Who was Arthur Hugh Clough in Matthew Arnold’s life?

Arthur Hugh Clough was a close friend of Matthew Arnold and a fellow poet. The two men shared a significant intellectual and personal connection, having explored the Oxford countryside together as students during the 1840s.123

Following Clough’s death in 1861, Arnold immortalized their friendship in his celebrated pastoral elegy titled "Thyrsis" (1867). In this poem, Arnold portrays Clough as Thyrsis, a traditional shepherd-poet, using the work to reflect on their shared youthful ideals and the passage of time.43