Are ye too changed, ye hills? See, 'tis no foot of unfamiliar men> Tonight from Oxford up your pathway strays! Here came I often, often, in old days; Thyrsis and I; we still had Thyrsis then.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker addresses familiar hills, noting that the path is still used by Oxford students, just as it was with a friend named Thyrsis.
- In plain terms
- These hills are the same as before, and people still walk here as I did with my friend.
- What can you take from it?
- Physical places remain constant even as people and times change.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Do places hold memories better than people?
- How do you react when familiar places remain?
Another view
The quote assumes the landscape itself does not change, which may not be entirely true over time.
More from Matthew Arnold
The great apostle of the Philistines, Lord Macaulay.
Permalink to quote #86 And that sweet city with her dreaming spires, She needs not June for beauty's heightening.
Permalink to quote #88 On the breast of that huge Mississippi of falsehood called History, a foam-bell more or less is no consequence.
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