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.
What does Dover Beach represent?
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.
What does Dover Beach say about life?
The beauty of the language in “Dover Beach” works against its main premise, that life is fundamentally lightless and joyless. Even if the subject is grim, the poem itself emphasizes the fundamental hopefulness of existence.
What is the famous land information at Dover Beach?
White Cliffs of Dover. The famous White Cliffs of Dover are a chalk formation in the southeast of the island of Great Britain. The cliffs look out on the narrowest part of the English Channel, which stretches between Great Britain and the continent of Europe.
Why is Dover Beach known as a Victorian poem?
In Victorian Poetry, Dover Beach was said to have been a “representative of a whole phase of Victorian thought because it refuses to ground itself exactly: it has, intriguingly, neither specific focus on what kind of faith it considers nor on the causes of its decay” (O’Gorman 312).
What is the message in the end of the poem Dover Beach?
Analysis of the poem. Through this poem “Dover Beach”, speaker manages to comment on his most recurring themes. Its message is that the world’s mystery has declined with the rise in modernity. But, this decline is painted as particularly uncertain, dark, and volatile.
What is the lesson of Dover Beach?
Dover Beach presents a fluid, changing world in which old superstitions and knowledges are being superseded by new understandings – and wrestles with the dislocating feeling of living in an insecure world of incomplete and unexplained knowledges.
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 the main conflict in Dover Beach?
1 Answer. The main conflict in the poem is between faith and despair. The poem marks a distinction between the time when people had faith in religion and over one another and to the present times, where the unforeseeable future leads to the loss of faith in humanity.
What is the central message and theme of the Dover Beach?
The beauty of nature is a distraction from the misery of being alive. In his poem “Dover Beach,” Matthew Arnold successfully captures the beauty of the world and manages to turn it into the idea of life being full of despair.
Why is Dover famous?
The town is the gateway to the continent, controlling the English Channel and known as the ‘Lock and Key of England’. Due to this key strategic position, Dover has been the subject of several attempts at invasion: Julius Caesar tried to land at Dover during the Roman Invasion of 55 BC.
What is the best tone to describe Dover Beach?
Explanation: Matthew Arnold achieves a lonely tone in the poem “Dover Beach, ” through the use of imagery, simile, and personification. The poem begins with a simple statement: “the sea is calm tonight”.
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.
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 is Dover Beach a honeymoon poem?
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.
How is Dover Beach a romantic poem?
Answer : In most of the lines of the poem “Dover Beach”, Matthew Arnold explored the theme of loss of faith in God and religion, but in the last stanza, Arnold has depicted the comforting power of love. Thus it can be said that “ Dover Beach”, on one level can certainly be called a love poem.
What is the central theme of the poem?
The central theme of a poem represents its controlling idea. This idea is crafted and developed throughout the poem and can be identified by assessing the poem’s rhythm, setting, tone, mood, diction and, occasionally, title.
What are some of the themes in the poem Dover Beach?
The main themes in “Dover Beach” are religious uncertainty, human continuity, and the consolations of love. Religious uncertainty: In the Victorian period, religious belief waned as a result of scientific discovery and the progress of modernity. “Dover Beach” laments this loss and wonders where people can find meaning.
What is the tone of the poem the Dover Beach?
The tone of “Dover Beach” is predominantly melancholic and to a certain extent even tragic. The predominant mood of despair and gloom pervades throughout the poem.
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’.
What does the moon symbolize 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.