Dover Beach | Matthew Arnold | Summary | Generations | Grade XII
Short summary:
The
poem deplores the ebb of faith in a world that is changing rapidly with the
growth of science and technology.
Summary
This
is a poem about a sea and a beach that is truly beautiful, but holds much
deeper meaning than what meets the eye. The poem is written in free verse with
no particular meter or rhyme scheme, although some of the words do rhyme. The
speaker looks out upon a calm sea, and observes the fullness of the tide
and the moon reflecting on the water. Looking across the English channel,
the speaker sees the lights of the French coast fade away, while the
cliffs of the English coast stand tall and bright, and the bay seems
calm. Suddenly, the speaker addresses someone else, and implores this
person to come and look at what the speaker is looking at, and to enjoy the
night's pleasant air. The speaker senses something is not quite right, and
describes the spray where the water meets the moonlit land. The speaker
instructs the other person to listen to the sound of the pebbles as the waves
shift them back and forth, up the beach and down again. The speaker notes
this slow repeating action, and identifies it with eternal sadness.
All
of a sudden, the speaker thinks about the ancient Greek playwright, Sophocles,
and imagines Sophocles hearing the same sadness in the Aegean Sea as the
speaker hears now on the English coast. Sophocles, in the mind of the
speaker, likens the sad sound of the waves to the general sorrow of humanity,
which moves like the waves. The speaker then notices another thought that
comes with the sound of the sea.
Explaining
this next thought, the speaker describes religious faith as a sea that was once
full like the tide. At that time, it reached around the earth like a
girdle. Now, though, the speaker just hears that sea's sad
retreat. As the Sea of Faith becomes smaller, says the speaker, it
disappears into the atmosphere and leaves the edges of the world naked.
The
speaker suddenly addresses the companion as "love," and states
desperately that the two of them need to treat each other with honesty and
authenticity. This is because the world, though it has a dream-like
quality of variety, beauty and newness, doesn't actually offer joy, love or
clarity. Neither, claims the speaker, can it provide certainty, peace, or
relief from pain. The speaker then compares their collective situation to
standing on a flat and dark piece of land, which is caught up in the chaos of
fighting. Here, battles between unknowing groups continue under the cover
of darkness.
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