| Matthew Arnold (1822–88). The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867. 1909. | | | | Poems; A New Edition. 1853 | | Stanzas in Memory of the Late Edward Quillinan, Esq. |
| | [First published 1853. Reprinted 1854, ’57.]
I SAW 1 him sensitive in frame, | |
| I knew his spirits low; | |
| And wish’d him health, success, and fame: | |
| I do not wish it now. | |
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| For these are all their own reward, | 5 |
| And leave no good behind; | |
| They try us, oftenest make us hard, | |
| Less modest, pure, and kind. | |
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| Alas! Yet to the suffering man, | |
| In this his mortal state, | 10 |
| Friends could not give what Fortune can— | |
| Health, ease, a heart elate. | |
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| But he is now by Fortune foil’d | |
| No more; and we retain | |
| The memory of a man unspoil’d, | 15 |
| Sweet, generous, and humane; | |
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| With all the fortunate have not— | |
| With gentle voice and brow. | |
| Alive, we would have chang’d his lot: | |
| We would not change it now. | 20 |
| | | Note 1. STANZAS. Edward Quillinan married Wordsworth’s daughter Dora. He died in 1851 (see Haworth Churchyard, ll. 4, 5). [back] | | |
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