"Dover Beach" is a poignant and powerful poem written by Victorian poet Matthew Arnold. The poem is set in Dover, a town on the eastern coast of England, and the beach serves as a metaphor for the passage of time and the impermanence of life.
The poem begins with a description of the tranquil and peaceful setting of Dover Beach, with the moon shining brightly on the calm sea and the sound of the waves crashing gently against the shore. However, as the poem progresses, the tone shifts to one of disillusionment and despair. Arnold laments the loss of faith and belief in the modern world, as the "Sea of Faith" that once "lay spread before the feet of men" has now receded, leaving them in a state of "ignorance and confusion."
The imagery of the beach and the sea serves as a metaphor for the passage of time and the fleeting nature of human existence. The waves represent the constant change and movement of life, and the shore serves as a boundary between the eternal sea and the fleeting world of humanity.
Despite the despair and disillusionment expressed in the poem, Arnold also offers a glimmer of hope in the final stanza. He implores his lover to "be true" to him, and to hold on to their love and their connection to each other as a source of strength and comfort in a world that is uncertain and fleeting.
In "Dover Beach," Matthew Arnold masterfully uses imagery and metaphor to explore the themes of faith, change, and the impermanence of life. The poem serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of holding on to what is truly important and meaningful in life, even in the face of uncertainty and loss.
Dover Beach Essay
It portrays the mood and tone of what the people experienced and felt at that time. In the second stanza, Arnold talks about the retreating tide and compares it to human sadness. Arnold speaks of this when he says, "into his mind the turbid ebb and flow of misery. My response is going to include my interpretation of the overall piece of literature, an evaluation of the author's use of literary elements, as well as figurative language, and how the piece is enhanced through sound. Thus, this arrangement establishes the popular presumption that the characters in this poem, the speaker and the silent listener, are the poet and his wife themselves. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 Sep. The poem has no particular rhyme scheme except for stanza four which follows the rhyme scheme- abbacddcc.
Dover Beach
Religion and faith these days seem to more of a selling point for books the Left Behind series , movies The Passion of the Christ , and popular trends such as televangelists like the 700 Club 4. The next line gives the reader more to imagine about the setting. Our overwhelming impression of her is a bottle of cheap perfume. According to Arnold, the sea starts with a full tide. Arnold explains this gradual faith loss using a suggestive simile. The speaker feels the same. Dover Beach is located in England, on the eastern shores near France.
Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach Essay
People lost all their faith; though on the outside they seemed calm, happy and in control, the speaker feels that deep down inside they all experienced sadness due to their lack of faith stanza 3. Critics on Matthew Arnold. Essentially, the first eight lines are the firmament that the rest of the poem stands on. This shows that Arnold knew the Bible well. However, on closer examination, it becomes evident that Hecht appropriates rather than liberates the voice of the lover and trivializes her in a way that Arnold does not. In this time he wrote some of his best works which earned him a teaching position at Oxford as a teacher of poetry.
Critical Analysis of Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold: [Essay Example], 2526 words GradesFixer
The First Stanza begins purely with the poet looking down on the moonlit sea of Dover Beach, Lines 1-5 of Stanza 1 the reader gets the idea that the speaker is calm and peaceful. Who Is the Listener? I did not know where Dover Beach was and had to look it up. The poem seems to be set near Dover which is along the south eastern English Coast. Matthew Arnold: A Critical Study. Notice the contrast Arnold draws by using visual and aural imagery; the former expresses illusion calm, beautiful, tranquil, etc. Thus, the third stanza brings out the bitter reality of that time.
Dover Beach, An Analysis Essay
In essence, the poem is an inquiry into what it means to be alive. Through these simple yet strong lines, Arnold first gives his readers a clear description of the setting where the poem is being written i. From here, the reader is led to understand that the woman could really care less about what the speaker from Dover Beach was saying. Also the person being spoken to can later be interpreted as a wife or husband Analysis Of Matthew Arnold 's ' Dover Beach ' Matthew Arnold was born in the early 19th century in England and began his career as a poet who earned acclaim very quickly at his school, Rugby School. There have been some successes; science, philosophy, love, and religion have all been forged and wielded in this struggle to offer the occasional light of truth. The tragedy pierced further when Elizabeth painfully agreed to have him executed.
Essay about Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
Elizabeth loved her country with fierce loyalty and control, but also had her own personal needs, and though it is not entirely certain as to whom this poem was referencing to, it is speculated to be about either the 2nd Earl of Essex or the Duc d 'Anjou French duke of Anjou. The author then used another technique to help attain his purpose. From that point on, his career Matthew Arnold: Review: An Analysis Of Dover Beach ENG1501 SEMESTER 2 — ASSIGNMENT 1 POETRY SEASONS COME TO PASS Dover Beach Matthew Arnold 1. According to an article in The Literary Encyclopedia, Arnold was a very spiritual person, but claimed poetry prevailed over philosophy, science, and religion, due to the principle that those things are based on facts, which can be proven wrong over time. The first five lines A Comparison of Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold and Prayer Before Brith by Louis MacNeice A Comparison of Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold and Prayer Before Brith by Louis MacNeice 'Dover Beach' by Matthew Arnold, written in 1867, and 'Prayer Before Birth' written in 1951 by Louis MacNeice share many similarities despite being written nearly on hundred years apart from each other. The speaker in the poem senses this change almost subconsciously, seeing and hearing it in the sea that the speaker is looking out upon.
