Dover Beach

Zora Neale Hurston wrote, "Once you wake up thought in a man, you can never put it to sleep again."¹ While men certainly don't corner the market on overthinking, English author Matthew Arnold quickly puts a damper on what starts as a lovely honeymoon in the poem "Dover Beach" (1867). The scenery that initially invited love has become an analysis of the theme of science versus religion—while the rapturous tone of the opening lines spirals into hopelessness.

Fig. 1 - Arnold's choice to use Dover Beach as the setting contrasts the land where people and their conflicts dwell with their faith as the sea.

"Dover Beach" Summary

The last word of each line of "Dover Beach" is colored to highlight the rhyme scheme within each stanza.

In the first stanza of “Dover Beach,” the narrator looks over the English Channel. They describe a peaceful scene primarily devoid of human existence. Excited by the natural beauty, the narrator calls to their companion to share the view and melancholy sounds of the perpetual collision between land and shore.

The narrator reflects on the gloomy din and connects their experience to imagining Sophocles listening on the shores of Greece. In the second stanza, the narrator contemplates that Sophocles must have compared the noise to rising and falling levels of tragedy in the human experience. Transitioning into the third stanza, the thought of human tragedy triggers a comparison to the loss of religious faith that the narrator sees happening in society.

In the final stanza of “Dover Beach,” the narrator exclaims that they must show each other the love and support they need because happiness and certainty are illusions in the outside world. The unfortunate reality is that the human experience is marked by turmoil. People have begun to fight against themselves and become morally disoriented because of their lack of faith.

"Dover Beach" Analysis

“Dover Beach” contains elements of both a dramatic monologue and lyric poem.

For example, the narrator in “Dover Beach” speaks to their lover and muses on the state of the world.

“Dover Beach” is noteworthy because of Arnold’s experiments with the meter. Most of the poem is written in a traditional iambic rhythm, meaning that in groups of two syllables, there is an emphasis on the second syllable. Note how the words are spoken when reading line one aloud: “[the SEA is CALM toNIGHT].”

At that time period, poets typically chose a meter and used it throughout the poem. Arnold deviates from this norm by occasionally switching from iambic to a trochaic meter that emphasizes the first syllable. For example, in line fifteen, he writes, “[SOPHoCLES long Ago].” As such, Arnold mimics the world's chaos by including confusion within the meter of his poem.

Arnold uses enjambment throughout “Dover Beach” to simulate the movement of waves on the shore. Lines 2-5 are a powerful example:

The reader feels the tide’s pull as one line of the poem blends into the next.

Matthew Arnold plays with the rhyme scheme in “Dover Beach” similarly to how he plays with the meter. Although no consistent pattern encompasses the entire poem, there are rhyme patterns that mingle within the stanzas. Therefore, the near rhyme between “Faith” in line twenty-one and “breath” in line twenty-six stands out to the reader. The not-quite match is a conscious choice by Arnold to signify the lack of place for faith in the world. Because it doesn't have a cohesive rhyme scheme, critics have labeled the poem “Dover Beach” as one of the earliest explorations into free verse territory.

Fig. 2 - The moon shines a light on the speaker's thoughts in "Dover Beach."

"Dover Beach" Themes

The Victorian era saw a rapid increase in scientific knowledge. A central theme of "Dover Beach" is the conflict between religious faith and scientific knowledge. In line twenty-three of the poem, the narrator compares faith to a “bright girdle furled,” meaning its unifying existence kept the world neatly organized.

The “naked shingles of the world” in line twenty-eight refer to humanity’s loss of meaning in the face of its loss of faith. The “shingles” are another word for the loose rocks on the beach. The repeated imagery of rocks in “Dover Beach” point to the discoveries of nineteenth-century geologist Charles Lyell whose fossils made it difficult to continue believing in the Bible's timeline. In the first stanza, the narrator pivots from the beauty of the naturalistic scene to the “eternal note of sadness” in line fourteen as the sound of the tumbling rocks reaches their ears. The sound of the surf is the sound of faith dying due to the empirical evidence housed in the stones.

Love and Isolation

Arnold suggests intimacy as a solution to the chaos of a faith-barren world. As the “Sea of Faith” recedes in line twenty one, it leaves a desolate landscape. However, whether the narrator and their companion will find their love sufficient is unclear. In lines 35-37, “Dover Beach” ends with a “darkling plain” caught in the throes of conflict.

Illusion and Reality

In the opening lines of the first stanza, Arnold describes a typical Romantic nature scene: the water is described as “full” and “calm” amid the “fair” light and the “sweet” air (Lines 1-6). However, he soon turns the scene on its ear. Arnold’s reference to Sophocles sharing the narrator’s experience over a thousand years before in lines 15-18 is an argument that suffering has always been present. In the final stanza, he calls out the world's illusions, arguing that the beauty surrounding them is a mask.

"Dover Beach" Tone

The tone of “Dover Beach” begins on a euphoric note as the narrator describes the beautiful scenery outside the window. They call their companion to come and enjoy it with them. But in line nine, as the sound of the rocks in the surf with their “grating roar” creeps into the scene, an increasingly pessimistic tone also weaves its way into the poem.

In the poem's second stanza, the narrator compares the sound of the rocks to human suffering—the undertone to the lack of wisdom Sophocles heard so long ago. Finally, receding waters that remind the narrator of waning faith leads the narrator to suggest to their companion that they cling to each other to find meaning in a lost world. The overall tone of "Dover Beach" is sad because it argues that human suffering is a constant state.

"Dover Beach" Quotes

Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" has influenced culture and many writers because of its use of imagery and its wordplay.

Critics consider the opening lines of "Dover Beach" to be a definitive example of lyric poetry. Note how the lines work together to create the rhythm of waves on the beach when read aloud.

Line nine is where the tone of the poem begins to change. Not only is the imagery harsher, but Arnold also uses this line to disrupt the rhyme and meter of the stanza.

The bleak tone of "Dover Beach" influenced future generations of poets such as William Butler Yeats and Anthony Hecht to write poems in response. In addition, "Dover Beach" appears in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 to illustrate society's complete breakdown due to technology.