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Dover Beach Analysis

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Dover Beach Analysis
Matthew Arnold portrays an ambience of infinite sadness around his character whom is in an aquatic scenery in the poem "Dover Beach" through the use of simile, imagery and allusion. The first line of the poem reads "The sea is calm tonight" and this represents that he is indeed by the sea, and also the title of the poem gives it away. The next line gives the reader more to imagine about the setting. The moon is out and the tides are full means that this is taking place at night. "Upon the straits; of the French coast the light / Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of the England stand,". The body of water that the character is adjacent to is the English channel. The English channel is the body of water between France and England and the southeastern coast of England is where our character stands. From this location in Dover, England he can see the French light which is the closest point where you can get to France without crossing the English channel. The character can hear the tides washing up and down the beach as he stares off into the distance. He describes it as a "the grating roar" as the shells and other oceanic debris are pulled in and out of the coastal sands by the water. "The eternal note of sadness" ends the first stanza which gives it a darker feeling compared to the beginning being calm and tranquil. The speaker is being moved by the music of the setting which is a taste godlessness, emptiness , or loneliness. In the next stanza Our speaker

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