by Ann Johnstone

Created on: July 07, 2008   Last Updated: July 11, 2008

As a child I loved to sit on a jagged rock at high tide with the sea swirling around me and imagine I was far away. For me the sea has always taken on a life of its own. That is why I can relate to Matthew Arnold's use of the sea in this poem as both an image and a metaphor. Initially it is beautiful to look at in the moonlight, but then it starts to sound more hostile with its "grating roar" and promotes a feeling of sadness in its "tremulous cadence".

At this point the "Sea of Faith" rises, symbolic of a time when religion was simple, unpolluted by the doubts brought about by progress and science. Finally, the sea recedes, just as the certainty of religion withdraws itself from the human grasp, leaving only darkness behind. The reader can feel the ebb and flow of the tides as he contemplates the meaning behind these lines.

It is surely ironic that the poet, Matthew Arnold, himself an agnostic, should write a lament to the world's loss of religious faith at a time when science and industry were taking centre stage. Written around 1851, "Dover Beach" was not published until 1867.

This poem consists of five uneven stanzas, into which I have divided the poem for ease of analysis.

"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!

In this first stanza the speaker is depicted standing at a window looking out at the sea. In this introduction he describes the sea in a very positive way. He uses adjectives such as "calm", "fair" and "tranquil" to create a harmonious mood. He seems to be addressing a loved one, whom he begs to "Come to the window, sweet is the night air!" It sounds like a romantic invitation to share the lovely scene: "The sea is calm tonight / The tide is full, the moon lies fair." But that is not the case, as the reader discovers later in the poem.

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.

Here the speaker describes vividly the crashing waves upon the beach: "Listen! You hear the grating roar/ Of pebbles which the waves draw back." A note of unending sadness accompanies the endless ebb and flow

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