Dover Beach Poetry analysis
Dover Beach is a very 'mood' evoking poem . We are first met with an appreciation for the sea and different emotions that is draws to the observer. However as the poem progresses we are gradually introduced to a large metaphor for love and like the sea is able to evoke many moods , and different emotions , whether prosperous or decayed. The poet describes the emotions with extreme passion and perhaps with slight hysteria. We are given as sense of loss by this hysteria which becomes clearer in the last stanza. The title of this poem , 'Dover Beach' , really sets the scene to the reader almost instantly . Dover , with its white cliffs , giving us a sense of dominance and magnificence. The poet may have done this as to set the mood for the opening stanza .For others it may provoke a thought or memory of the past . Perhaps on childhood holidays with your parents. The could be provoking these thoughts so that you can empathise later to what he is experiencing in the poem . This setting for many , will of course bring the Channel to mind , a gigantic image , provoking again thoughts, this time of France. The title itself however does not give you any emotional insight into the poem . I feel
' the waves suck back , and fling , This sudden change in mood in the poem is very similar to the changing mood of the sea , for which the first stanza is explaining. In the second stanza we are actually able to learn more of the poets analogy. The poet believes that the noise of the sea , can bring in the ' flow // Of human misery'. This is what he claims happened to Sophocles. This analogy is perhaps what also happened to the poets life. The calm see turned into a continual waring swash in his soul which brought with it misery. However the last line of the stanza tells us that this noise does not bring with it just human misery but also a thought , the poet does not elaborate this theory so we are left to assume this changes from person to person . ' in the sound a thought.' This idea of naked shingles , is perhaps how the poet feels himself to be . Isolated from anyone else, left stripped naked to have all of his ideals taken away from him by the simple element the wind. By using the different 'moods' of the sea , calm and powerful, the poet is able to make a connection to life. The way the sea continuously bashes , hurling rocks up against the strand , gives us a sense of relentlessness of some emotional strain on his life , ' Begin,and cease, and then again begin' .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Dover Beach, poets life, dover beach, mood poem, changes mood, poets life calm, life calm, sea calm, final stanza, love life, loss faith,
Approximate Word count = 899
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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