Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold

Dover Beach – Matthew Arnold

This vast expression of a lack of faith by Matthew Arnold creates an illusion of being caught up in the world, powerless to change our path or shape ourselves within it. There is some distant wish to be formed within the world, yet it still seems very much out of reach ‘he who finds himself, loses his misery.’ Written on one of the nights of his honeymoon in Dover we hear a man speaking who has failed to live up to expectations and lost who he is within the world as he has slipped out of touch from situations arising which he was unable to change- demonstrating how this boundless, powerful world is what dictates our lives. The death of his father who had held no real expectations of him left him at a loss, no longer even knowing himself, something which is reflected within his poetry.

     Matthew Arnold broke literary conventions; because of this many people regard his poetry as marking a turning point for literature. This point of change arises from his clear lack of faith alongside with the idea of there being nothing out there in the world for us. Despite the darkness of this idea his poetry is very much indulging in the beauty of the world, however cruel and fixed it might be behind the scenes.

     In his poem ‘Dover Beach’ we see that he seems to be talking to somebody, whom we are lead to assume as Arnold’s wife. There is no reply to his words to her however. This leads us to see the possibility that even though he may be with somebody at the time he still feels alone as words such as ‘misery’ and ‘sadness’ crop up further in the poem.

     Arnold goes on to describe the land as ‘moon-blanched’ as the sea comes to meet it. The idea of the land being ‘moon-blanched’ incorporates a vivid use of imagery building up the picture of a landscape that is in many respects pale and dead- the life having been drained from it. The sea meeting this landscape is a contrast, described as ‘glimmering’ and ‘vast’ capturing a potent and unattainable sense of freedom from the world, rules, and any expectations which life on land captures society within. The sea in contrast to the land is capturing the very essence of life. ‘Bright’ and showing life within its very incessant movement as the waves ‘Begin, and cease, and then again begin.’ However, the ocean is an unattainable freedom, which lurks just out of reach for Arnold, tantalisingly close but still too far away as he remains trapped on the lifeless earth only able to wistfully observe.

     There seems to be a distinct feeling of being lost within the world- too small to make a difference or to change the constant cycle. This sense of repetition and being trapped within a system is held within ‘Dover Beach’ as the feeling of ‘sadness’ is described as ‘eternal’, showing how Arnold truly sees no way out of where he is. The repetition of the waves as they ‘Begin, and cease, and then again begin’ is a reflection of how you could feel trapped in a system such as society and how life can sink into a monotonous, empty state over time.

     Arnold’s line ‘Ah, love, let us be true’ signifies to me how he is uniting with his wife as they are both small playing pieces in this world, imprisoned together. As they are both alone in the world they must come together to face the hardships ahead laid out for them by the world.

The fact that the world is described as having ‘neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain’ shows the earth as emotionless in many senses, almost as if these qualities are strictly human alone, both the beautiful and the difficult. We see ‘human misery’ commented on, distinctly showing how this is only a human trait. This could be Arnold’s use of language telling us that we as humans only have ourselves to blame for sadness as the emotions belong to us and are essentially our own.