(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

            In 1867 Arnold wrote his most famous poem "Dover Beach". He wrote this not so long after he was married and it is perceived to be addressed to his wife. It is possible that Arnold wrote this poem while on the shore side of Dover Beach. This poem is about Arnold's battle with life, love, and faith in religion. He uses images, diction, tone, sounds and conflict to relay how he feels to the reader. The images are seen throughout Arnold's work. The image of the sea is seen throughout the poem. Sometimes it is seen as a physical thing or setting. Since Dover Beach is part of the English Channel or know by Sophocles as the Aegean Sea. The sea is also used as a metaphor for the destiny of humanity by calling it "The Sea of Faith"(21).
             A lot of the diction helps to inflict the tone of the poem which in turn defines alot of the sounds. At the beginning of the poem it starts off "calm"(1). The tone that the speaker speaks with (which the I caught on my second reading because you won't catch the inflections at first) is very soothing and relaxing as the poem moves along. The tone of the poem changes up when he tells the reader to "Listen! you hear the grating roar"(9) "Of the pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling"(10). Which means he want you to pay attention to the sound that of the water makes when it "flings"(10) the pebbles back and forth. This movement creates a harsh, unpleasant like sound that can be very much irritating. This point is also the climax of the poem. In the last stanza his word choice of saying that "Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light"(33) is very undeviating. It seems that he is saying that there is a lack of those feelings or there just are not any. .
             Arnold has a lot of conflicting emotions and feelings in this poem.Throughout the poem he brings up how he is "Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight" (36).


Essays Related to Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

1. Dover Beach

Matthew Arnold's dramatic monologue "Dover Beach" portrays the way in which perceptions are deceptive. The use of technical qualities, symbolism, and imagery helps to support the speaker's thoughts between what is seen and what is real. Rhythm and meter are the most important devices in "Dover Beach". These mechanisms allow Arnold to use words as a way to portray the speaker's struggle. Figures of speech, sounds, and irony of ... that the sea of faith was once calm and now is dark and dreary to make evident that his faith has entered darkness, setting the mood for the rest of Matthew Arnold's...

  • Word Count: 782
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Dover Beach

Matthew Arnold's dramatic monologue "Dover Beach" portrays the way in which perceptions are deceptive. The use of technical qualities, symbolism, and imagery helps to support the speaker's thoughts between what is seen and what is real. Rhythm and meter are the most important devices in "Dover Beach". These mechanisms allow Arnold to use words as a way to portray the speaker's struggle. Figures of speech, sounds, and irony of ... that the sea of faith was once calm and now is dark and dreary to make evident that his faith has entered darkness, setting the mood for the rest of Matthew Arnold's...

  • Word Count: 782
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Dover Beach

... like faith cannot be seen. Everyone needs to have faith in at least one thing because faith is our source of hope. In the poem "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold he writes that with belief we need hope to survive in this dark world in which we live. The speaker in the poem is standing on the ... cliffs of Dover at night over looking the sea. He is talking to his love with his concerns about keeping his faith. Mr. Arnold uses a variety of poetic devices to emphasize his theme that all of mankind must keep their ... faith alive in order to deal with the curve balls that life may throw. Mr. A...

  • Word Count: 854
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Poetry of Victorian Era Poets

... far as its thematic unity is concerned. The poet traces the nature imagery in Tennyson's In Memoriam and Arnold's To Marguerite--Continued and Dover Beach.  Two poets who used an abundance of nature imagery in the Victorian period were Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Matthew Arnold. In Tennyson's In Memoriam, he utilizes many different aspects of nature as metaphors to describe his emotions after ... the death of a close friend. Arnold's poetry uses different types of water as metaphors in To Marguerite--Continued and Dover Beach. In the beginning of Tennyson's poem, he describes an old ....

  • Word Count: 5237
  • Approx Pages: 21
  • Grade Level: High School

5. The Correlation of Power and Change

... the ecosystem; whereby we can readily foretell the existence of the one from the appearance of the other. Matthew Arnold is also aware of this idea by starting his poem "Dover Beach" with the lines "the sea is calm tonight, the tide is full, the moon lies fair& ... quot; (1-2) Arnold believes that any conflict and changes are built upon the validity of life and nature; thus, it ... quot; and wiping the obsolete sand. Along with time, power transforms the correlation as season switches and government changes its term. In "Dover Beach", Matthew Arnold notices that challenges to the validit...

  • Word Count: 1461
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Loss of Innocence in Of Mice and Men

... with the reality of what he's done. Lennie's innocence doesn't protect the people and sometimes pets around him. However George crushes out his innocence to stay alive. In "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold he advances the statement we all need someone to love us, but the world is not like that instead it, "lies before us like a land of dreams, So various ... , so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain"(Arnold, ln 31-34). In this previous quote Arnold states how ... 've obeyed. The poem, "Dover Beach" exemplifies what Cur...

  • Word Count: 759
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Titanic

... literal gem, then, serves to drive the plot. People explore wrecks for the challenge and for scientific purposes, but Cameron has Brock Lovett, played by Bill Paxton, and his salvage crew searching for a diamond. This motivation works on two levels. It gives a reason for the dangerous and expensive ... material wealth parallels the confidence that the Titanic's owners place in material goods and technology. And of course, just as money and wealth by themselves fail to make life worthwhile for most people, all of the confidence her owners and passengers mistakenly place in the integrity...

  • Word Count: 1239
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Darwinian Proofs

... more obviously influenced by Darwin, even though the Origin of Species did not influence his poems, but the ideas that Darwin proves in his writing were within the culture at the time. Darwin simply proves all of the scientific findings of before and so Darwinian ideas are further reaching than his work and his life (Damrosch 1305-08). Matthew Arnold liked to teach ... lessons of the wrongs of current society through his poetry. He wanted his audience to use his poems in their life for rebellion and enlightenment. Darwin also wanted his findings to only enlighten and educate. Matthew fo...

  • Word Count: 2549
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question