Thyrsis
by Mathew Arnold
1. What type of poem is "Thyrsis"? [NU 2016]
Ans: “Thyrsis” is a pastoral elegy.
2. What is pastoral elegy?
Ans: A pastoral elegy is a kind of elegy where both the mourner and the person mourned are shepherds, and the setting is pastoral.
3. What is the central idea of the poem "Thyrsis"?
Ans: The central idea of the poem “Thyrsis” is the contrast between the transience of man made things and the permanence of natural objects.
4. Who is Thyrsis? [NU 2012]
Ans: Thyrsis is the title character of a poem written by Matthew Arnold in 1865. The character is representative of Arnold's friend Arthur Hugh Clough.
5. Whom does Thyrsis stand for in Arnold’s poem?
Ans: In Arnold’s poem, Thyrsis stands for Arnold's friend Arthur Hugh Clough.
6. Who is Arthur Clough?
Ans: Arthur Clough is an English poet, an educationalist, and the devoted assistant to Florence Nightingale.
7. Who is Clough compared to in “Thyrsis”?
Ans: Clough is compared to the cuckoo in “Thyrsis”.
8. What is shepherd's holiday in “Thyrsis”?
Ans: In “Thyrsis”, “shepherd's holiday” means Matthew Arnold’s unproductive period from 1857 to 1866.
9. Who does Corydon stand for in Arnold’s “Thyrsis”? [NU 2015]
Ans: In Arnold's “Thyrsis” Corydon stands for Arnold himself.
10. Who was Bion?
Ans: Bion was a minor Greek bucolic poet who was born at Phlossa near Smyrna, and flourished in Sicily.
11. Who was Orpheus?
Ans: Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth.
12. Who was Proserpine?
Ans: Proserpine was the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. She was abducted by Pluto and became the queen of the underworld.
13. What is Enna?
Ans: Enna is a city and commune located roughly at the center of Sicily, Italy.
14. "My Pipe is lost"-what is meant by pipe? [NU 2015]
Ans: “Pipe” here means poetic inspiration.
15. What is the Signal-Tree?
Ans: The Signal-Tree is an elm tree in Oxford shire. The tree is symbolic of the Oxford spirit and recurs again and again in the poems of Arnold.
16. What is a Monody? [NU 2017]
Ans: Monody is a poem in which a single person laments another's death.
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