TO MARGUERITE

SUMMARY
This poem was written by the great Victorian poet Matthew Arnold. 'To Marguerite' may refer to an
unfulfilled love relationship which the poet once had. This poem is written in iambic tetrameter. The
underlying idea of “To Marguerite—Continued” is simple: Every human being lives his or her life in
isolation like separate islands. The first stanza introduces the poem’s basic metaphor: Life is a boundless
sea; people are all separate islands in it. Humans are conscious of their predicament—“feeling” and
“knowing” that something separates them from other persons. And yet these islands are drawn to one
another, through the lovely sounds of birds singing, sounds which drift between the islands. The speaker
expresses his desire for connection, which modern society lacks. He suggests that we must have once
been together - all the "islands" must have once been one "continent." He desperately wishes that the
water between the islands would recede so that the landforms might meet again.

In the final stanza, he asks what power could possibly keep lovers apart like this, and "render vain their
deep desire." The answer, he states, is God — the God of the modern world does not provide the same
hope and connection that He once did, since much of faith is tainted by science. It is likely that this poem
was Arnold's response to the famous line from John Donne's "No man is an island, but a piece of the
continent." The undercurrent of the poem is a scepticism in scientific discovery. We have traded faith
for separation. In stanza 2, Arnold uses metaphors of nightingales, starry nights, and "lovely notes" to
illustrate the connection between people. Overall, the poem espouses an extremely pessimistic
worldview, one that acknowledges the potential for human connection, but then expresses frustration that
the fire of love will be cooled.

As for images, visual images are dominant wherein we can see people isolated like separate islands and
we also can see the lights of the moon. Also, auditory images are found in the singing of the nightingale.
All of these images provide a live, vivid photo of the beautiful life and nature that humans are missing as a
result of their isolation.

THEME & MEANINGS

Even though “To Marguerite—Continued” is a lyric poem rooted in its own age, it shows strong influences
of the Latin literature that Arnold knew from his studies. The most important verbal parallels are from an
ode by Horace; Arnold’s word “estranging” probably came from a translation of an ode made by a famous
Latin master he knew. The ocean for Horace only divided him from a friend for a time, whereas the
estrangement of Arnold’s ocean is a permanent feature of life. Similarly, Arnold’s isolation is not that of
Ortis, a rather Byronic and romantic outlaw figure whose letters are mentioned in the poem’s first title.

Some critics have thought the poem reflects Arnold’s lifelong criticism of English culture for being isolated
from enlightened European thought, but even though this idea is strongly present in “Dover Beach”
(1867), Arnold’s other major poem about isolation, it is no more than a suggestion here.

The poem is not about simple estrangement, but rather a range of estrangements. Certainly, the poem
emphasizes the impossibility of love, including sexual love. Arnold regarded it as one of his “Switzerland”
poems, which tell a story of explicitly sexual love that seems to be thwarted by Arnold’s hesitations and
inhibitions. The bits of communication that are able to occur in stanza 2 consist of nightingales’ songs on
a conventionally romantic spring night.
Readers probably respond to this poem for its extravagance. It speaks of longings that come from the
heart’s deepest recesses; it unites sexual yearnings with all hopes for intimate knowledge of other people.
The word “divinely” may suggest religious yearnings as well. In all cases, the source of unhappiness is
located in the sea, not the islands: If it were not for a power outside the individual, that individual might be
free.
Arnold’s central metaphor should be contrasted with the famous passage from John Donne’s Devotions
upon Emergent Occasions (1624): “No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the
Continent, a part of the maine.” Against a background of Anglican ritual, Donne says that all men and
women are joined in the human condition and stresses the illusion of self-sufficiency.

Two hundred years later, Arnold was a voice of a new generation. The Church of England had been
weakened by dissent and by doubt (in “Dover Beach” the “Sea of Faith” is ebbing). Moreover, such forces
as the industrialization of central England and the speed of the passenger train had begun to tear apart
the social fabric of the old order. People were becoming more isolated; many Victorian sages noted that
fact. Arnold’s poem not only is a poem about immature love and human isolation but also is a response to
the beginnings of a recognizably modern world. This poem is one of the nineteenth century’s most
eloquent evocations of this theme.

ANALYSIS
“To Marguerite—Continued” was first published in 1852 under the title “To Marguerite, in Returning a
Volume of the Letters of Ortis.” In 1853, Arnold gave this poem the simple title “To Marguerite” and
included it in a group of poems with the general title of “Switzerland.” In 1857, he titled this poem
“Isolation,” but in 1869 he gave that title to another “Switzerland” poem and assigned to this poem its final
title.
Even though neither Marguerite nor Switzerland are mentioned in the poem, Arnold’s shufflings of texts
and titles makes clear that “To Marguerite—Continued” belongs to his “Switzerland” group. Arnold visited
Switzerland in 1848 and 1849. These poems, written mainly between 1847 and 1850, tell a love story of
meetings and partings. There have been many theories of who Marguerite was; even though some have
doubted her existence, these poems probably had their beginnings in a real—and unfulfilled—love
relationship. Other “Switzerland” poems hint that Arnold found his desires thwarted by his inner moral
voice, or by differences in the lovers’ cultural pasts (Marguerite may have been French), or by her sexual
experience, or by Marguerite’s fickleness. At the end of the poem that eventually was placed before “To
Marguerite—Continued,” Arnold abstracts from his experience: Unlike other men who dream that two
hearts could become as one, Arnold knows that he is truly alone. As a whole, these poems are both
poignant and somewhat juvenile in their tone.

“To Marguerite—Continued” begins with the word “Yes!,” as if affirming what has just been said, either by
the book being returned or by the preceding poem. The underlying idea of “To Marguerite—Continued” is
simple: Every human being lives his or her life in isolation. The first stanza introduces the poem’s basic
metaphor: Life is a boundless sea; people are all separate islands in it. Humans are conscious of their
predicament—“feeling” and “knowing” that something separates them from other persons.
The second stanza takes off from an earlier hint (the straits are “echoing”) to describe an element that
seems to make the human state more bearable: At certain times each island is filled with beautiful music.
What is more, other islands are close enough that the various melodies cross the sea and are heard on
these other islands. In short, some communication between the essentially isolated people is possible.
However, this realization leads not to joy but to despair. Stanza 3 describes how the partial
communication of stanza 2 leads each human being to yearn for total communication. Stanza 4 asks a
general question: What power has caused this situation to exist? Arnold answers, “A God.”
CRITICAL APPRECIATION
Psychological isolation is a theme that runs as a vein throughout Matthew Arnold’s poetry which has won
much critical acclaim. Poems like “Dover Beach” and “To Marguerite” reverse the argument made by John
Donne, the metaphysical poet, that “No man is an island”, by emphasizing that mortals have indeed
become permanently “enisled”.
A metaphor is set up in the first stanza comparing humans to islands surrounded by life and the world
around them, the sea. A vein of pessimism runs through this poem, “To Marguerite”, with Arnold declaring
that man has been enisled with wide swathes of water separating him from fellow humans. It seems like
that is the way things are going to remain. The human race is doomed to isolation.
The dominant metaphor "the sea of life" is carried over to second stanza where Arnold sets up the
meeting across the seas between the isolated isles of himself and Marguerite. He provides for their
meeting within the metaphor of isolated islands by a "But when" device that allows for the moon's light,
sweeping winds, starry nights and the pouring note of nightingales' songs.

Stanza three exults the chance encounter of these floating, wind swept, song enchanted isles whose
margins ("marges"), or boundaries, meet under magical nights. He proclaims the islands to have been
united at some distant time: "For surely once, they feel, we were / Parts of a single continent!" Yet, in the
same poetic breath, he separates them yet longs for another encounter:
Now round us spreads the watery plain--
Oh might our marges meet again!

Stanza four introduces the question of "Who" ordered the islands be separated and answers that it was
Divine Providence that decreed it be so: "A God, a God their severance ruled!" The stanza ends with a
return to the "sea of life" metaphor saying the sea is once again between the shores of the islands,
himself and Marguerite.
(And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.)

The line "We mortal millions live alone" is one of Arnold's most famous. It is so effective for a number of
reasons; first, the juxtaposition of "millions" and "alone" is eerie and unsettling; surrounded by so many
people all the time, it is hard for any of us to imagine feeling entirely alone. The word alone is italicized to
stress that fact; in Victorian England, human isolation was extremely prominent, and being alone was a
realistic fear. The terminal punctuation at the end of this line also adds to its potency. There are very few
lines that end terminally in this poem; most are halted by commas, which is a subtle form of enjambment
(when a sentence continues from one line to another). The period at the end of this sentence allows it to
resonate with a reader all the more strongly, since the next line is a whole new idea rather than a
continuation of this one. The overall effect is one of unease, which naturally aligns with the sadness and
anger at the poem's center.

This poem highlights in particular the isolation brought on by romantic feelings. In stanza 2, Arnold uses
metaphors of nightingales, starry nights, and "lovely notes" to illustrate the connection between people.
Naturally, these are romantic images. However, he then negates the potential to connect with these
sounds in the subsequent two stanzas, suggesting the impossibility of such intimate connection. Yet
again, the awareness of love is worse than ignorance of it, since the former eventually leads to "despair."
Overall, the poem espouses an extremely pessimistic worldview, one that acknowledges the potential for
human connection, but then expresses frustration that "longing's fire/Should be, as soon as kindled,
cool'd." This poem is typical of much of Arnold’s poetry with its pessimistic tone and emphasis on
alienation, isolation and longing for bonding that does not happen.
SWIFTT:
Syntax/Word Choice: Interestingly, "To Marguerite" begins with the word "yes," which is unusual in
poetry and indicates that the poem is in response to or a continuation of a previous poem. "To Marguerite"
is composed of four stanzas. These stanzas vary in the number of sentences present, but they all have a
similar structure with complex sentences. It is also notable that there are four exclamations in this poem.
The words chosen provoke images in the mind of the reader and were chosen specifically to achieve
rhyme and alliteration in the poem.
Imagery: By including numerous adjectives, "To Marguerite" contains a great amount of imagery. For
example, "Yes: in the sea of life enisled, / With echoing straits between us" encourages the reader to
formulate an image in his or her mind (1-2).
Figurative Language: Alliteration is the most prominent form of figurative language present in this poem.
Alliteration is first evident in line 3 with the phrase "watery wild." "To Marguerite" is also filled with several
adjectives that supplement the meaning of the poem. Examples include "enclasping flow," "endless
bounds," and "estranging sea" (5, 6, 24). Also, the poem contains a simile in line 13 -- "a longing like
despair" -- and in lines 19-20 metaphorically compare desire to a flame.
Tone: The tone of "To Marguerite" is sorrowful, yet bitter, as displayed by "O then a longing like despair /
Is to their farthest caverns sent!" (13-14).
Theme: Sometimes people--lovers, in this case--become isolated, whether by accident or by some
external force.

Conclusion: After analyzing the poem, I uncovered the symbolism in "To Marguerite" and have
formulated a deeper understanding of its meaning, as well as Arnold's purpose for writing the poem.
Arnold has written this poem for a lover, Marguerite, from whom he has become distanced. This poem
expresses his feelings of isolation and despair and questions the reason why they have become
separated. The last few lines indicate his search for someone or something to blame for his loss of
Marguerite--perhaps it was society, God, or even fate.

Who is Marguerite?
Blooms says very little is known about the figure Marguerite, other than she is obviously the focal point of
many of Arnold's poems and they met while in Switzerland. According to the Context of English Literature:
The Victorians by Laurence Lerner, their romance was an unhappy one and Arnold is probably suffering
from the loss of Marguerite.

______________________________________________
We have all heard of or read the Lucy poems by William Wordsworth. Lucy is a mysterious figure
somewhat idealized. Marguerite is a similar person in Amold's life-an inspiration for some of his finest
love-lyrics. As we know, Arnold is primarily an elegiac poet in whose works the melancholy and
pessimism of the age finds expression.

Marguerite is a young girl who he met in Switzerland and who inspired him to write at least 21 poems. In
'Isolation: To Marguerite' (1853), he dwells upon the theme of loneliness upon his separation from
Marguerite whom he does not describe. In 1857 a different poem 'To Marguerite' was written and the
earlier one then came to be known simply as 'Isolation'. It is the second poem that we shall study. Here
again the basic theme is the same: loneliness. But this loneliness is not personal: it is the general human
condition. It is this feeling of alienation that links Amold to the existentialists of the twentieth century. In
both these poems, the poet reflects upon the Isolation of the lovers and his own separation from
Marguerite.
DISCUSSION

Arnold, as we know, was aware of the difficulties of the loss of faith and the complete isolation of the
individual. This poem is not about any personal crisis as the title suggests but this personal loss inspired
by separation from Marguerite has triggered off a more general feeling of the prevailing alienation
besieging humankind with its attendant isolation and separation of one individual from another. This kind
of feeling is well-known to people living in large metropolises like Bombay, Delhi or Calcutta where most
people are aware of the complete breakdown of community that one can still find in the villages and small
towns even today.

Let us first paraphrase the poem: Amold begins with an emphatic 'Yes!'. It is a revelation that has dawned
upon him, as insight that he is convinced is true. He says that all of us are like islands interspersed in the
sea of life. Between us the waters roar keeping us separate and apart so that each of us, the millions who
constitute humanity, is alone. Note that Arnold has emphasized 'alone' by italicizing it. The islands are
aware of the surrounding flow of the waters and they know that these flowing waves will continue to
separate them from other islands and that these gulfs are insurmountable. In short each person is
doomed to a lonely. existence. Quite a different sentiment from John Donne's.poem which says "No man
is an island, Entire unto himself.....

This stanza suggests a mood of enchantment as experienced in romantic love. This feeling of complete
isolation is somewhat alleviated when the moon lights up the other islands and soft spring breezes blow
across them and when the heavenly song of the nightingale is carried across the separating gulfs to other
islands. (The idea is carried over into the next stanza.) At that time a deep desire rises from the depths of
the hearts of the lonely. individuals, a desire that can only end in despair as it cannot be fulfilled. "Caverns
here refer to the innermost depths of the individual. The island metaphor continues throughout the poem.
The longing and desire is nostalgia for the lost unity and fellow-feeling that once existed between human
beings. The islands were once part of a continent and not dispersed and isolated as now. Each island is
now divided by the sea and each desires that their boundaries would once again stand united.

In the last stanza, Arnold wants to know who is responsible for this state of affairs. Once the fire of
longing and desire has been kindled in the human heart, who is responsible for seeing to it that it soon
dies down? Who is it that frustrates their deep desires? The answer is that it is God who has decreed that
human beings remain separated from each other. In order to do this He ordered the deep dividing sea to
continue to flow between their shores. In other words, God has created the divisions that separate one
human being from other by mysterious insurmountable differences. Don't you think these lines are
particularly relevant to our society and the various problems of caste and communal hatred dividing one
person from another?

What is the human predicament that the poem concerns itself with?

The problem of the isolation and alienation of the individual is not just personal; it is universal. There is a
sense of spiritual decline and collapse that goes with this sense of loss. Nature symbolizes the reconciling
and healing touch which is felt in the moon, the gentle breezes and the nightingale's song. This arouses a
longing for the past and for love and unity with other human beings.

Does Arnold suggest a remedy for this predicament?

The last stanza clearly indicates that there is no remedy for the predicament that he defines. It is 'God'
who 'ordered' this human condition-He made it part of the order of things. The tragic separation and
isolation of life belongs to the very condition of creation when God 'bade' the waters to cover the earth.

What is the rhyme scheme of this poem? ab ab cc, de de ff.... The image of the sea and the islands
dotting the sea are effectively invoked in the first stanza. Apart from visual images. There are tactile
images 'balms of spring 'and auditory images 'nightingales divinely sing'. The island is the metaphor for
the isolation and separation of the individual. The sea is a symbol of melancholy and despair. Just as the
English Channel flows between and separates Arnoid from Marguerite similarly it is a symbol of the
inseparable gulfs that exist between one human being and another. (The poem then suggests an
impossibility of human communion.) The image of the sea is also potent in 'Dover Beach', a poem, we
shall read in the next section.
_________________________________________________
a) Context:

To Marguerite: Continued was first published in the collection Empedocles on Etna (1852), with the title,
To Marguerite, in Returning a Volume of the Letters of Ortis. The 'Letters of Ortis' refes to a late
eighteenth century epistolary novel written in Italian called The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis by Ugo
Foscolo. The novel deals with love in times of social unrest: Jacopo Ortis, the titular charater, is forced to
retreat to a village for having been a patriot. He and a girl called Teresa fall in love with each other only to
realize that their love could not reach fruition in marriage as she was engaged to someone else.
Desparing and disillusioned, Ortis travels around and engages in philodsophical mediations before
committing suicide. The theme of the impossibility of finding happiness in love is shared by the present
poem and also by the poem Isolation: To Marguerite to which To Marguerite. Continued was added as a
sequel in the 1857 edition of Empedocles on Etna.

The identity of Marguerite' has not been clearly established, although Park Honan, a biographer of Arnold,
brings forth the idea that a girl called Mary Claude, with whom Arnold probably fell in love while in his
mid-twenties, had inspired these poems as well as his Switzerland poems (to which To Marguerite:
Continued had been added by Amold in 1853).

b) Summary:

The poem opens with a "yes", affirming emphatically something that immediately preceded the poetic
utterance. The poem then goes on to state that each of us live alone like islands dotting a sea. The
stanza closes with the observation that each such 'island' is made aware of the boundaries of his or her
being by the currents of water that flow around it, grasping it as it were.

The second stanza and the third share a sort of causal connection: the second opens with "But when"
and the third continues the idea left unfinished with "Oh! then". What these two stanzas try to say together
is that when moonlight bathes the valleys of these islands, when the balmy and soothing breezes of
spring blow upon them and the nightingales, on clear nights when the sky is full of stars, sing with divine
beauty in their (the islands') valleys, and the sounds can be heard across the sea and the straits, then a
longing that feels like a despair is felt to the core of their beings by these islands and they begin to feel
they were once united with one another as parts of the same landmass. The islands (and the poet here
refers to them as "we") at this point wish to be reunited to one another.
The last stanza opens with a query: who was it that decreed that this longing for reuniting with one
another would be suppressed as soon as it was felt, and who was it who thus made their (the islands')
desire to unite useless? The poem closes with an answer to this query: it was a God who had
orchestrated the separation of the islands from each other and it was he who had ordered the vast,
alienating sea to lie in between.

c) Analysis:
The poem opens with an affirmation of something that had passed just before: it could have been an
acknowledgement of the idea expressed in the novel The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis, a volume of which,
as the initial title of the poem suggested had been returned to 'Marguerite' along with the poem. The "yes"
could also have been used to re-emphasize the idea expressed in Isolation: To Marguerite and to use this
second poem as a further elucidation of that idea and this time, in a universal context. In either case, the
"yes" affirms the impossibility of finding fruition and happiness in love.

The poet then goes on to metaphorically describe the human condition as he viewed it: each individual
was trapped within their own life and their own selfish being thus making life itself (symbolized by the sea)
a separating and alienating factor. The resultant feeling of loneliness has been brilliantly described by the
line. "We mortal millions live alone". The stanza closes with two other expressions, equally powerful:
"enclasping flow" and "endless bounds". The former expression refers to the inescapability of the people
trapped within the islands of their own selfish minds obsessed with materialistic concerns. They have
been caught in the overwhelming grasp of the quality of life that they had chosen: a gross, materialistic.
self-obsessed life that had done away with religion and with faith too, and had thus plunged them into
doubt and despair. The next expression is seemingly paradoxical; however a closer look reveals the
implication: the boundary of selfishness and mistrust that each individual had restricted the spontaneous
feelings of the heart with offered no respite at all to them and was limitlessly oppressive.

The description of vernal nature in its moonlit and melodious beauty hints at the awakening of the desire
of love in the mind. This feeling, however, comes coupled with hopeless longing as each "enisled"
individual feels the inability to shake off their solitude and reunite with one another in love thus reforming
the community they instinctively feel had once existed in the past, and of which they are constantly
reminded by the partial connection that is created when music from one island echoes in another as well
(that is, the individuals are aware of each others' presence and attractiveness, but still cannot unite in
mutual love). The line "Now round us spreads the watery plain" evokes a feeling of deep pathos, and
makes the fervent wish of the next line sound as being utterly devoid hope.

The concluding stanza attacks that aspect of the changing Victorian society that troubled Arnold the most:
the loss of faith. He refuses to accept the idea that God could have brought about the alienating attitude
of selfishness and doubt, and suggests, with his use of the expression "a God" that it was no more the
true faith that people followed but a false faith with a false God (representative, in all probability, of
industrialization and the resultant changes in social mores) which was the very travesty of the true faith
based on love and trust. The poem Isolation: To Marguerite is in some ways a bitter expression of
disappointment and resentment. The poet, not having found his feelings for his beloved reciprocated,
visualizes her in utter solitude and isolation. The poem To Marguerite: Continued builds upon that idea
and looks at the thought from the opposite viewpoint: because everybody was mentally isolated from one
another, no love could exist.
The poem is composed in iambic tetrametre with the rhyme scheme of 'ababee' that results in each
stanza concluding with a couplet which seems to emphasize what has been discussed in that stanza. The
rhythm of the poem appears a little stately. however, and perhaps at odds with the poignant lyricism, but
nevertheless, it exerts a sort of control on the emotion that prevents the poem from sounding sentimental.
Endnotes:

1. Nonconformist: the Nanconformists were originally those people who were begun to be termed thus
Act of Uniformity passed in England and Wales in 1662 for they chose not to follow the Church of
England. By the late 19th century, the term included Baptists and Methodists among other groups.

2. Gothic Revival: refers to a revival of Medieval or Gothic architecture in the late eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries that was adopted by other areas of English culture as well.

3. Jingoistic: The term originated from a mild form of the oath by Jesus" ("by Jingo") that was used in the
chorus of a song commonly sung in British pubs and music halls around the time of the Russo-Turkish
War (1877 78). The chorus was as follows:

We don't want to fight but by Jingo if we do

We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too
We've fought the Bear before, and while we're Britons true
The Russians shall not have Constantinople.

The term came to denote an aggressive form of foreign policy, and later came to include in its meaning
aggressive nationalism too.

4. In a rather Keatsian fashion: Although Arnold did not much like Keats lyricism, an influence of Keats
may be traced sometimes in his poetry. In Keats' Nightingale Ode the following lines may be found:

The voice I hear this passing night was heard

In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn.
Summing up:
● In summing up, it could be said that these two love poems of Arnold poignantly reflect the anxiety
and dilemma of the Victorian poetic mind.
● The poems are not those of despair, however.
● While 'Dover Beach' talks of faithful love as being the solution to the problem of loss of faith.
● To Marguerite: Continued hints that the state of alienation was not intrinsic to people who by
nature wish to unite, even after they have grown egocentric enough to get alienated from each
other.