates Shakespeare as a great dramatist in the world of literature. He is very divine and spiritual in his personality. He has expressed his genius in his dramatic works. He was a very talented poet and dramatist. He was a spiritual human being who knew the stars and rays of Sun in his high imagination. No doubt he was a self made scholar who worked hard for getting more knowledge. He did not care for appreciation whether people admires him or not.
He was a self satisfied personality. He did not have any desire for honor from other people. He feels self honored and confident in himself. He does not need any praise from other people of world. He was a self satisfied person of high thinking. He had a great poetic genius in his work. His tragedies are full of dramatic skills. They are so lively that we forget our sorrows while reading his tragedies. We feel relaxed when we read his plays.
He was a self satisfied personality. He did not have any desire for honor from other people. He feels self honored and confident in himself. He does not need any praise from other people of world. He was a self satisfied person of high thinking. He had a great poetic genius in his work. His tragedies are full of dramatic skills. They are so lively that we forget our sorrows while reading his tragedies. We feel relaxed when we read his plays.
Arnold says that Shakespeare was a god gifted artist. He was a genius in his literary works. The poet says that he was a man on the earth but still he was immortal in his spiritual art. He is a man of unique taste in his skills. He was a great poet of England. It is very sad that when Shakespeare was alive no poet admired his genius and talent. Although he has gone from this world yet he is alive in his literary works. His art of literature burns a light of revolution in the field of English literature. He is immortal in the world of English literature. Thus Arnold pays a tribute to the great poet, dramatist and artist of England.
