Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold (The Poem, Summary & Analysis)

 

Dover Beach

by Matthew Arnold

(The Poem, Summary & Analysis)

 

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the eldest son of Thomas Arnold and his wife Mary Penrose Arnold. He was born on 24 December 1822 at Laleham-on-Thames, Middlesex. Matthew Arnold has been characterized as a sage writer. He was also an inspector of schools for thirty-five years, and supported the concept of state-regulated secondary education. From 1831, Arnold was tutored by his clerical uncle, John Buckland, in Laleham. In 1834, the Arnolds occupied a holiday home, Fox How, in the Lake District. There William Wordsworth was a neighbour and close friend.

In 1836, Arnold was sent to Winchester College, but in 1837 he returned to Rugby School and came under the direct tutelage of his father. He wrote verse for a family magazine, and won school prizes, His prize poem, "Alaric at Rome", was printed at Rugby. His poem Cromwell won the 1843 Newdigate prize. In 1849, he published his first book of poetry, The Strayed Reveller. In 1850 Wordsworth died; Arnold published his "Memorial Verses" on the older poet in Fraser's Magazine. He married Frances Lucy, daughter of Sir William Wightman, Justice of the Queen's Bench.

Dover Beach

(The Poem)

The sea is calm tonight.

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.

Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!

Only, from the long line of spray

Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,

Listen! you hear the grating roar

Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,

At their return, up the high strand,

Begin, and cease, and then again begin,

With tremulous cadence slow, and bring

The eternal note of sadness in.

 

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.

 

The Sea of Faith

Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore

Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.

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.

 

Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems

To lie 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;

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Summary

In his poem, Dover Beach, Mathew Arnold compares the past, which was full of faith, with the present which is devoid of faith.

In the poem, Dover Beach, the poet asks his beloved to come to the window as he feels, that the night air is pleasant. He then describes, what he hears in the sound of waves. The poet further describes the miserable state of men in the present world.

The poet starts his poem, Dover Beach abruptly by narrating his beloved the scene of the sea and of the Dover Beach. He tells his beloved, that the sea is calm, tide is full, the moonlight on the straits looks beautiful and lastly but not the least “sweet is the night air”. The poet says, that only that air of night is sweet which comes from the sea coast. The poet says, that only that night-air is sweet and pleasant, which comes from the place, where the sea meets with the moon blenched land.

After calling his beloved to the window, the poet asks her to listen the grating roar of the pebbles which are brought and flung by the waves, “at their return”. He says that in the grating roars of pebbles, he hears the eternal note of sadness. It is not surprising, he says, that he hears such note by this northern sea because Sophocles too had heard it on the Aegean and he too is listening the note of human misery in those grating roars of pebbles.

The poet further describes the past and says, that once the sea of faith had girdled the earth round shore. He wants to say, that the earth used to be full of faith but now he only hears the retreating, melancholy, long withdrawing roar of the sea of faith. The sea of faith, which was at its full has now reduced to merely the night air. The poet continues the imagery and says, that the retreating sea of faith leaves the naked realities of world behind it.

In the last part of this poem the poet poses forth the present situation of the world to his beloved. He says, that they should be true to one another, because the world which looks like a land of dreams- beautiful, various and new is really not so. According to the poet, the world we are living in has neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain. Our world is devoid of faith. We are here on the earth as on a darkling plain. Faithless people are so confused, that they clash by night, which is the only time when we have the pleasant air.

Analysis

This poem is about a sea and Dover beach. The beach has much deeper meaning, for the poet, than what meets the eye. The poem is written in free verse form, with no particular meter or rhyme scheme, although some of the words do rhyme. Arnold is with his beloved on the beach, either in a room of a hotel or in a room of a light-house. In the first part of the poem Arnold says, “The Sea is calm tonight”. He talks about a very peaceful night on the ever so calm sea, with the moonlight shining so intensely on the land. Then he says, that on the French coast, the moonlight “gleams and is gone”. The waves draw back and fling the pebbles, onto the shore, at their return. The poet says, that the grating roar of pebbles brings “the eternal note of sadness in”. He says, that Sophocles too had the idea of “human misery” on the “Aegean”.

The sea has, now, become rougher and all agitated. The mention of “human misery” implies that life begins and ends, but it can still be full of happiness. “The Sea of Faith was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore.” The poet used to look at the sea in a different way than he does now. Throughout the whole poem, Arnold uses a metaphor to describe his views and opinions. Now he only hears its “melancholy, long, withdrawing roar.” It means, Arnold is questioning his own faith. The whole poem is based on a metaphor – Sea to Faith. When the sea retreats, so does faith, and leaves us with nothing. In the last nine lines, Arnold wants his beloved and himself to be true to one another. The land, which he thought was

"......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;"

The poet says, that nothing is certain, because where there is light there is dark and where there is happiness there is sadness.

"...we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night."

Arnold uses alliteration in the poem.

“To lie before us like a land of dreams”,

“Gleams and is gone…”.

The language of the poem is easy with the exception of a few words, such as cadence and darkling. While reading the poem, “Dover Beach”, readers realize, that there is no certainty in life. When everything is going perfectly, something unfortunate may happen at any time, with no forewarning.