Ashley MS A17

'Empedocles on Etna' and 'Dover Beach': poems by Matthew Arnold; [1849-1850?]. Autograph notes for 'Empedocles on Etna', written on both sides of one quarto leaf of cream wove paper, and on one side only of a second. No watermark. The notes, which are printed with the exception of the first eight and a half lines, and not wholly accurately, in C. B. Tinker and H. F. Lowry, The Poetry of Matthew Arnold, 1940, pp. 289-290, are chiefly derived from Simon Karsten, Philosophorum Graecorum Veterum . . . Operum Reliquiae, ii, 1838, pp. 3-78. Immediately following the end of the notes on f. 2 is an autograph draft in pencil of lines 1-28 of 'Dover Beach'. Following line 28 are the words 'Ah love & c', suggesting that lines 29-37 had already been drafted elsewhere. Lines 21-28 are written sideways in the right hand margin indicating that the 'Dover Beach' draft was fitted onto the page after the 'Empedocles' notes. The draft has, however, been cancelled in the same ink as that used for the notes. This suggests that the two texts must have been written very much at the same time. The variants found in the draft are recorded in Kenneth Allott, The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1965, though the variant shown for line 17 does not in fact exist. At the head of f. 1 Arnold has added, also in pencil, the sentence: 'Man has an impulse for happiness: he sees something of it, hears traditions of much of it: he thinks therefore he ought to have it: what is true is, he may have it if he can.' This clearly relates to lines 157-161 of 'Empedocles'. 'Empedocles' was first published in Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems, 1852; 'Dover Beach' in New Poems, 1867. Ashley Library Catalogue, i, pp. 9-10.

includes:

• ff. 1-2 Matthew Arnold, poet and critic: Poetry ENGLISH: Notes for poem, 'Empedocles on Etna', by Matthew Arnold: [1849-1850?]: Autogr.
• f. 2 Matthew Arnold, poet and critic: Poetry ENGLISH: Poem, 'Dover Beach' ll. 1-28, by Matthew Arnold: [1849-1850?]: Autogr. draft.