Let Us Be True My Love AN interpretation of the poem Dover Beach
Before we can discuss Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach," a brief biography of the poet will help us understand the poem and the mood he is in while writing it. The reader should know that Matthew Arnold married Fanny Lucy Wightman at Dover, despite her father's disapproval. Wightman's father was vocal in his objections to the marriage, insisting in 1850 that the two should end their romance and cancel their wedding plans (Furr). Thus, Arnold penned "Dover Beach" in 1851, drawing from his own experience as a man who is torn between love and war. Arnold uses shifts in sensory imagery to alter the tone of the poem to present the reader with the challenges he faces during his courtship.Arnold's use of sensory imagery helps the reader to imagine the experiences that invoke sight, hearing, sense of smell and taste, and tactile perceptions. Consider his use of imagery in this pattern of related details, found in the first three lines of the poem: The sea is calm tonight, / The tide is full, the moon lies fair / Upon the straits;--- on the French coast the light / Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, / Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
/ Come to the window, sweet is the night air! (1-7) Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Thomas R. ARP. 7th ed. Forth Worth: Hartcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. 715-716. Arnold, Matthew. "Dover Beach." Perrine's Literature: In stanza two, Arnold draws an analogy between the once full, but now receding tide and what he calls the "Sea of Faith" (21). During Arnold's time, the Church of England had been torn in two over the creation of humans. Arnold worries about the question of his own creation and would he and his love stand together strong in facing this dilemma. The churches future and its beliefs will be torn in two, or would it just be thrown away. He suggests that we are left with the rough sea that washes over the beach at Dover. The gleams of light that was once there is now gone. The poem's sensory imagery changes in "Listen! you hear the grating roar"(9). The peaceful tranquility of Arnold's opening lines is shattered by a disturbing noise. At first Arnold and his love are looking outside his window, gazing at the physical beauty of the world. The tone begins to change with the darkness of war. The "grating roar of the pebbles" (9,10) puts Arnold in mind of "human misery" (18). The change of tone is shown in the contrast between the actions of the moon which "l
Some common words found in the essay are:
England Arnold, Dover Beach, Church England, Wightman Dover, Students Gale, dover beach, College Publishers, True Love, Thomas ARP, sensory imagery, human misery, Furr Arnold, Sea Faith, sweet night air, moon lies, night air, sweet night, pebbles waves, help understand, hear grating, moon lies fair, listen hear grating, listen hear,
Approximate Word count = 875
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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