Essays on Dover Beach

The poem “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold was written in nineteenth century, when the new era of industrialization and progress began and the usual world started to change. The social order and values became more dependent on the historical processes of Victorian era, while the religion and faith faced crisis. The historical background of the author caused the focus of his poetry on the themes of decay, alienation and depression. Facing the changes that were happening, seeing how two absolutely different worlds clash have stimulated Arnold to write “Dover Beach” that expresses the attitudes and moods of English population ...

We have read such a wide variety of texts that it hard to pick out with confidence those that have influenced me the most or had the biggest impact on me. On reflection though, I have realized that there are some texts which I will remember for a long time – and those texts are ones which use language in a significant, interesting and original way.

So for me a very memorable text is Gail Godwin’s “A Sorrowful Woman” which uses fairy tales elements – even in the words she uses – and yet also manages to evoke a modern setting in ...

Poems are used in order to express the feelings of the poet towards the issues they write about. They are used to bring forth the meanings of things that happen in society as well as nature. Emotions are drawn from poems because of the way in which a poet chooses to present their thoughts and the same can be said about the poems Wild Geese by Mary Oliver and Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold. The two poems share a lot of similarities and differences too with regard to the language used and the meaning derived from them. There is also something ...

‘Instructor’s Name’

Dover Beach - Mathew Arnold Dover Beach, written by Mathew Arnold, was first published in the year 1867, but many historical documents convey that the poem may actually been written as early as 1851. The title/locale of the poem, the Dover Beach, is situated in Kent, England and it faces the Calais, a ferry port of France. This place is the narrowest branch of the Dover strait and is the place where the poet spent his honeymoon. The poem is rich with imagery and metaphors and it describes in vivid detail naturalistic setting of a secluded beach. The opening ...

Dramatic construction through language use

Matthew Arnold presents the life of a modern mankind in an ignorant and negative ways stating that industrial revolution evanesce with religious faith. This symbolizes that the people without faith or religion have a dark future. Modern men are portrayed to think that industrial revolution will have advantage over nature. This superiority thought makes the humans arrogant since nature will always dominate in reality. This wishful thought makes the people ignorant. The use of pebbles in the poem shows how inferior the humans are compared to nature. He says the pebbles are drawn back and flung by the waves showing how ...

Work Cited

Arnold, Matthew. "Dover Beach." Trans. Array The Norton Introduction to Literature. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. 10th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 704. Print. Summary: Matthew Arnold wrote his poem “Dover Beach” in 1867 after his marriage. It is believed that Arnold addressed this poem to his wife. The title and the descriptive opening lines of the poem refer to the shore in Dover, a ferry port and town in Kent, where Arnold and his wife had their honeymoon. In fact, perhaps Arnold composed the poem while sitting on Dover Beach, watching the sea with ...

An Analysis

Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888) was a highly influential English writer and thinker of the Victorian era. ‘Dover Beach’ (1867) remains one of his most famous and anthologized poems. According to Mazzeno (40) it is a poem “full of doubt and despair.” This paper will prove Mazzeno’s assertion, explain the reasons for it and also demonstrate how it affects Arnold’s choice of imagery and structure. ‘Dover Beach’ is a classic expression of the mid-Victorian crisis of faith. Firstly, the context should be noted. Dover is the English sea port closest to France and, if the weather is good enough, the ...

Introduction

In poetry, every piece of work is unique in its own way. However, most pieces of poems follow standard forms. Poems can be entertaining and or educating, depending on the poet’s choice of the role of the poem. The special characteristics that are shared by all poems include:

In poetry, there is the emphasis of important words, which may lead to creation of rhythm or repetition. In this work, I have analyzed four ...