English- Response to Dover Beach PDF

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Dover Beach response written assignment. ...

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Response to “Dover Beach” “Dover Beach” a poem written by Matthew Arnold is over all very impassioned and intense towards the author’s view of the world and life. It is through the intensity of the poem with the strong use of symbolism and imagery, that I personally believe that Arnold ends up realizing or perhaps accepting that there is no hope in humanity. This conclusion was made after going through and analyzing the entire poem. In the beginning of the poem the author uses a lot imagery and portraits a peaceful setting in which the author is. However, it is not until he begins to describe the ocean `as rebellious and disturbed, that I am able to see a shift in the meaning of the poem. “With tremulous cadence slow, and bring / The eternal note of sadness in.’’ (13-14), these lines brought me to a sense that the ocean’s back and forth movement, which he had presented them as unsettled , reminded him of a “sadness” in life, a sadness that not only is temporary but “eternal”. I think that this line is extremely important and contains a deep meaning. These lines finish the first stanza a bit “dark” after introducing a beautiful and peaceful scene. However, it introduces the rest of the poem in which becomes more “darker” as the author describes his view of life. The use of the word “eternal” gave a sense of a never ending sadness and gave me a feeling of little hope to the author. At this point of the poem the author has not really revealed much, I still can not tell what brings him to say such thing. On the second stanza, the author goes back in time and compares his own comparison to the ocean to the one Sophocles had done as well. Sophocles goes back in the Greek times , nevertheless I believe that this reference the author makes only helps support his view towards the “human misery” , maybe to prove that he does not stand alone. The third stanza begins with a strong analogy “The Sea of Faith / Was once too, at the full, and round earth’s shore... But now I only hear / Its melancholy, long ,withdrawing roar” (21-22,24-27). From my interpretation, I believe that this “Sea of Faith” could be referring to a faith that was once seen and viewed among many. However, I believe that this faith the author mentions is not necessarily a religious

faith but rather a faith in humanity. I also believe that the reference to “Sea’ refers to a faith shared among others. Overall, I think that in this stanza Arnold implies that the ocean waves proclaim the loss of faith in humanity has disappeared among everyone. “Ah, love, let us be true/To one another! for the world, which seems so beautiful, so new” ( 3032) , in the beginning of the last stanza I can finally make the conclusion that he admits to not only himself but to his lover, his hopeless view in humanity. By stating “let us be true”, I believe Arnold is proclaiming a realization that lies underneath the beauty of the world they see, in this case the ocean under the moon light. I do believe Arnold hold some hope in humanity at the beginning or perhaps was confused or careless about humanity. I am able to conclude this because of how peacefully he was able to observe the sea at first, without any sort of disturbance by his own thoughts. To conclude, I believe that he reaches a “realization” which leads to his “acceptance” in having little or no hope in humanity.

Works Cited: Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. 2nd. New York ; London: W.W. Norton, 2012. 1387-1388. Print....