This fight can be regarded as the fight of opposing ideologies in the mind of man or that of forces of materialism or trivial battles of age and youth or also selfish and political forces. The slow cadence of this movement, and its eternal repetitions, seem sad to the narrator. Suffice to say that religious faith never covered the world. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Enjambment works together with other punctuation to maintain this pattern throughout Dover Beach. Arnold chose to use first, second and third person point of view in order to fully engage with the reader. He knew that the old establishments were beginning to crumble - people were losing their faith in God as the advancements in technology and science and evolution encroached.
Dover Beach: Matthew Arnold - Summary and Critical Analysis In Dover Beach Matthew Arnold is describing the slow and solemn rumbling sound made by the sea waves as they swing backward and forward on the pebbly shore. DeLaura, 1973, Prentice Hall, Inc. Exploring the dark terror that lies beneath his happiness in love, the speaker resolves to love - and exigencies of history and the nexus between lovers are the poem's real issues. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; — on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. The sea is calm to-night. The poet says that Sophocles had already heard this eternal note of sadness while sitting on the shores of Aegean.
The strait refers to the Strait of Dover between the English Channel and the North sea. Example: The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone;… It is also rich in the use of visual and auditory images while describing the sea and the waves. It only leaves behind the chill night wind whistling breath over the desolate beach with dull drear edges of the cliffs and raw naked pebbles shingles. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd. They hear the sound of struggle and fights of the people who are fighting without seeing each other. Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
Dover Beach Summary and Analysis Stanza 1 The poem begins with the romantic tradition style i. Dwight Culler, Imaginative Reason: The Poetry of Matthew Arnold New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966. There is nothing certain in it. The sea of faith that enveloped the world just like a girdle is fastened around the waist of an individual has now receded. This vacuum needed to be filled and the speaker in stanza four suggests that only strong personal love between individuals can withstand the negative forces in the world. The wind here symbolizes disbelief and doubts. The sea is said to be calm, there is beach on the water at full tide.
The poet is on the England side and is watching the coast of France. It is like the sea-swell. Sophocles compared eternal movement with the miseries of humans which like them are also never-ending. A beautiful image is evoked as the beach drenched with water drops and blanched with the bright moonlight makes the sand look white. Stanza 4— The final paragraph opens with an expression of intense despair and sorrow pent up in the mind of the speaker. According to the poet, he can hear the same sound of sea sand and retreating tide by sitting, like Sophocles, on the Shore of the Northern Sea English Channel.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! The poet implies that this sound suggests the eternal note of sadness in human life. Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land, Listen! Now this poet hears the sound of this Dover Beach, and he finds in it the same thought. Faith used to encompass the whole world, holding the populous tight in its embrace. Human Faith, the religious faith and faith in fellow people once covered the earth like sea water. I do not feel like rewriting mine all over again. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! The text of this Wikinfo article is available under the and the. Use of enjambment continuation of a clause or sentence to the next line of a poem gives the poem faster pace.
On the other side, i. The eternal note of sadness in. According to the poet the Sea of Faith once had united the whole mankind but now it has declined. 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. Here he points out that in ancient times Sophocles heard the same sound of the pebbles on the shore, and it reminded him of the ebb and flow of human misery. This final image has, also, been variously interpreted by the critics.
Matthew Arnold has been characterized as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues. There is a low tremulous sound swinging backward and forward all the time. And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night. The poem begins with a straightforward description of nature and the speaker calling his beloved to see the beautiful sea and to hear the sound of the waves. Now for the first time in the poem , the poet interacts with his wife.
The Faithcan refer to trust humanity religion, kindness, sympathy spiritualism and so on. The poet implies that this sound suggests the eternal note of sadness in human life. The list of authors can be seen in the. The dominating and loud roar of religious faith was now retreating. I still see her once in a while And she always treats me right. And we mean way out.
Ah, love, let us be true To one another! Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. They have become materialistic which has decreased their satisfaction in life. Time and tide wait for no man so the saying goes, but the waves are indifferent, hypnotically following the cycle of the moon. This movement of the pebbles with terrible sound is of course not pleasant and brings out the note or music that is sad and never-ending. 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. Stanza 3- The faith in the religion that, owing to advancement in science and materialism, was rapidly losing its significance, is compared to a sea. The poem begins with the calm, pleasant and soothing description of Dover beach.