'The Scholar Gypsy', Matthew Arnold, 1853.

George Cole, Harvest Rest, 1865.

Late Romantic poets still rely heavily on nostalgia, but they long for things very different from their Romantic forefathers. Discuss using Matthew Arnold's ‘The Scholar-Gypsy’ as a base.
The late Romantics were not only longing for nostalgia, but also a return to what was important to them: imagination, creativity, nature. Arnold’s poem is heavily based upon a nostalgic story about a scholar who takes up with a band of gypsies to learn all he can about the ancient art of traditional knowledge based around the power of imagination. Throughout the poem he accounts the rumours that the Gypsy Scholar is seen from time to time in the area. It makes me believe that the Gypsy Scholar is a metaphor for traditional knowledge unappreciated by many in the full swing of the Industrial Revolution, and that perhaps the ‘glimpses’ of him is a suggestion of hope that the respect and passing down of traditional knowledge/imagination has not been lost. Arnold imagines the Gypsy Scholar as a shadowy figure, a nice description of the view of traditional knowledge/imagination, even claiming to have seen it once himself. He entertains the thought of the Gypsy Scholar’s still being alive after two centuries, but shakes off the thought. He cannot of died. This is a hopeful statement where the poet reveals his belief that imagination is still alive, waiting to be found.