Worldly Place

Matthew Arnold(1822–1888)

1867

Even in a palace, life may be led well!So spake the imperial sage, purest of men,Marcus Aurelius. But the stifling denOf common life, where, crowded up pell-mell,

Our freedom for a little bread we sell,And drudge under some foolish master's kenWho rates us if we peer outside our pen,—Matched with a palace, is not this a hell?

Even in a palace! On his truth sincere,Who spoke these words, no shadow ever came;And when my ill-schooled spirit is aflame

Some nobler, ampler stage of life to win,I'll stop, and say, "There were no succor here!The aids to noble life are all within."

From The Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold, via the English Wikisource transcription.

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