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Separation

By Matthew Arnold

Topics: classic

Stop Not to me, at this bitter departing,     Speak of the sure consolations of Time.     Fresh be the wound, still-renewd be its smarting,     So but thy image endure in its prime.     But, if the stedfast commandment of Nature     Wills that remembrance should always decay;     If the lovd form and the deep-cherishd feature     Must, when unseen, from the soul fade away     Me let no half-effacd memories cumber!     Fled, fled at once, be all vestige of thee     Deep be the darkness, and still be the slumber     Dead be the Past and its phantoms to me!     Then, when we meet, and thy look strays towards me,     Scanning my face and the changes wrought there,     Who, let me say, is this Stranger regards me,     With the grey eyes, and the lovely brown hair?

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"Stop Not to me, at this bitter departing,..."

"Separation" is a quintessential example of Matthew Arnold's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:Matthew Arnold

"Stop Not to me, at this bitter departing,..." by Matthew Arnold

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Matthew Arnold

About Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) was an English poet and critic whose poems "Dover Beach" and "The Scholar Gipsy" explore Victorian doubt and the search for meaning. His critical work "Culture and Anarchy" (1869) remains influential in literary and cultural studies.

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"Down the Savoy valleys sounding,     Echoing round..."

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