Dover Beach Analysis free essay sample

Matthew Arnold uses many literary techniques to make Dover Beach such a prominent and well-known poem. By rhetorical schemes, tropes, and imagery, Arnold demonstrates a theme that can connote many different ideas. However by analyzing this poem, I interpreted Dover Beach to be about Christianity. The theme or central message of Dover Beach pertains to people questioning the moral and theological concepts of Christianity; therefore, people losing faith is religion and god. Arnold wrote this poem in 1851. During this time period, science contested many religious beliefs, which caused Christianity to no longer be a pillar of aith supported by the people. Through his poem, he illustrates his strong religious beliefs. The light he sees in Dover Beach off the French coast of England is symbolic of faith, which gleams and is gone (Line 4). This shows that faith of the people is dying. Dover Beach consists of a somber tone. It contains sadness like an elegy does, as if faith is the death being mourned instead of a person. The poem also has qualities of a dramatic monologue. There is only one speaker whom is talking to an imaginary audience. For example the speaker says, Listen! You hear the grating roar, in line 9 s if he is preaching to a crowd of people, however he is not. There is no set meter and rhyme varies from line to line. Therefore, Dover Beach is considered to be free verse. Although this poem is written in free verse, it still attains a strong cadence through rhetorical schemes. End rhymes are sporadically seen throughout the poem. An example is in the last two lines, Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight/Where ignorant armies clash by night. Flight and night rhyme, which creates rhythm throughout the poem. Another tool Arnold uses is parallelism. For instance line 2 has parallel syntax. Both phrases in, The tide is full, the moon lies fair, have the same structure of an article, noun, verb and adjective. Parallelism can also be seen in lines 32, 33, and 34. This forms balance throughout the poem. In line 12, epanalepsis is used when begin is repeated at the beginning and end of the line, Begin, and cease, and then again begin. Polysyndeton is also used in line 12 when Arnold repeats and before each phrase. The pauses amplify the line to create a more dramatic effect or tone. Not only does Arnold use rhetorical schemes to enhance his poem, but he also uses several tropes or fgures of thought. Several metaphors are used to portray detailed imagery for the reader. An example is line 21, The Sea of Faith, this describes faith as a vast area as big as the ocean. The metaphor compares a tangible object (the sea) with an intangible object (faith) to allow the reader to visualize something that we cannot physically see. Another metaphor is present in lines 17 and 18. Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow/Of human misery. Again this line cultivates a visual perspective to an intangible thing. Additionally, the poem has a simile, which gives the reader great imagery as well. We see this in line 21-23. The bright girdle furled. Hear Arnold compares faith to the shore of Dover Beach. To generate a dramatic, somber tone, Matthew Arnold uses a hyperbole. In lines 9 and 10 he exaggerates the gratin g sounds of the pebbles by comparing it to a roar. Listen! you hear the grating roar/Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling. Furthermore, Arnold strategically places words and phrases to establish his dedication to Christianity, and the lack of faith in this time period. For instance, in the first stanza, Arnold sets up the situation of the poem. The sea is calm to-night. o The tide is full, the moon lies fair0 Upon the straits; on the French coast the light0 Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;0 Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. 0 Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! 0 Only, from the long line of spray0 Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,0 Listen! ou hear the grating roar0 Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,0 At their return, up the high strand,0 Begin, and cease, and then again begin,0 With tremulous cadence slow, and bring0 The eternal note of sadness in. In lines 2 and 3, he establishes a setting. In other words, he says that the water reflects the image of the moon. A strait is a narrow body of water that connects two larger bodies of water. The strait in this poem refers to the Strait of Dover, which connects the North Sea to the English Channel. Line 3 and 4 mirror a flickering light. This creates rhythm as well as foreshadows of what is to come. We can compare this light to faith in God. At one point the light (faith) was strong, but now it flickers, which portrays doubt. The Cliffs of England in lines 4 and 5 further develop the theme of oubt in faith. Because these cliffs are made of chalk and limestone, they easily erode. Arnold says they glimmer which supports the theme of light, but they also easily erode which supports the theme of a weakening faith. The grating roar of pebbles, (lines 9-10) introduces conflict between land and sea, which symbolizes the people challenging long-held religious beliefs. To continue, the second stanza alludes to the Greek play, Antigone, to provide evidence of why the people should remain faithful. Sophocles long ag00 Heard it on the Agaean, and it brought0 Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow0 Of human misery; we0 Find also in the sound a thought,0 Hearing it by this distant northern sea. In Antigone, Sophocles explains that gods can place demise on people from generation to generation. An example, of this downfall can be a powerful tide provoked by harsh winds. The it line 2 of this stanza refers to the eternal note of sadness in line 14 in the first stanza. The Agaean is the sea between Greece and Turkey. Also, the fifth line in this stanza explains that the sounds of the sea that the allusions to Antigone are meant to portray that loss of faith will result in your demise ecause god is all-powerful. The third stanza, demonstrates how the loss of faith results in loneliness, human misery, and abandonment. The Sea of Faith0 Was once, too, at the full, and round earths shore0 Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. 0 But now I only hear01ts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,0 Retreating, to the breath0 Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear0 And naked shingles of the world. Arnold uses the word girdle in the third line of this stanza to illustrate God as comforting, strong, and protective. As if faith wrapped around us like a girdle. In line and 3 of th is stanza he explains that the Sea of Faith was once full and surrounded the earths shore, like a girdle does a person. However, now the speaker feels surrounded by a sea of doubt. He feels lonely and abandoned, no longer comforted by faith because science has challenged his God. The last stanza is the climax of the poem. It shows the selfishness of humans. Ah, love, let us be true0 To one another! for the world, which seems0 To lie before us like a land of dreams,0 So various, so beautiful, so new,0 Hath really neither Joy, nor love, nor light,0 Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;0 And we are here as on a darkling plain0 Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,0 Where ignorant armies clash by night. With faith, the world was beautiful and Joyous, but now that we have questioned religion, it has become filled with hatred and pain. There is no longer a guiding light. To conclude, Matthew Arnolds poem Dover Beach is so successful because he uses many tools that emphasize his theme. The poem is so detailed and strategically written that the readers can feel the sadness and somberness of the poem. We can truly see how the loss of faith really affected him.