The Forsaken Merman
by Matthew Arnold
Illustration to "The Forsaken Merman" in Poems by Matthew Arnold, 1900
Full text
The Forsaken Merman at Wikisource

"The Forsaken Merman" is a rhymed lyric poem written in irregular metre by Matthew Arnold, begun whilst he was studying at Oxford on a scholarship in the early 1840s, and which appeared in the poet's first published collection, The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems, in 1849.[1]

Synopsis

Illustration of the opening lines by Minnie Dibdin Spooner, 1906

The basic premise recurs in Danish, Norwegian, German, and Slavonic folklore.[1] The Merman, a King of the Sea, marries an earthly maiden, and lives with her happily, for many years, but at last she leaves him for a visit to her friends, promising, however, to return.[2] Time passes, but she comes not back.[2] Scruples of conscience have arisen, and she chooses, as she thinks, between her soul and her family.[2] The story is told by the old Sea King, in what the reviewer Charles J. Peterson called "a wild, irregular melody", to his children.[2]

Reception

Many critics initially found most of the poems in The Strayed Reveller to be obscure and aloof, but "The Forsaken Merman" was highly praised by fellow-poet Algernon Charles Swinburne for its lyric beauty.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Story Museum.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Peterson May 1854, p. 331.

Sources

Further reading

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