Dover Beach Essay - 1078 Words

In the poem quot;Dover Beachquot;,witten in 1867 Matthew Arnold creates the mood of the poem through the usage of different types of imagery. He uses a dramatic plot in the form of a soliloquy. Arnold also uses descriptive adjectives, similes and metaphors to create the mood. Through the use of these literary elements, Arnold portrays the man standing before the window pondering the sound of the pebbles tossing in the waves as representation of human suffering. The man arrives at the vision of humanity being helpless against nature. Arnold creates the mood by suggesting mental pictures, actions, sights and sounds the man sees. Some examples are quot;folds of a bright girdle furledquot;, quot;lie before us like a land of dreamsquot;†¦show more content†¦In the second part of the poem, Arnold uses the same method of writing, however he speaks of human history to further support the mood of the quot;Sea of Faithquot; and its quot;eternal sadnessquot;. Arnold writes of Sophocles hearing the quot;eternal sadnessquot; on quot;the Aegeanquot; with its quot;turbid ebb and flowquot;. This appeals to the sense of hearing and causes the reader to almost hear powerful waves crashing to the land below. Sophocles saw the waves as sounds of quot;human miseryquot;. Arnold is portraying the parallel thought between the speakers feelings and Sophocles same sadness over the changing of the land. The metaphor of the tides and the sea is suggested by the sounds and view of the speakers window, but Arnold uses Sophocles as another example of natures strength over the entire world. Arnold uses this to illustrate the speakers despair and helplessness over his situation. Arnold uses this writing to exhibit the conflict between the land and the sea, and how more than just land suffers from the destruction. Arnold wants to show how deep the speakers emotions run for his home. In the third stanza, Arnold uses imagery and metaphors to depict the setting, which further set the mood of the poem. The first three lines portray and insinuate prospects of a visual image. The last five lines appeal to the auditory sense in the form of despair. In the first part of the stanza, Arnold characterizes the sea as divine.Show MoreRelatedDover Beach Essay1187 Words   |  5 Pagesthe biggest questions of life: poetry. All teasing aside, the poem is indeed best suited to deal with matters of the unknown because poems are intrinsically left open to interpretation. In the simplest terms, Matthew Arnold’s 18th century poem â€Å"Dover Beach† is about the unknown. The poem doesn’t just reflect on that idea, no, it edifies about humanity’s history with ‘questions that have no answers’ and the great internal and external conflicts inherent within. In the end, the poem attempts to findRead MoreDover Bitch and Dover Beach Comparisons14 61 Words   |  6 PagesAt first glance, Anthony Hechts Dover Bitch is not only funnier than Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach, but also describes a more liberated relationship; the poem is as free from what some would consider stuffy Victorian morals as it is from references to Sophocles. Hechts urbane and flippant persona tends to win over its audience, whether they find irony in the poem that adds to their appreciation of Dover Beach, appreciate the poem as a criticism of Victorian morals, or laugh at Arnolds apparentRead More Essay on Dover Beach: An Analysis1052 Words   |  5 Pages An Analysis of Dover Beachnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Dover Beach intrigued me as soon as I read the title. I have a great love of beaches, so I feel a connection with the speaker as he or she stands on the cliffs of Dover, looking out at the sea and reflecting on life. Arnold successfully captures the mystical beauty of the ocean as it echoes human existence and the struggles of life. The moods of the speaker throughout the poem change dramatically as do the moods of the sea. The irregular, unorderedRead MoreA Comparison of Fahrenheit 451 and Dover Beach1216 Words   |  5 Pagesbrings home a book of poetry one day and begins to read the poem Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold to his wife and her guests. Many critics think that Bradbury picked this poem because it paralleled life in his book. The poem Dover Beach can be compared to Fahrenheit 451 because both pieces of writing talk about themes of true love, fantasy and allover hopelessness. One of the ways Fahrenheit 451 can be related to Arnolds Dover Beach is by connecting the absence of true love in both of them. ThroughoutRead More Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach Essay927 Words   |  4 PagesMatthew Arnolds Dover Beach Great works of poetry convey a feeling, mood, or message that affects the reader on an emotional, personal level. Great works of poetry can do that -- translate a literal story/theme -- but masterpieces, like Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach, are a double-edged sword, containing a second, figurative theme -- a message between the lines and underneath the obvious. Not only is Matthew Arnolds 1867 poem, Dover Beach, a unique and beautiful literary work describingRead More Essay on the Victorian View of Dover Beach893 Words   |  4 PagesThe Victorian View of Dover Beach  Ã‚     Ã‚   As the narrator of Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach looks out his window, he sees a beautiful world of nature: the sea and the cliffs under the glow of the moon. Describing this scene to his lover, he invites her to [c]ome to the window so that she might see it too (6). However, it is not just a beautiful beach that the speaker wishes his lover to see. Rather, he wants her to see Dover Beach as an ironic image that is a representation of his whole worldRead MoreEssay on Perceptions in Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach1176 Words   |  5 PagesPerceptions in Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach Matthew Arnold’s â€Å"Dover beach† describe the way in which perceptions are mislead society. The use of metaphors, symbolisms, allusiveness, technical quantities, and imagery assist the speaker’s thought regards between what is seen and what is real. Dover beach was written during Victorian era. Which brought civilization based on industry, value and money. This is the time which people start questioning the existence of God. The speaker observed the plightRead More A Comparison of Fahrenheit 451 and Dover Beach Essay1205 Words   |  5 Pagesbook of poetry one day and begins to read the poem Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold to his wife and her guests. Many critics think that Bradbury picked this poem because it paralleled life in his book. The poem Dover Beach can be compared to Fahrenheit 451 because both pieces of writing talk about themes of true love, fantasy and allover hopelessness. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One of the ways Fahrenheit 451 can be related to Arnold’s Dover Beach is by connecting the absense of true love in both ofRead More Conflicting Imagery in Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach Essay519 Words   |  3 PagesArnolds Dover Beach      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the poem Dover Beach, the poet uses conflicting imagery to give meaning to the poem. The differences in the way that the poet sees the relationship between the beach and the sea and the way that most people would see it become more pronounced as the poem develops. He also uses the change in attitude from the first stanza to the last to emphasize his message.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The poem starts with   the normal image one would expect of a beach andRead More Comparing Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach and Gerard Manley HopkinsGods Grandeur1291 Words   |  6 PagesComparing Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach and Gerard Manley HopkinsGods Grandeur      Ã‚   Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach, and Gerard Manley Hopkins Gods Grandeur are similar in that both poems praise the beauty of the natural world and deplore mans role in that world. The style and tone of each poem is quite different, however. Arnold writes in an easy, flowing style and as the poem develops, reveals a deeply melancholy point of view. Hopkins writes in a very compressed, somewhat jerky style