Essay on Dover Beach: An Analysis

Matthew Arnold’s poem, “Dover Beach” does a great job at portraying what love is talked up to be. He starts the poem by saying, “The sea is calm tonight / The tide is full the moon lies fair / the cliffs of England stand / Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.” (1-2, 4-5.) giving off a peaceful and tranquil tone and adding on to that in the following lines of the stanza. Th importance of the setting of the poem is that it paints a beautiful landscape which gives breath to the idea

To fully understand each poem’s view on death, it is important to first look at the rhythm used throughout each poem. In “Dover Beach,” the rhythm changes as the poem goes on (Shmoop Editorial Team). For most of the poem, Arnold uses some form of iambic meter; however, the pattern sometimes breaks part way through some lines. This break in the pattern causes a form of chaos within the poem that represents the suffering that Arnold describes as having occurred due to loss of faith. Unlike the often broken pattern used by Arnold,

The author uses syntax to create a uniform rhyming scheme. There are eight feet in each line of the poem that are consistent until the end of the poem. Words such as “flow’d” and “scream’d” are used in order to keep balance in the beats; therefore, creating rhythm. The poem is organized into stanzas, each stanza having the first line rhyme with the second and the third line rhyme with the fourth. For example, the first stanza reads: “No stir in the air, no stir in the sea; the ship was still as she could be; her sails from heaven received no motion; her keel was steady in the ocean.” (Lines 1-4) The syntax used by the author helps in the meaning of the poem by setting the tone. By setting the tone of the story, one is able to see the meaning behind

Listen closely, to the gentle crashing of the waves, the occasional seagulls squawking…to the chatter of playing, eating, and joking people. Listen again to the concerned parents, to the shrill voiced children (climbing on rocks and poking dead jellyfish), or the loudly oblivious teens; and that one guy with THAT sense of humor who can’t stop laughing about the “stone fleet”. This is just the tip of the iceberg of experiences available at Cape May’s Beach.

“Meandering watery worlds, like you and the black umbrella, the one you will lose on purpose at day’s end so you can go the way you came into the world, wet looking.” Initially this stanza shows longing in a way

The poet, Matthew Arnold, uses descriptive language, language techniques and symbolism to dramatically enhance the poem, titled ‘Dover Beach’. He uses adjectives and punctuation such as Caesura for maximum effect. In the poem the “calm” and “full” sea represents science, trying to overthrow the flickering lights on top of the vast and mighty “English cliff” and the

Indeed, this sound of sadness is an ancient entity since Sophocles long ago/ Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought/ Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow/ Of human misery. The eternal note of sadness has been important to writers and philosophers throughout time. Arnold believed this same sound existed in all the seas around the world. The waves, sounding of despair, also symbolize the curtailment of religious values. In stanza three the speaker describes the diminishing faith of religion in England: The Sea of Faith/ Was once, too, at the full, and round earths shore/ Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. At one point Englands faith was like a high tide. It was similar to a belt being placed around the world, holding it together. During this time people believed in their religion, thus leading England into a state of order and tranquility. However, now the speaker only feels a troubled sense of blankness: But now I only hear/ Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,/ Retreating, to the breath/ Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear/ And naked shingles of the world. This passage emphasizes a mood of uncertainty and alienation in the world. In stanza four, the speaker ends on a note of melancholy. Love is offered as a possible solace from the sadness of the world, but quickly this idea is abandoned for the world,

Many other authors, like Matthew Arnold, began writing their personal accounts of what they experienced or saw others experiencing, giving the feeling of melancholy. The reason why Dover Beach represents the Victorian period is because in the way Arnold wrote it, he didn’t ground himself or stick to one specific subject. He creates a mood by using a variety of images, metaphors, similes, and adjectives. The narrator seems lonely, not mentioning any other person around him. One of the other major problems being experienced during this time are also represented in this poem. That problem is the loss of faith. Because of the new developments,

Understanding the reason the writer and the influence of the time and life experiences are very important to consider while analyzing and reading over any poem. The words the author uses and the tone of which how it is supposed to be read goes hand in hand. Not only is the context of the poem play an important role of the poem is perceived but also how it is being read. The word express emotion as well as the meaning of the poem. Matthew Arnold, in his poem, “Dover Beach” is a perfect example of how real world events and lives can be depicted and viewed in poetic form.

Arnold’s “Dover Beach” opens with a tranquil scene. A place where waves crash on the shoreline of the English Channel, and a couple gazes out a window at the moonlit water. The speaker uses the imagery and sound of pebbles in the surf to create a metaphor for the story of souls and the persistent, incremental decline of faith that his culture has suffered. The poem ends with the suggestion of promulgating love in a world of violence and fear and pain. This is actually a metaphor, for God is love. When the speaker promotes love between couples, this love is what will help prove their faith, not denounce it.

Dover Beach (1867) is one of Matthew Arnold’s most famous poems. In this poem his main point was the fact that people are losing faith in God and oneself. In the first stanza of this poem, Arnold makes a flashback to ancient Greece. where Sophocles hear the same sea and noticing the same thing as was Arnold sees. (Gunderson 1) There is no happiness within this poem, although, the setting of it is his honeymoon vacation he had gone to with his wife, Frances Lucy Wightman. (eNotes 2)

Arnold uses a range of technical means in order to express a shift in mood and sentiment within the poem ‘Dover Beach’.

The first twelve lines of the poem start out peaceful and soothing, using imagery to paint the setting of Dover Beach with sweeping artistic brush strokes. However, at line thirteen, when Arnold mentions the "tremulous cadence" of the waves, the reader detects the first hint of a shift in tone. In the fourteenth line, the tone of the poem switches from tranquil and calm to depressed and melancholy. In the second stanza, Arnold alludes to the Greek tragedian, Sophocles, and how he heard the same "eternal note of sadness" as the speaker, albeit along the shore of the Aegean Sea. As the speaker begins to describe the receding sea of faith, it is readily apparent that he feels an overwhelming sense of despair and hopelessness. In the last stanza, the tone switches yet again, becoming slightly desperate and pleading. He laments that the majestic wonder and beauty of the world, described in the poem's first stanza, is nothing but a lie and an illusion, and that the real world is a cold, dark, and lonely place that has become a battleground for the faithless. The speaker pleads with his lover that they will remain true to each other, because now she is the only source of goodness left in the world for

Stanza 3 of Dover Beach shows the ushering in of new thoughts and ideas, and the removal of the hold that religion has on society in the Victorian Era. “The Sea of Faith/ Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore” and “But now I only hear/ Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar/ Retreating, to the breath/ Of the night-wind, down the vast edges of drear (Arnold)” reflects this introduction of new thought into society. In Parking Lot, lines 9-12 shows how the narrator

Freezing cold rain poured down from the dark, cloudy sky as we were running like our lives depended on it. My dad was carrying my six year old sister and my mom was carrying me, and I was four years old. We could hear the cruise ship’s horn blaring in the distance, but other than that and the seagulls’ barking, we were surrounded by complete silence. Now, you’re probably wondering where I am talking about and what is going on, but no need to worry, because I will tell you.