by John Welford

Created on: July 02, 2008   Last Updated: August 02, 2009

Matthew Arnold's (1822-88) major contribution to English literature was as a prose writer, but in his early years he wrote a considerable quantity of poetry, most of it not being particularly good. However, with "Dover Beach" he produced one of the greatest poems of the 19th century, and it deserves its place in popular acclaim.

The poet and his female companion are staying overnight at Dover, probably ready to embark for France the following day. This is almost certainly his wife, Frances Lucy (known as Flu), and it is possible that they are setting off on their honeymoon. They were married on 10th June 1851, and the poem was probably composed at around that time. There is however some debate as to whether the whole poem was written at the same time, and it is possible that the final stanza, which does not mention the sea, could have preceded the rest of the poem.

It is also interesting to speculate whether they were staying at the Royal Ship Hotel, which overlooked Dover harbour at the foot of the cliffs, and at which Charles Dickens is known to have stayed in 1856, using the setting for a scene in "A Tale of Two Cities".

The most important thing about this poem is that it is built around a noise. This is the particular sound made by waves as they retreat down a shingle beach. The breaking wave crashes ashore and throws stones up the bank. However, as the water falls back it takes many of the pebbles with it, and they made a characteristic rumbling sound as they are knocked against each other.

One can easily imagine the poet standing by the open window on a warm summer night, looking out to sea and hearing the "grating roar" from only a few yards away, as described in the opening stanza of the poem:

"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-blanched 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."

Other things to note in this stanza are the references to moonlight and calmness, the call to his wife to join him and listen, and the final line, which associates the situation with "eternal sadness".

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