Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
Introduction-
Dover Beach is one of Arnold's most famous poems. It has also been called the first " modern " poem from Arnold's pen. Its date of composition is not known, but it was published in 1867. It reflects Arnold's not of sadness, loneliness, religious loss and spiritual isolation. He finds himself uneasy in the modern world where religion and moral values have declined.
He does not approve of a world in which worldly cunning and love of wealth are getting strong day by day. The poem begins with a description o his feelings born of the sea - view one evening. He perceives a note of sadness in the moaning sound of the sea.
This leads him to compare the receding sweat with the sea of religion. It is also rolling backwards and away from the human world. Bereft of religion, the people have become money-minded and selfish. Competition for earning money has come to the fore.
Its Poetic Thought -
Arnold begins his poem with a description of the view of the Straits of Dover. It is seen by him from a hotel - room on Dover Beach. He says that the sea is calm. But at the place where the sea - waves strike the shore there is a grating roar of pebbles. There is also a moaning sound of the sea. It is continuous and may be called an " eternal note of sadness. " Probably this very note of sadness was heard by Sophocles in ancient Greece long ago.
He heard it on the Aegean Sea which rolls by Athens where he used to live. These ad notes made him a tragic poet. It led him to compose several verse tragedies. The note of sadness comes from the receding sea. The sea of religion is also receding today. Once it was filled to the brim, but not it is flowing backwards and away from the world of man. It is due to the studies of science, inventions and discoveries.
They have given rise to many doubts, disputes and disbeliefs about religion. With the decline of religion, money-mindedness, worldly cunning and love of wealth have become stronger. So the present day world had neither joy, love and spiritual light nor certainly, peace and help for pain. People are struggling with one another for monetary gains. They are doing so as they were blind soldiers of opposite armies fighting in the dark of night.
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- Character and role of Miss Neville
- Discuss She Stoops to Conquer as a Sentimental Comedy
- Discuss Goldsmith's View of Sentimental Comedy
- Give an estimate of Goldsmith as a dramatist
- Contribution of Goldsmith as a Dramatist
