Critically Appreciate the Poem “Dover Beach.”

Answer

Critically appreciate the poem “Dover Beach.”

“Dover Beach” (1867) is a poem with the mournful tone of an elegy. Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) visited Dover Beach with his wife for their honeymoon immediately after marriage. It is a dramatic monologue. Here, Mono means single, and Logue means speaker. From a deeper level, it is an elegy for the loss of religious faith. People lost their religious beliefs because of the development of science and commerce, and they were morally bankrupt.

Critical Summary of the Poem: At the very outset of the poem, Arnold represents the beautiful scenery of Dover Beach. He enjoys the peaceful night from the window. The sea is calm, the moon is fair, and the tide is full. His heart is busy collecting and observing the natural beauty. 

Suddenly, he noticed the waves of the sea were withdrawing the pebbles. The pebbles were being forced to move, which the poet felt was a domination. Now, the poet can listen to the grating roar/noise of the pebbles that brings “the eternal notes of sadness.” The waves are compared with the realistic world. They create violence and cause a sense of insecurity. The pebbles are compared with the human beings forced to move from religious faith and morality to the materialistic world.  

In the 2nd stanza, Arnold mentions Sophocles (497-406 B.C). Sophocles was a great tragedian in ancient Greece. His tragedies bear the sadness of human beings.  Arnold says that Sophocles heard the same sounds in the Aegean Sea of his time. Arnold says about him reflecting on his great tragedies. Sophocles showed the helplessness and tragic fall of human beings as a tragedian.  He includes, 

Sophocles long ago

Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought

Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow

Of human misery; 

Arnold refers to Sophocles’s name as a touchstone that provides a sense of security in this insecure world.

In the third stanza, Arnold exposes the reason