Dover Beach

‘Dover Beach’ by Matthew Arnold^{(Bio | Poems)} was published in 1867 in the volume entitled New Poems. In this poem, Matthew discusses how faith used to encompass the whole world, holding the populous tight in its embrace. But, he believes, it is losing ground to the sciences, particularly those related to evolution (The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin was published in 1859).

Dover Beach
Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits; on the French coast the lightGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,Glimmering 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 Ægean, 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 pain;And we are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Summary

‘Dover Beach‘ by Matthew Arnold^{(Bio | Poems)} 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^{(Bio | Poems)} himself, begins by describing a calm and quiet sea out in the English Channel. He stands on the Dover coast and looks across to France, where a small light can be seen briefly and then vanishes. This light represents the diminishing faith of the English people and the world around them. Throughout this poem, the speaker/Arnold crafts an image of the sea receding and returning to land with the world’s faith as it changes throughout time. At this point in time, though, the sea is not returning. It is receding farther out into the strait. 

The poem concludes pessimistically as the speaker makes clear to the reader that all the beauty and happiness that one may believe they are experiencing is not, in fact, real. The world is actually without peace, joy, or help for those in need, and the human race is too distracted by its own ignorance to see where true assistance is needed anymore. 

Structure and Form

‘Dover Beach’ is made up of four stanzas containing a variable number of lines. They range in length from fourteen to six lines in length. There is no consistent rhyme scheme, but there are several random end rhymes such as “-and” and “-ay” throughout the poem and written in irregular iambic pentameter. 

Literary Devices

Throughout this poem, the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to:

• Alliteration: the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “lie,” “like,” and “land” in stanza four.
• Allusion: a reference to something outside the scope of the poem. In this case, the poet alludes to Sophocles, a Greek playwright.
• Simile: a comparison between two things that uses “like” or “as.” For example, “To lie before us like a land of dreams.”
• Imagery: the use of particularly interesting descriptions that help readers imagine a scene in great detail. For example, “The tide is full, the moon lies fair.”

Detailed Analysis

Stanza One

The sea is calm tonight. 

The tide is full, the moon lies fair 

Upon the straits; on the French coast the light 

Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, 

Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. 

Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!

Only, from the long line of spray 

Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, 

Listen! you hear the grating roar 

Of 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 bring 

The eternal note of sadness in. 

Arnold begins ‘Dover Beach’ by describing the setting in which it is taking place. It is clear from the title, although never explicitly stated in the poem, that the beach in question is Dover, on the coast of England. The sea is said to be calm; there is a beach on the water at full tide. The moon “lies fair,” lovely, “upon the straits” (a strait is a narrow passage of water such as the English Channel onto which Dover Beach abuts).

 Although it is useful to imagine the speaker in a particular place, the setting is not as important as what it represents. 

The speaker can see across the Channel to the French side of the water. The lights on the far coast are visibly gleaming, and then they disappear, and the “cliffs of England” are standing by themselves “vast” and “glimmering” in the bay. The light that shines then vanishes, representing to this speaker, and to Arnold himself, the vanishing faith of the English people. 

No one around him seems to see the enormity of what is happening, and the night is quiet. There is a calm the speaker refers to as “tranquil.” But as the reader will come to see, many things may seem one way but exist as the opposite. 

Now the speaker turns to another person that is in the scene with him and asks that this unnamed person comes to the window and breathe in the “sweet…night-air!” 

The second half of this stanza is spent describing the sounds of the water that the speaker is viewing. The speaker draws his companion’s attention to the sound that the water makes as it rushes in over the pebbles on the shore. They roll over one another creating, “the grating roar.” This happens over and over again as the sea recedes and returns. The slow cadence of this movement, and its eternal repetitions, seem sad to the narrator. As if the returning sea is bringing with it, “The eternal note of sadness in.” 

Stanza Two

Sophocles long ago 

Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought 

Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow 

Of human misery; we 

Find also in the sound a thought, 

Hearing it by this distant northern sea. 

The second stanza is much shorter and relates to the world in which the two characters are in the larger picture of history. The speaker states that “long ago,” Sophocles heard this sound on the Ægean sea as the tides came in. It, too, brought to his mind the feelings of “human misery” and how these emotions “ebb and flow.” Sophocles, who penned the play Antigone, is one of the best-known dramatic writers of Ancient Greece. 

Arnold hopes to bring to the reader’s attention the universal experience of misery that all throughout time have lived with. This short stanza ends with a return to the present as the narrator states that “we” are finding these same emotions in the sound. 

Stanza Three

The Sea of Faith 

Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore 

Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. 

But now I only hear 

Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, 

Retreating, to the breath 

Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear 

And naked shingles of the world. 

In the third stanza of ‘Dover Beach,’ it becomes clear that Arnold is speaking about the diminishing faith of his countrymen and women. He describes how “The Sea of Faith” once covered all of the “round earth’s shore” and held everyone together like a girdle. Now though, this time has passed. No longer is the populous united by a common Christian faith in God by, as Arnold sees it, spread apart by new sciences and conflicting opinions. 

The comparison that he has been crafting between the drawing away and coming in of the sea is now made clear as his speaker says there is no longer any return. The sea is only receding now, “melancholy” and “long.” It is retreating from England and the rest of the lands of the earth and leaving the people exposed. 

Stanza Four

Ah, love, let us be true 

To one another! for the world, which seems 

To 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 pain; 

And we are here as on a darkling plain 

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, 

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

At the beginning of the fourth stanza, it becomes clear that the companion who is looking out over the water with the speaker is most likely a lover or romantic partner. 

He speaks now directly to her, and perhaps, to all those true believers in God that are still out there. He asks that they remain true to one another in this “land of dreams.” The world is no longer what it was, and it is more like a dream than the reality he is used to. It is a land that appears to be full of various beautiful, new, and joyous things, but that is not the case. This new world is, in fact, without “joy…love…[or] light…certitude… [or] peace,” or finally, help for those in pain. It is not what it appears to be. 

The poem concludes with a pessimistic outlook on the state of the planet. As the people are suffering around the world on “a darkling plain,” confused and fighting for things they don’t understand, real suffering is going on, and faith is slipping away. 

About Matthew Arnold 

Matthew Arnold^{(Bio | Poems)}, poet and essayist, was born in Laleham, Middlesex, in 1822 and was quickly recognized for his talent. He completed an undergraduate degree at Balliol College, Oxford University, after which he taught Classics at Rugby School. 

Arnold would then work for thirty-five years as a government school inspector, during which time he acquired an interest in education that influenced his poetic works. He established his reputation as a poet and became a Professor of Poetry at Oxford and wrote several critical works during this time. 

His poetry is known for its contemplation of isolation, the dwindling faith of his age, and his subtle style. His work is often compared to that of Sylvia Plath^{(Bio | Poems)} and William Butler Yeats^{(Bio | Poems)}. Matthew Arnold^{(Bio | Poems)} died in 1888 in Liverpool. 

FAQs

Similar Poetry

Readers who enjoyed this piece should also consider exploring some other Matthew Arnold poems. For example:

• ‘Buried Life‘ – is a monologue through which a distressed speaker analyzes his complicated feelings about his own inner life.
• ‘Growing Old‘ – is about the reality of aging and how one’s youthful expectations will not be fulfilled as one’s body loses beauty and strength.
• ‘Longing‘ – a poem directed at someone’s lover. They ask this person to visit them in their dreams since they can’t be together during the day.