The Voice

Matthew Arnold

1822 to 1888

Poem Image
Track 1

Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.

Easy Mode - Auto check enabled
Fall on the throbbing brow, fall on the burning breast,
From her tranquil sphere
Shall in vain be sped
O unforgotten voice, thy accents come,
They beat upon mine ear again,—
When the flower they flow for
A wild rose climbing up a mouldering wall;
Like bright waves that fall
Of thought, such contrast strange,
Made my tost heart its very life-blood spill,
So sad, and with so wild a start
Strains of glad music at a funeral,—
So anxiously and painfully,
Shiver and die;
As the tears of sorrow
Those melancholy tones so sweet and still;
Mothers have shed—
On the wild whirling waves, mournfully, mournfully,
Yet could not break it.
Blew such a thrilling summons to my will,
And, oh! with such intolerable change
Did steal into mine ear;
Prayers that to-morrow
Lies frozen and dead—
Yet could not shake it;
On the lifeless margin of the sparkling ocean;
As the kindling glances,
Of a lonely mere,
To this deep-sobered heart,
So drearily and doubtfully,
With a lifelike motion
Which the bright moon lances
Those lute-like tones which in the bygone year
Like wanderers from the world's extremity,
Queen-like and clear,
A gush of sunbeams through a ruined hall;
At the sleepless waters
Bringing no rest;
In vain, all, all in vain,
Unto their ancient home!