Matthew Arnold Dover Beach Poem

Benedict Arnold was born on January 14,1741 in Norwich, Connecticut. His ancestors William Arnold and his family who left England because of religious persecution were the first Arnold's in New England. Arnold's family background was well respected and was know to have some wealth.

“The Beach is written in the style of a free verse poem consisting of two stanzas, the first one having nineteen lines and the second having twelve. The lines vary significantly in length and feature a large amount of enjambment which stretches over fur lines in some cases. The mood and atmosphere of the poem is extremely relaxed and promotes the reader to feel nostalgic about the last time they themselves visited the beach.

At first glance, Anthony Hecht's "Dover Bitch" is not only funnier than Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", but also describes a more "liberated" relationship; the poem is as free from what some would consider stuffy Victorian morals as it is from references to Sophocles. Hecht's urbane and flippant persona tends to win over its audience, whether they find irony in the poem that adds to their appreciation of "Dover Beach", appreciate the poem as a criticism of Victorian morals, or laugh at Arnold's apparent inability to give his girl "a good time." "Dover Bitch" also seems to give more power to the lover, who is kept behind the scenes in Arnold, by bringing "her" opinions and wishes into the foreground of the poem. However, on closer

The poem I will be analysing today is Song of the Surf by Dan Ashlin. Ashlin is a born and bred Australian poet who writes modern poems. I believe that I have a strong connection with this poem because of how much I personally love the beach with the soft sand and the ferocious waves. In my opinion this poem isn’t just about the waves in the ocean, but how the ocean has its own life and story to tell.

In the Flesh Late upon the shoreline Under the willowing sun of June With heat billowing about the air And the cool blood now strewn Late upon the shoreline Where the gunner left his post To the shouting in the smoking air And the crying guns that boast Late upon the shoreline Did the gunner lay hidden under eaves With bruises on his beaten breast And blood drawn upon the leaves Late upon the shoreline Did a rain quail sing with ease As if not one with the singing guns But only among the trees

You should comment upon and compare at least two of his poems and describe the tone he writes in the imagery he uses and the poetical techniques he includes to convey his opinions.

During class on Thursday when we were in sectionals, our group was taking about the main theme of the song. While they were talking, I was trying to comprehend what this arrangement was trying to paint in our minds. It hit me, this is a sad love story with more behind it. The miller is longing for someone he can not have, so he lives his life in ruin and wreck. Finally when he dies, the girl is too late, she had the chance but she lost it. She married some other guy and not the miller. Thomas Dunn English Water sadness and regret will not stop flow of water and the mill wheel will still

“A vast endless expanse of sky… still, no wing, no moon, no storm – indeed a storm would have been some consolation for then one would at least see life and movement somewhere. On the unending sea there is no boat, no ship, not even a sea monster, and in the sand not even a blade of grass, only a few gulls float in the air and make the loneliness even more desolate and horrible (WGA par. 4).” Caspar David Friedrich had many admirers, but also many critics. This description of one of Friedrich’s most famous and outstanding pieces of work, Monk by the Sea, received mixed reviews throughout history, some of which are embracing of the work, and some of which offer a bold outlook on who exactly Friedrich was. A common theme in the majority of his

Arnold’s change of identity is shown through the author’s use of setting. At first, he lives in Wellpinit, an Indian reservation. On the reservation there is violence, poverty, and alcoholism. Arnold does not appreciate where he lives because his “reservation is located approximately one million miles north of [important] and two billion miles west of [happy]” (Alexie 30). Arnold does not like his culture, nor does he like his home. He thinks that his race is far from important and happy. This contributes to his identity crisis. He does not like his identity, but one thing that keeps him from forsaking it, is his

Is the world’s beauty an illusion? In the dramatic monologue, “Dover Beach,” by Matthew Arnold the audience is given a harsh and brutal reality check. “Dover Beach” is a poem set near Dover, along the southeast coast of England. Arnold writes this poem during the Industrial Revolution, following the development and advancement of England. Although England was a world power, Arnold believes the modern world has been internally destructive to human emotions.

The “ebb and flow” of the tide is a metaphor for how sadnesses rises and falls in and out of human life (Arnold 17). With no hope being left in religion, Arnold mentions one last hope for humanity to put their faith into. In his last stanza, he reveals that “love” can bring back the joy in life (Arnold 29). Specifically he refers to it as being “true to one another” and putting their faith into that other person (Arnold 29-30). Arnold compares to love as being “a land of dreams” (31). Dreams are seen as happy and being “so beautiful” (Arnold 32); consequently, just like dreams, they don’t always come true. Arnold brings his audience back to reality by professing how “we are here as on a darkling plain” (35). By reflecting the darkness of reality, Arnold illuminates how love still might not be enough to go through these “confused alarms of struggle” (36).

"The Wanderer" also deals with the same themes. This poem portrays a "lost" character that needs to find his way back into society but can't. It shows his feelings of loneliness and hopelessness. It also gives an impression of his loss: "So have I also, often in wretchedness fettered my feelings, far from my kin, homeless and hapless, since the days of old, When the dark earth covered my dear lord's face, And I sailed away with sorrowful heart, Over wintry seas, seeking a gold-lord, If far or near lived one to befriend me." (18-24). The author is saying that this character just experienced a loss of his king and it forced him to go out and search for another. The use of the image of the earth covering his lord's face gives the reader an exact look at what is happening. The poem contains two speakers that convey the

This image is similar to the one created in “Dover Beach – A Note” by Archibald MacLeish, who also used the crashing waves as a metaphor for the passing generations. In particular, Thomas is referring to ‘the last wave’ of good men, who believe that they could have accomplished more if they lived longer. However, Thomas provides reassures in this metaphor as after one wave, comes another, presumably with more good men. Additionally, Thomas uses the metaphor of ‘green bay’ to stand for life, as this is where the waves come from. Green especially is associated with life and youth. Moreover, the use of the words ‘bright’ and ‘danced’ to describe what the men’s ‘frail deeds’ could have been creates a contrast to show why men might rally against ‘the dying of the light’; who wants their deeds to be frail when they could be bright and

Published in 1867, Matthew Arnold’s "Dover Beach" is short lyrical elegy that depicts a couple overlooking the English Channel, questioning the gradual, steady loss of faith of the time. Set against this backdrop of a society’s crisis of faith, Arnold artfully uses a range of literary techniques to reinforce the central theme of the poem, leading some to argue that Dover Beach was one of the first ‘free-verse’ poems of the language. Indeed, the structure and content of the poem goes against all traditional romantic love sonnets of the day with a decidedly more melancholic and darker tone. Whilst respected critic Stefan Collini explores the notion that Arnold’s poem is too focused on the poet’s own melancholic mindset, I will endeavour to provide an alternative viewpoint which will reason that Arnold successfully delivered a wider commentary about the crisis of faith that resonated not only with Arnold himself, but with the audience.

As for the narrator in “The Seafarer”, Christianity and the belief of an afterlife saves him from ending his own life prior to believing in a place much better than his present and the endorsement of “The Measurer” if he lives on. Besides Christianity being a huge impact in this poem, the author also uses many of the techniques listed by Foster such as using season and weather to symbolize his harsh conditions. As stated by Foster, “seasons have stood for the same set of meanings,” winter, the time of “Death and rebirth, growth and harvest and death”(189-190). In “The Seafarer, the speaker clearly uses the winter weather to show his demise, and also his will of death. Yet besides his suffering, the winter also brought his growth. In that winter time, he realized his goal of life, to repay the debt he owed to his creator. Despite winter conditions, the “hail [that] fell to the ground” also symbolized as a realization as shown by Foster “It’s more than just rain or snow”, this realization revelates in the form of being enlightened religiously (69). Besides hail symbolizing a realization, the entire seafaring trip also exemplifies an important concept, Baptism, or a “rising from the dead”(169). As the speaker started on, his present was no more than a “dead life,” yet, later on, the speaker seems to “[rise] from the dead” as he realizes his demise, after the entire trip out to the sea, he returns and realizes that he had been dead all along, and that “life pertains to the love of the Lord, hope in heaven,” not “[performing] the greatest glories”(84,