[89] Dover Beach
The sea is calm to-night,
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!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The sea of faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
-- Matthew Arnold
|
... like most 'classic poems', 'Dover Beach' has its share of redeeming
features <g>
To tell the truth, Arnold isn't one of my favourite poets - much of his
work is too overtly didactic for my taste. The first and last stanzas of
'Dover Beach', however, are not; although I disagree with the
philospophy implied by the poem, I can't help being enchanted by its
language... "Where ignorant armies clash by night" has got to be one of
the most evocative (and in its way, saddest) lines ever written, right
up there with Keats' "Silent, upon a peak in Darien"...
thomas.
[Brief Biography]
Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888): English poet and critic. His first two
volumes of poems The Strayed Reveller and other Poems (1849) and
Empedocles on Etna and other Poems (1852) were published anonymously and
with little success. He made his mark with his third volume of poetry
Poems: A New Edition (1853-54) which contained 'The Scholar Gipsy',
'Sohrab and Rustum', and 'Memorial Verses to Wordsworth'. He reinforced
his standing as a poet with New Poems (1867) which included 'Dover
Beach' and 'Thyrsis'. He established himself as the leading critic of
the age with a number of works including Essays and Criticism (1865,
1888), Culture and Anarchy (1869) and Literature and Dogma (1873).
[Less Brief Biography]
Matthew Arnold was born in Laleham, Surrey. His father was Dr Thomas
Arnold, Headmaster of Rugby School. He was educated at Winchester,
Rugby, and Balliol College, Oxford where he met another well-known poet
of the age, A.H.Clough, and won the Newdigate prize with a poem on
Cromwell (1843). In 1845 he was elected a fellow of Oriel, another
Oxford college.
After working as private secretary to Lord Landsdowne (1847-51), he
became an inspector of schools (1851) and travelled widely in England
and the Continent observing how schools were organised and suggesting
how they could be improved.
In 1851 he married Fanny Lucy Wightman and part of his famous poem
'Dover Beach' (1867) dates from his honeymoon on the Continent. He was
to have six children, only three of whom outlived him.
His critical work, most of which was written after 1860, was to have a
profound influence on many writers after his death, including the poet
T.S.Eliot. In Essays and Criticism (1865) Arnold widened the limits of
literary criticism by using it to attack the state of English culture.
The focus of this attack was 'provinciality', or the narrowness of mind
caused by people's preoccupation with local affairs.
His eagerness to escape the limits of 'provinciality' formed the basis
of his work as an inspector of schools. He is now seen as having made a
valuable contribution to the improvement of education in England.
from http://www.netpoets.com
From: Amit Chakrabarti <amitc@>
> To tell the truth, Arnold isn't one of my favourite poets - much of his
> work is too overtly didactic for my taste. The first and last stanzas of
> 'Dover Beach', however, are not; although I disagree with the
> philospophy implied by the poem, I can't help being enchanted by its
Can't resist mentioning that I disagree with this disagreement
with the poem's philosophy, such as it is.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Amit Chakrabarti:
E-mail: amitc@
URL: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~amitc
From: "Jim McDonald" <j1m@>
The word is "alarums", not "alarms", isn't it? It was in my highschool
text, anyway, for what that's worth.
This poem is one of my touchstones--a poem that etched itself on my
memory the minute I first read it forty years ago. For me, it is both an
essentially Victorian poem--elegiac, and very broad in its historical
vision--and very modern. Maybe the first great modern poem in English,
written by a poet who died in the year T. S. Eliot was born.
I don't think you've done us any favours by abbreviating the poem--it's
not that long to start with. And you've left out that brilliant line " .
. .we
Find also in the sound a thought,"
Too bad.
From: "Peter H. Schmidt" <peter@>
I mean this respectfully, but I feel the poem expresses an essentially
juvenile sentiment.
Adolescence looks at itself and the world and despairs - I am unique and
alone, no one understands me, and look at this horrible morass.
Maturity brings the realization that it is our response to the world
that determines our experience. The adolescent unthinkingly responds
despairingly. The mature intellect has the strength and experience to
seek to respond with joy, even as its appreciation of the dark elements
which might otherwise induce despair sharpens.
Nevertheless, the poem is beautiful, and Barber's setting of it to music
truly great.
--Peter
--
Peter H. Schmidt Lifting Mind Inc.
peter@ _/ Speaking \_ 2 Ewell Avenue
www.liftingmind.com \ for myself / Lexington, MA 02421
fax: 781 863-5444 tel: 781 883-4818
From: "McGillicuddy, Colin" <McGillicuddyC@>
For a parody of this poem, see "The Dover Bitch" by Tom Wayman.
From: "Gareth & Emma" <ga.em@>
I am particularly struck by the way the poem gradually shifts from a visual
landscape to an entirely aural one as its mood and tone darken; I find that
very good. Incidentally, does anyone know if there is any truth in the
rumour that Arnold had no idea about sex before his wedding night and was
horrified to find out what it entailed?
From: "Supriya Nair" <nair_supriya@>
"Where ignorant armies clash by night..."
it's said that the line continues the thread of classical allusion that
runs through the poem. Coming after the 'Antigone' reference in line 15,
this probably refers to Thucydides' "Battle of Epipolae", where, in a
battle in the dark, the two sides could not distinguish between friend
and foe.
From: "Supriya Nair" <nair_supriya@>
"Where ignorant armies clash by night..."
it's said that the line continues the thread of classical allusion that
runs through the poem. Coming after the 'Antigone' reference in line 15,
this probably refers to Thucydides' "Battle of Epipolae", where, in a
battle in the dark, the two sides could not distinguish between friend
and foe.
From: Adam Glatt <adam.g@>
Hello Peter, I saw your comment on "dover beach" at the cs.rice.edu webpage. My question to you, as a grade 12 student, is: Isn't your idea of maturity just another way of saying existentialism?
Hoping your email still works,
Adam Glatt
Saskatoon, SK, Canada
From: "Peter H. Schmidt" <peter@>
I mean this respectfully, but I feel the poem expresses an essentially
juvenile sentiment.
Adolescence looks at itself and the world and despairs - I am unique and
alone, no one understands me, and look at this horrible morass.
Maturity brings the realization that it is our response to the world
that determines our experience. The adolescent unthinkingly responds
despairingly. The mature intellect has the strength and experience to
seek to respond with joy, even as its appreciation of the dark elements
which might otherwise induce despair sharpens.
Nevertheless, the poem is beautiful, and Barber's setting of it to music
truly great.
--Peter
--
Peter H. Schmidt Lifting Mind Inc.
peter@ _/ Speaking \_ 2 Ewell Avenue
www.liftingmind.com \ for myself / Lexington, MA 02421
fax: 781 863-5444 tel: 781 883-4818
--Boundary_(ID_Lkr9YdXM3ymBjFUlTqVfQg)
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hello Peter, I saw your comment on "dover beach" at the
cs.rice.edu webpage. My question to you, as a grade 12 student, is: Isn't
your idea of maturity just another way of saying existentialism?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hoping your email still works,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Adam Glatt</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Saskatoon, SK, Canada</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>From: "Peter H. Schmidt" <<A
href="mailto:ssiyer@?Subject=%5bminstrels%5d%20Followup%20to%20comment%20%233%20on%20poem%20%2389%20%2D%20change%20not">peter@</A>><BR><BR>I
mean this respectfully, but I feel the poem expresses an essentially<BR>juvenile
sentiment. <BR><BR>Adolescence looks at itself and the world and despairs
- I am unique and<BR>alone, no one understands me, and look at this horrible
morass. <BR>Maturity brings the realization that it is our response to the
world<BR>that determines our experience. The adolescent unthinkingly
responds<BR>despairingly. The mature intellect has the strength and
experience to<BR>seek to respond with joy, even as its appreciation of the dark
elements<BR>which might otherwise induce despair sharpens.<BR><BR>Nevertheless,
the poem is beautiful, and Barber's setting of it to music<BR>truly
great.<BR><BR>--Peter<BR>-- <BR>Peter H.
Schmidt
Lifting Mind Inc.<BR><A
href="mailto:ssiyer@?Subject=%5bminstrels%5d%20Followup%20to%20comment%20%233.2%20on%20poem%20%2389%20%2D%20change%20not">peter@</A>
_/ Speaking \_ 2 Ewell Avenue
<BR>www.liftingmind.com \ for myself
/ Lexington, MA 02421<BR>fax: 781
863-5444
tel: 781 883-4818</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
--Boundary_(ID_Lkr9YdXM3ymBjFUlTqVfQg)--
From: "Peter H. Schmidt" <peter@>
Hi Adam,
Hello Peter, I saw your comment on "dover beach" at the cs.rice.edu
webpage. My question to you, as a grade 12 student, is: Isn't your
idea of maturity just another way of saying existentialism?
I think it is fair to say that my idea as expressed is compatible with
existential philosophy, though I do not think it encapsulates the
breadth of ideas or attitudes which have been labeled existentialist.
And while perhaps useful for placing it in a context for further
reflection, the act of labeling it as existentialist is not sufficient
by itself to grasp it, in my opinion.
My personal philosophy is not existentialist, since I believe in an
essential purpose to the Universe. I recognize that my belief arises
from a personal aesthetic which is not subject to proof or refutation,
and therefore cannot hope to compel others by logic. However, that
belief certainly makes it easier to "seek to respond with joy" to the
plight of my existence, and I could argue from an existential
viewpoint that that is reason enough to hold that belief. Imagine me
as Sisyphus, happy because I believe that my rock pushing serves a
greater good. It matters not to me whether that is proved or if
others agree.
Hoping your email still works,
Thanks for your note -- Peter
--
Peter H. Schmidt Lifting Mind Inc.
peter@ _/ Speaking \_ 2 Ewell Avenue
www.liftingmind.com \ for myself / Lexington, MA 02421
fax: 781 863-8858 tel: 781 863-5200
* Portion of Harvard students who graduate with honors: 4/5
-- The Cool List, art@ 2/21/97
From: "Stanton Wormley, Jr." <slwormleyjr@>
Just read your comments on Arnold's "Dover Beach." Juvenile, huh? Let's
see..."it is our response to the world that determines our experience."
Gee, too bad you weren't around to share that profound little gem with
the inmates at Auschwitz...or the Africans crammed into coffin-sized
bunks on slave ships during the Middle Passage. I'd like to have heard
how you would have encouraged the naked Jews to be "mature" enough to
"seek to respond with joy" as they were crammed like cattle into the
"showers", with the stench of death, excrement and Zyklon B still
lingering in the air.
You may describe Arnold's poem as "juvenile," but your "philosophy" is
smug and simplistic, characteristic of one who has never really
experienced suffering. I don't begrudge those who have been fortunate in
life a sense of optimism; that, perhaps, is natural. But with that
should come a realization that good fortune is, in most cases, largely
the result of luck, not merit, ability, or attitude.
In the end, there is no final justice, no reward for the deserving;
there is no master plan which ensures that "all things are for the
best." Chaos rules; the only immutable laws are those that govern the
mad dance of quarks and the endless expansion of the universe. God is
not dead; He never existed. For those with the intelligence and courage
to acknowledge these things, it's not a stretch to admit that, for much
of humankind, the world indeed "hath really neither joy, nor love, nor
light...nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain."
True, human existence is not unrelievedly miserable; in even the meanest
life are brief episodes of joy and, yes, happiness. Yet I would still
infinitely prefer the banal pessimism of adolescence--which at least
acknowledges, albeit exaggeratedly, the thread of despair that is
ineluctably woven into the fabric of life--than the flatulent and myopic
optimism, born of the self-serving complacency of prosperous middle age,
which brays that God's in his heaven and all's right with the world--if
we just think it so.
From: "Peter Carlson" <pcarlson@>
Stanton Wormley, Jr.:
Perhaps you have not read or choose to dismiss Viktor Frankl's seminal work
"Man's Search for Meaning." Ironically, Frankl was indeed in Auschwitz and
ultimately survived the holocaust. It was his experience in the holocaust
that spurred the development of Frankl's Logotherapy, which ultimately
become known as "The Third School of Viennese Psychoanalysis" following in
the wake of Freud and Adler. Logotherapy focuses on the "will to meaning,"
or perhaps even, the "will to life." According to Frankl, one's purpose and
meaning is the greatest determining factor in how he or she responds to
those conditions around them, be those conditions nazi Germany, Pol Pot's
Khmer Rouge, or an elitist intellectual tower.
That you can simplistically dismiss as "smug" the idea that self-determinism
plays some role in our individual and collective existence may encourage you
to pat yourself on the back for your great "courage." However, please spare
us the rhetorical snobbery dictating anyone who doesn't hold your worldview
as unintelligent. My guess is that you yourself have experienced precious
little physical or material hardship, but rather have found a bored
intellect and existence. Frankl termed this lack of meaning an "existential
vacuum."
Not everyone lives within this vacuum, Mr. Wormly, much less all those who
go through the extremist of hardships. You do the despairing no favors by
pretending they do.
From: "David Mulloy" <david.mulloy@>
"It matters not to me whether that is proved or if others agree."
Can you please explain this way of thinking a little more fully. I am
very interested.
From: "David Mulloy" <david.mulloy@>
Sorry for the discontinuity,( I had to try to resolve teenage
differences) but to briefly add some few thoughts. A "Personal aesthetic
which is not subject to proof or refutation...."
I would venture to suggest that any set of thoughts, aesthetic or
otherwise which cannot be proved is surely open to refutation.
To progess, possibly. I may well be incorrect in analysing what I
see as an interesting assumption; this being that because I really feel
this to be the case, it must be true. It does seem to me that there is a
very interesting inner conviction on your part that certain types of
philosophy (existentialist it seems .....though neither Sartre nor Camus
nor Heidegger would ever have said that this was a philosophy or
anything to do with that awful subject,) are somehow subsumed within
your belief system or rejected....you seem to be saying both things
simultaneously.
To come back to the poem in question, when Arnold finally admits to
himself and his new wife that his faith has drained away and there is
nothing but violence, ignorance and blind stupidity in the world in
which we find ouselves, I cannot for one moment interpret this as a
juvenile statement. In the world that I experience, well over one
hundred years since this poem was published, a world in which I would
suggest, most people are afraid or at least apprehensive, I think it is
a sign of real maturity that people carry on going to work in high rise
buildings or fly in airplanes knowing that they have to come to terms
with the possible lunatic. And as we know, the majority of these worthy
people, who sometimes pay some form of lip service to one god or
another, do not Really think that some supernatural entity actually
decides or influences which young woman and her little child will be
destroyed in the inferno of a twin towers outrage.
It is this profound maturity of thought that creates the terrible
sadness of the poem and deftly links it to the universal theme of
impotence and despair( not in itself something to be shunned or
castigated) so understood by the great Sophocles.
From: "Peter H. Schmidt" <peter@>
> I would venture to suggest that any set of thoughts, aesthetic or
> otherwise which cannot be proved is surely open to refutation.
Well, that doesn't follow. A belief might be both provable and
refutable (e.g. I can sprint 50 yards faster than you can), refutable
but not provable (e.g. I am the fastest sprinter ever born), or
neither (e.g. my late grandfather was the fastest sprinter ever
born).
My beliefs stem ultimately from an aesthetic preference for a Universe
in which I cannot cease to exist. It may be possible that science and
technology will advance to the point of being able to refute my belief
(i.e. demonstrate that I definitely will not continue to exist after
death), or even be able to prove I'm right, but as of now, this belief
is beyond the reach of either.
> because I really feel this to be the case, it must be true.
Actually, it's "since it is currently impossible to prove it one way
or the other, and I prefer to believe it is true, I will go ahead and
do so." Others may make the opposite choice, but it is a choice, and
thus ultimately a matter of preference and hence fundamentally an
aesthetic issue.
> somehow subsumed within your belief system or rejected
Subsumed in that I agree there is nothing that can compel a person to
belief in an essential nature of any aspect of the Universe, rejected
in that I think they got all balled up in despairing over the
potential absurdity of this, when the truly mature response is to seek
to rejoice anyway, and that joy is (at least, and enough if you are an
existentialist) reward enough for the effort.
> most people are afraid or at least apprehensive, I think it is a
> sign of real maturity that people carry on going to work in high
> rise buildings or fly in airplanes
I won't disagree completely, but it is not what I would call a fully
mature response. It isn't the paralysis of complete despair, but it
does to my mind focus unreasonably on the glass as half-empty, just as
Arnold's poem does. There are things to make one despair, but there
are things to rejoice about also. The challenge is to seek (to
choose, knowing the choice will require a continuing effort) to
respond with joy to the whole of the Universe and to one's existence
in it.
Regards -- Peter
--
Peter H. Schmidt Lifting Mind Inc.
peter@ _/ Speaking \_ 2 Ewell Avenue
www.liftingmind.com \ for myself / Lexington, MA 02421
fax: 781 863-8858 tel: 781 863-5200
* Portion of land in the US owned by the government: 1/3
-- The Cool List, art@ 2/21/97
From: "Ian Baillieu" <ianbaill@>
Tom Wayman didn't write 'The Dover Bitch'. It was Anthony
Hecht.
From: "anna brandberg" <anna@>
hi,
i am a form 5 student (equivalent to grade 11) who's studying dover
beach right now, and was just looking for some information on the poem
and came across this site. firstly, i wanted to say that i really
enjoyed the second and third paragraphs of stanton wormley's response,
even though i dont fully agree with them.
secondly, i wanted to give my own theory on this poem. this poem was
written soon after darwin came up with the evolution theory, and so my
thought was that this destroyed the wonderful little christian world
that people were living in at the time. people believed that they were
made specially and uniquely by god, and then darwin came along and
ruined everything by telling them that humans descended from monkeys,
and that life didnt actually have any meaning. there was no god, and
there was no purpose in life. this is what depressed arnold in this way,
as he had believed that he was created for some unique purpose, but then
the religious crisis strikes as his "sea of faith [which] was once ...
full" empties and he "only hear[s] its melancholy, long, withdrawing
roar," thus leading to the "confused alarm;" a poem in which he states
that "the world hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor
certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain." he even reinforces his
statement by speaking of sophocles, as if he's thinking that even
sophocles got it right, over two millennia ago, but they were too blind,
too stupid to see. they were so blinded by their "beautiful" "dreams"
that they didn't see the truth.
just a thought... what do you think?? (email me directly with your
opinions as i most probably wont be checking this site again... the
address is anna@)
From: "anna brandberg" <anna@>
anna@
From: "Carm" <carm_trop@>
Dover Beach's philosophy concerns the "loss of faith" in an age of
scientific enlightenment. Arnold laments the impossiibility of faith in
a world where science dictates what man is and ought to be. A negative
vision of life emerges when the "naked shingles" of the Sea of Faith
withdraw. Sophocles saw the importance of eternal verities, stressing
how tragic life can be without adherence to supernatural dictums. The
romantic view of life is reduced to harsh realities of survival and
death; not the stuff of poetry, but of a skeptical view of the world
through a Darwinian purview.
Carmelo
From: Caspar Briault <cdb26@>
The comments made above all deeply interest me as i have a personal
attachment to this poem, i do not believe this poem however to entirely
negative, if there are none of the things in the world which he states in
his moment of sadness, why does he still call his partner "Love"? Why does
he wish to cling to her? Surely this is where he has found those things he
claims the world lacks