Cousin Nancy (by T.S. Eliot)

T.S. Eliot
Cousin Nancy
[from Prufrock and Other Observations, 1917]
Miss Nancy Ellicott
Strode across the hills and broke them,
Rode across the hills and broke them—
The barren New England hills—
Riding to hounds
Over the cow-pasture.
Miss Nancy Ellicott smoked
And danced all the modern dances;
And her aunts were not quite sure how they felt about it,
But they knew that it was modern.
Upon the glazen shelves kept watch
Matthew and Waldo, guardians of the faith,
The army of unalterable law.
* * * * *





Cousin Nancy must have been quite the woman!
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Indeed! Thanks for your comment!
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Now see this is my problem with this one...the references to Matthew and Waldo I don't get.
So am lost at the meaning of the last three lines particularly.... anyway.. enlighten me.
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Don't feel bad - I had to look it up for confirmation. According to a couple of sources, Matthew and Waldo are writers Matthew Arnold and Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose busts were on cousin Nancy's mantle. Here's one link: http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/tseliot/11968.
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I'm confused by lines 2 and 3. Please help me understand the meaning.
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