Dover Beach, poem by Matthew Arnold, published in New Poems in 1867. The most celebrated of the author’s works, this poem of 39 lines addresses the decline of religious faith in the modern world and offers the fidelity of affection as its successor.
Why was Dover Beach written?
“Dover Beach” was inspired by Matthew Arnold’s honeymoon trip with his new bride to Dover, a British coastal town overlooking the English Channel. The poetic speaker in his poem is also on a trip with a lover, and invites the lover to think about history, love, barbarism, religion, and community with him.
What is the story Dover Beach about?
“Dover Beach” is the most celebrated poem by Matthew Arnold, a writer and educator of the Victorian era. The poem expresses a crisis of faith, with the speaker acknowledging the diminished standing of Christianity, which the speaker sees as being unable to withstand the rising tide of scientific discovery.
Among the major Victorian writers, Matthew Arnold is unique in that his reputation rests equally upon his poetry and his poetry criticism.
What is the central idea of Dover Beach?
Dover Beach Summary
It represents the clash between science and religion. This poem opens on a beautiful naturalistic scene. The poet (speaker) stands on the cliffs of Dover Beach. He is gazing out at the majesty of the beauty of nature.
What type of poem is Dover Beach?
“Dover Beach” is identified as a lyric poem, which basically means that it doesn’t tell a story but rather serves as a reflection by the poet on a particular person, place, object, or situation.
Why Dover Beach is an elegy?
This poem reflects a distinct picture of the poet’s melancholic view of life as well as the representation of Victorian loss of faith as a consequence of the rapid growth of science and commerce with the publication of Darwin’s “The Origin of Species” in 1859. An elegy is a poem of mourning or a song of lamentation.
What is Dover Beach a metaphor for?
Metaphor in Dover Beach:
In this poem faith is compared to sea. Here, high tide is compared to the unbreakable faith that people had in God and religion and the ebbing of sea waves is compared to the collapsing spiritual and religious faith.
What is the moon symbolic for in Dover Beach?
In the poem, “Dover Beach”, the moon falls under a happy imagery. It symbolizes the calmness that will get disrupted soon. The moon denotes to the calm before the storm.
What is the conclusion of Dover Beach?
The conclusion of the poem provides a solution for the speaker’s maladies. He beseeches his “love” to be true to him; only in their devotion to each other will they find comfort and certainty in the “confused alarms of struggle and flight” of life.
When was the poem Dover Beach written?
Dover Beach is a ‘honeymoon’ poem. Written in 1851, shortly after Matthew Arnold’s marriage to Frances Lucy Wightman, it evokes quite literally the “sweetness and light” which Arnold famously found in the classical world, in whose image he formed his ideals of English culture.
When was the poem Dover Beach First published in?
Dover Beach, poem by Matthew Arnold, published in New Poems in 1867. The most celebrated of the author’s works, this poem of 39 lines addresses the decline of religious faith in the modern world and offers the fidelity of affection as its successor.
Who is the speaker of Dover Beach?
Summary. “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold is a dramatic monologue lamenting the loss of true Christian faith in England during the mid-1800s as science captured the minds of the public. The poet’s speaker, considered to be Matthew Arnold himself, begins by describing a calm and quiet sea out in the English Channel.
What do the pebbles in Dover Beach symbolize?
The pebbles that get tossed up and down Dover Beach represent the uncontrollable and violent nature of human fate. Many of England’s beaches are covered in pebbles rather than sand.
Why Dover Beach is a romantic poem?
“Dover Beach” is an expression of melancholy and the condition of human nature. It is a lyrical poem that explores the inner substance and spiritualism of being. It is modeled in the Romantic style, which embellishes in the sacred representation of nature, and relates to it in human expression.
What is the tone of poem Dover Beach?
The tone of “Dover Beach” is at once existential and pessimistic.
Is Dover Beach a sad poem?
“Dover Beach” is a melancholic poem. Matthew Arnold uses the means of ‘pathetic fallacy’, when he attributes or rather projects the human feeling of sadness onto an inanimate object like the sea. At the same time he creates a feeling of ‘pathos’.
Is Dover Beach a real place?
Dover Beach is located on Barbados’ South Coast in the parish of Christ Church, with the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, Accra Beach and Needham’s Point Lighthouse to the west, and Maxwell Beach, Welches Beach and Oistins to the east. Situated at the southern end of the popular tourist area of St.
Is the poem Dover Beach an elegy?
Matthew Arnold’s (1822-1888) best-known poem, Dover Beach (1867) is a masterpiece of mood , both a love poem and an elegy. Though published in his 1867 volume New Poems, Dover Beach may have been composed as early as 1851, when Arnold honeymooned at Dover.
What is meant by the Sea of Faith?
The name Sea of Faith is taken from Matthew Arnold’s nostalgic mid-19th century poem “Dover Beach”, in which the poet expresses regret that belief in a supernatural world is slowly slipping away; the “sea of faith” is withdrawing like the ebbing tide.
What is sea the symbol of in Dover Beach?
Arnold uses the sea as a symbol for the inevitably negative fate of humanity. Throughout the poem, the sea and waves gain momentum and become more and more rough and violent. The waves come and go, but they ultimately bring the eternal note of sadness.