Dover Beach

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Dover Beach

• Matthew Arnold

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• The sea is calm to-night.The tide is
  full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits on the
  French coast the lightGleams and is gone the
  cliffs of England standGlimmering and vast, out
  in the tranquil bay.Come to the window, sweet is
  the night-air!
• Only, from the long line of sprayWhere
  the sea meets the moon-blanched land,Listen! you
  hear the grating roarOf 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 bringThe
  eternal note of sadness in.
• Sophocles long agoHeard it on the
  Aegaean, and it broughtInto his mind the turbid
  ebb and flowOf human misery weFind also in the
  sound a thought,Hearing it by this distant
  northern sea.

• The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the
  full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds
  of a bright girdle furled.But now I only
  hearIts melancholy, long, withdrawing
  roar,Retreating, to the breathOf the
  night-wind, down the vast edges drearAnd naked
  shingles of the world.
• Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! for the
  world, which seemsTo 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 painAnd we
  are here as on a darkling plainSwept with
  confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where
  ignorant armies clash by night.

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Matthew Arnold

• Lived 1822-1888
• Written c.1851 honeymoon
• Religious, social, educational issues
• Industrial Revolution

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The sea is calm to-night.The tide is full, the
moon lies fairUpon the straits on the French
coast the lightGleams and is gone the cliffs of
England standGlimmering and vast, out in the
tranquil bay.Come to the window, sweet is the
night-air!

• Literal description
• calm tranquil lies
• sweet gleams - lures reader in
• cliffsglimmering
• come - honeymoon
• Repetitive line 2 gentle rhythm
• gleams and is gone

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Only, from the long line of sprayWhere the sea
meets the moon-blanched land,Listen! you hear
the grating roarOf 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 bringThe
eternal note of sadness in.

• Auditory imagery grating roar tremulous
  cadence
• moon-blanched
• meets
• Begin, and cease, and then again begin
• tremulous cadence slow eternal note of sadness
• grating roar / of pebbles
• strand
• Listen!

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Sophocles long agoHeard it on the Aegaean, and
it broughtInto his mind the turbid ebb and
flowOf human misery weFind also in the sound a
thought,Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

• Sophocles
• a thought
• turbid
• ebb and flow

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The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and
round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a
bright girdle furled.But now I only hearIts
melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,Retreating,
to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast
edges drearAnd naked shingles of the world.

• Sea of Faith
• full round bright
• girdle
• melancholy, long, withdrawing
• night-wind
• naked shingles

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Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for painAnd
we are here as on a darkling plainSwept with
confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where
ignorant armies clash by night.

• Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another!
  for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like
  a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so
  new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor
  light,

• Ah, love
• Rhyme scheme ABBA CDDCC
• Use of lists
• Transition of moods
• be true to one another
• ignorant armies clash
• confused alarms

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Literary Techniques

• Anaphora
• Caesura
• Enjambment

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Themes

• Religious faith
• Human misery and helplessness
• Appearance and reality

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Perspective

• Uses all 3

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Exam Questions

• Explores the ways in which Arnold vividly conveys
  his message
• Discuss two key themes of the poem
• Compare and contrast the imagery used in Dover
  Beach and Flower-Fed Buffaloes