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READ THIS
"Dover Beach" was written in 1867 and paints a picture of what has been described as a
"nightmarish world" from which the once powerful forces of Christianity has withdrawn.
The poet was looking over the English Channel from the cliffs at Dover and listening to the sad sound of
the waves rushing in over the pebble beach below.
The sound, he said, was described by the ancient Greeks as a reminder of human misery. It was also
like the "Sea of Faith" which was now ebbing after nearly two millennia of expansion.
The poet called on his loved one to remain firm or else it would be difficult to stay faithful to truth in the
troubled world where there are never-ending rumours of war.
ABOUT THE POET
Matthew Arnold was born in December 1822, the son of the headmaster of the now famous Rugby
School.
He was initially tutored at Rugby but, in 1841, began studying at Oxford University where he graduated
in 1844.
He started teaching at Rugby but, in 1847, became Private Secretary to Lord Lansdowne who was Lord
President of the Council. It was then that he published his first book of poetry.
Arnold soon took up a position as an inspector of schools and, because of the increased salary, almost
immediately married Frances Wightman with whom he had six children.
He was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1857 and was apparently the first man to deliver his
lectures in English instead of Latin.
In 1883 and 1884, he toured the United States where he delivered lectures on education and democracy.
He retired from school inspection in 1886 but, just two years later, he suffered a heart attack and died.
He was then 66 years of age.
Arnold is heralded today -- along with Tennyson and Browning -- as one of the great Victorian poets
although his poetry received only mediocre reviews during his own lifetime.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"Dover Beach" is divided into four stanzas.
- Explain the main themes of each stanza, using no more than 5 words
each. (2 x 4)
[Need help?]
- Stanza 1: Description of the beautiful night / beautiful sound of the sea;
- Stanza 2: Sadness and misery of life;
- Stanza 3: Retreat of faith and religion;
- Stanza 4: Confusion of the modern world.
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Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land.
- Why would "the moon-blanch'd land" be a particularly apt description of the land around Dover
that particular night? (4)
[Need help?]
Think about the meaning of the words:
- "moon-blanch'd land" means that the moon is lighting the dark land, giving it a whitish
hue;
- the soil around Dover is naturally white which means that it becomes very white under the bright silvery
light of the moon.
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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.
- Comment on the rhythm of these four lines. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet attempts to recreate the rhythm of the waves as they break, rush across the pebbles, then
retreat, then break again.
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- Comment on the use of onomatopoeia in these lines. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet attempts to recreate the sound of the pebbles as they move about under pressure from the
incoming and outgoing waves.
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Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
- Why should the sound of the sea remind the poet of the "eternal note of
sadness"? (4)
[Need help?]
Have you ever listened to the gentle sound of waves breaking on the seashore? It's a very sad sound.
"Listen to the sound of the sad sea waves!"
Because the sound of the sea is eternal, it will initiate therefore "an eternal note of sadness".
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Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery.
- Why should the sound of the sea remind Sophocles of "the ebb and flow of human
misery"? (4)
[Need help?]
If one is in a melancholy mood, then avoid sitting alone by the sea, especially on a moonlit, romantic night!
The sound of the waves is melancholy and could drive you to tears of sadness.
If a philosopher such as Sophocles were to be sitting by the seashore contemplating human life, it would
be natural for him to be affected by the sea's melancholy sound and cause him to start thinking of the
misery of human life.
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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.
- Why would watching the sea at night remind the author of religion? (4)
[Need help?]
Religion is such a big thing and spreads to the far corners of the world. If one is looking for a metaphor
to describe Religion or Faith, then the metaphor of the sea is a good one.
Like the sea, Faith comes in waves. It ebbs and flows, has its high tides and its low tides. It is sometimes
calm, sometimes turbulent.
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- Does the poet view religion in a positive or in a negative light? Explain. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet appears to see religion in a positive light, as a force for good in the world.
On the other hand, he is witnessing the slow retreat of religion as secularism gains the upper hand and
people move away from faith towards other pursuits.
The poet is clearly saddened by this, and calls for a return to love and the other virtues which religion
espouses.
Ultimately, he perceives that there will be a major clash between the forces of faith -- representing the
good -- and the forces of secularism which he probably believed represents evil.
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There is a major contrast between the TONE of Stanza 1 and that of Stanza 4. Explain. (4)
[Need help?]
Do you recognise the calm, the serenity depicted in Stanza 1, as opposed to the growing forces of war
depicted in Stanza 4?
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Why, in your mind, does the writer comment, "Ah, love let us be true to one another!"? (4)
[Need help?]
In the movement away from faith towards secularism, it becomes important to cling to what is true and
faithful. Love and stability therefore become most important.
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And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
- What is the poet's attitude towards warfare? How do you know this? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet sees warfare as destructive and nonsensical, does he not? He speaks of confused alarms and
ignorant armies. He appears to portray warfare as encompassing the power of evil and opposed to the
good.
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- Explain the connotation behind the writer's claim that we are here on a "darkling
plain"? (4)
[Need help?]
"Darkling" would be the turning of "dark" into a verb and using this verb in the form of a
present participle.
It is therefore not just a dark plain, but a plain which is becoming darker each minute with the retreat of
faith and the rise of secularism.
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