Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold Poems

Matthew Arnold is best-remembered for his poem, Dover Beach‘. It, along with several others, solidified Arnold’s place in the history of 19th-century poetry. Read more about Matthew Arnold.

Dover Beach

by Matthew Arnold

‘Dover Beach’ by Matthew Arnold is dramatic monologue lamenting the loss of true Christian faith in England during the mid 1800s.

'Dover Beach' is widely regarded as one of Matthew Arnold's best poems due to its evocative language, powerful imagery, and timeless and deeply relevant themes to the 19th century. The poem's exploration of the decline of faith, the human condition, and the power of nature has made it a lasting masterpiece of English literature.

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,

Explore more poems from Matthew Arnold

Buried Life

by Matthew Arnold

‘Buried Life’ by Matthew Arnold is a monologue through which a distressed speaker analyzes his complicated feelings about his own inner life.

Growing Old

by Matthew Arnold

‘Growing Old’ is about the reality of aging and how ones youthful expectations will not be fulfilled as one’s body losing beauty and strength.

Longing

by Matthew Arnold

‘Longing’ by Matthew Arnold is 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.

Philomena

by Matthew Arnold

‘Philomena’ by Matthew Arnold follows a narrator who after encountering a nightingale in the woods in England, interprets it’s calls for the sounds of mourning.

The Forsaken Merman

by Matthew Arnold

‘The Forsaken Merman’ by Matthew Arnold is a melancholy poem in which the speaker, a merman, grieves the loss of his human wife. He’s left alone with their children without the woman he loves.

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