“Dover Beach” is a poem that was written by Matthew Arnold which describes a speaker’s view on faith slowly fading from the world in which he lives. The primary purpose of this poem is to use imagery to paint a picture of the dying religious presence in the world that the speaker finds himself in. This is the central message that Matthew Arnold is trying to get across to his audience. An excellent example of how Arnold translates this to the reader is how the tone of the first eight lines and the tone of the final three lines of the poem differ from each other. The first eight lines of “Dover Beach” sets the initial tone for the beginning of the poem. They are used to paint a picture within the reader’s head and to present a specific tone in the beginning. The speaker gives the reader a …show more content…
He uses the term, “The Sea of Faith”, as a metaphor to describe the “ocean” of religious influence that the world once had. (Arnold 21). He eventually ends the poem with three lines that possess a completely opposite tone that the initially eight lines did. Instead of being in a calm, tranquil place, the reader is told, “And we are here as on a darkling plain” (Arnold 35). The speaker has taken us from a tone of tranquility and joyfulness to instead one of hopelessness and gloom. The final two lines depict death and blind violence, “Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight / Where ignorant armies clash by night” (Arnold 36,37). The speaker specifically describes the armies as “clashing by night”, in order to suggest that with the blackness of night the fighters are most likely not only killing their enemies but also their allies. The speaker has seen the world’s dying religious faith and has come to accept that times are changing and that means that chaos is coming. This change of thought is the primary purpose for the dramatic change on tone that we witness within these
In the second stanza the distinctive experience of power is present. The use of the technique of imagery and emotive words “to pluck them from the shallows and bury them in burrows’ tells us that the soldiers were strong, loyal and had enough power within a degree to assist fellow soldiers. The use of personification to create sound “sob and clubbing of the gunfire” This leads the audience to understand what the soldiers were up against without even directly saying it. The imagery visually shows the scene in their
“The Beach is written in the style of a free verse poem consisting of two stanzas, the first one having nineteen lines and the second having twelve. The lines vary significantly in length and feature a large amount of enjambment which stretches over fur lines in some cases. The mood and atmosphere of the poem is extremely relaxed and promotes the reader to feel nostalgic about the last time they themselves visited the beach.
Prior to his arrival, Mildred rushes out her house mumbling, “Poor family, poor family...everything, everything gone now…” as if she was on the verge of a mental breakdown (Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 114). When Montag proposes the idea of conversing with each other, Mildred, Mrs. Phelps, and Mrs. Bowles react with shock. Montag eventually persuaded them to listen to “Dover Beach,” a poem sewn with brilliant emotional appeals. The novel’s emotional environment becomes violent at this point where each of these women react to Montag with discontent. Mrs. Phelps begins to sob uncontrollably because she felt that the poem’s words hurt people.
Montag compares Mildred’s friends to plaster saints he saw in a church when he was young, because they were silent and he did not understand them. Montag goes to meet Faber, and he brings a copy of the Bible. When he begins his journey to meet Beatty Faber reads him the book of Job to comfort him. The biggest quote from the Bible is said by Montag at the end of the book. He is contemplating what to share with his new acquaintances, when he remembers the verse Revelations 22:2 “And on the other side of the river was there a tree of life...and the leaves of the tree were the healing of the nations” (Page 158). This verse implies a renewal or a cycle, in which hope is given after a disaster. Bombs destroyed the city, but now the leaves (perhaps books, or knowledge) will heal the survivors. The Bible is timeless, so by including quotes and references in the novel, Bradbury implies that the power of books is also timeless. After meeting with Faber, Montag makes his way to the firehouse, but first stops at his home. He finds Mildred and her friends, and becomes unraveled when interacting with them. Montag balks at their ignorance and nonchalance, so he recites a poem that he hopes they’ll react to. Dover Beach is a poem by Matthew Arnold, written in 1867. In the poem he laments the values that were lost in his society. Montag angrily reads it to the women, and they become visibly upset, one of them even crying. The poem forces
At first glance, Anthony Hecht's "Dover Bitch" is not only funnier than Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", but also describes a more "liberated" relationship; the poem is as free from what some would consider stuffy Victorian morals as it is from references to Sophocles. Hecht's urbane and flippant persona tends to win over its audience, whether they find irony in the poem that adds to their appreciation of "Dover Beach", appreciate the poem as a criticism of Victorian morals, or laugh at Arnold's apparent inability to give his girl "a good time." "Dover Bitch" also seems to give more power to the lover, who is kept behind the scenes in Arnold, by bringing "her" opinions and wishes into the foreground of the poem. However, on closer
The classic poem, Dover Beach, written by Matthew Arnold, is a statement about losing faith as a result of enlightenment. In an emotionally charged scene in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, fireman Guy Montag reads the poem aloud to his wife and her friends. Bradbury could have chosen any piece of literature for Montag to read as a means of unveiling his collection of hoarded books and his newfound interest in reading them. Bradbury uses this particular piece because the speaker in the poem is expressing feelings that are very similar to those of Montag in Fahrenheit 451.
The poem I will be analysing today is Song of the Surf by Dan Ashlin. Ashlin is a born and bred Australian poet who writes modern poems. I believe that I have a strong connection with this poem because of how much I personally love the beach with the soft sand and the ferocious waves. In my opinion this poem isn’t just about the waves in the ocean, but how the ocean has its own life and story to tell.
Matthew Arnold’s poem, “Dover Beach” does a great job at portraying what love is talked up to be. He starts the poem by saying, “The sea is calm tonight / The tide is full the moon lies fair / the cliffs of England stand / Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.” (1-2, 4-5.) giving off a peaceful and tranquil tone and adding on to that in the following lines of the stanza. Th importance of the setting of the poem is that it paints a beautiful landscape which gives breath to the idea
The poem “Beach Chairs”, written by Joyce Ebrecht, is one of many poems that share a meaning of love. The situation of the poem is that of two couples sitting on beach chairs and watching the world pass by while thinking about their love for each other. The overall themes of this poem are that of love and unity. Joyce Ebrecht achieves these overall themes through the structure, diction, figures of speech, pace/rhythm, and sounds of the poem.
But as the poem continues, it is interrupted by events that are unnaturalistic which shifts the view of the beach. In the poem, a point occurs where the beach is drastically changed both physically and mentally: “You hear the grating roar… But now I only hear / Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar / Retreating, to the breath” (Arnold 9, 24-26) The differences between the “grating roar” and the “withdrawing roar” of the beach is that when water crashes closer towards land, the beach grates against rocks on purpose. But “withdrawing” roars of the beach shows that the beach wants to escape from land, and venture “down the cast edges… and naked shingles of the world”(Arnold 27-28) where no men can interfere. This excerpt further justifies that men have become too overwhelming and warlike to a point where everyone wants to flee from the danger. The “melancholy [and] long[ing]” of the beach shows that this war won’t end in the near future and will gradually continue. Arnold further justifies taking a stand for oneself when stating how the beach moves towards the “naked shingles of the world.” The beach could be viewed as citizens because in the beginning, we are mostly innocent and calm but whenever an event takes place, we just go along with the circumstance, similar to how water flows with each other and never goes off by itself. We follow what society tells us to do and what is safe to do but in the end, people, running from a problem isn’t the best solution and should stand up for what is
Ray Bradbury chose to include the poem, Dover Beach, in his novel because it represents the society in Fahrenheit 451. Although the Earth is beautiful and almost perfect, the people that live in it are internally struggling. The last stanza is what represents the dystopian society the most. The poem states, “And we are here as on a darkling plain / Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight” (Arnold 35-36).
The speaker feels that faith has disappeared and has separated her or him from the "ebb and flow" of life. This lost faith is compared to a sea that is very similar to the sea described in the first stanza. Words of lightness and beauty are used once more. The shore "lays like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd." There is a sense of encompassing joy in this phrase. This bright and joyful image is then contrasted by the last five lines of the stanza. "The Sea of Faith" has now retreated, like a tide withdraws from the shore. It is interesting to note the similarities and differences between the words of these five lines and the words from the first stanza. The sweet "night-air"becomes "the night-wind," and the cliffs that were once "glimmering and vast" are still vast, but only dreary edges. The sea that was "round" and "full" has now left the world empty and exposed. Similarly, the speaker has lost his faith and feels alone and vulnerable.
The poem contains two stanzas with two different settings. One might not know much about the first stanza; however, in the second one the speaker is next to an ocean, perhaps, at a beach. So, while the first stanza symbolizes the mindset of the speaker, the inner dream, the second stanza symbolizes the outer dream which is what we see; life. The poem
A Comparison of Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold and Prayer Before Brith by Louis MacNeice
Throughout the poem he refers to the ocean and water frequently. From previous research, I learned he had died of alcoholism. Perhaps the ocean is an analogy for his drinking problem depicting himself drowning in his problems. The word choice throughout the poem is very vivid, giving myself the ability to paint a graphic picture while reading. For example, “I see a corpse upon the waters lie/ With eyes turned, swelled and sightless, to the sky.” These very first lines give me the imagery of a scene from a movie like “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The author made it very easy to relate to and make a connection with the statement of being lonely in life. As for the world view, it is evidently stated in line 8. Branwell discuss how the sea is calmer than the world's turmoil. Now that means there is some serious issues going on throughout the world because typically oceans are never calm. This poem is much more negative and sounds like it is written to express regret in some manner. It seems like the author struggled mentally and is unable to get out of his own way. The second stanza talks about having an outward frame of a life with great potential, while he is trapped in his inner frame of regrets and