MATTHEW ARNOLD: DOVER BEACH

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!
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.

Sophocles long ago

Heard it on the Ægean, 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 furled.
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.
POZADINA: Viktorijanska Engleska – prepliću se nove teorije sa vjerom. Ljudi osjećaju strepnju, pitaju se šta će se
desiti sada kada su im ideali poljuljani, kada sve ono u šta su vjerovali nauka opovrgava, i ova pjesma govori upravo o
tome.

“Dover Beach” je kompleksna pjesma o moralnim i egzistencijalnim pitanjima. Nakon čitanja ove pjesme, postavljaju se
važna pitanja. Šta je život bez vjere? Kako mjerimo sreću i usamljenost? Šta životu daje značenje? Ovo je Arnoldova
najkompleksnija pjesma. Melanholična je, lirična. Pjesma je nastala dok je on na medenom mjesecu sa svojom dragom.
On stoji na prozoru i preko moreuza vidi svjetlo na francuskoj obali. Svjetlost predstavlja nadu, vjeru – ovo svjetlo je
nestalno, vidi ga pa ga ne vidi.

I STROFA: The sea is calm tonight. More je simbol beskonačnosti, ali i nesigurnosti. Nakon ovog stiha očekujemo
mirnoću, vidi se mirni zaliv i mjesečina – mirna scena, lijepa strana prirode. Odjednom u tom spokoju čuje se zvuk
kamenčića koje more odvlači i vraća: on taj zvuk upoređuje sa urlikom „roar“. To njemu para uši i doživljava ga mnogo
gore nego što jeste. On čuje koliko su kamenčići tužni jer se more poigrava s njima: nemaju sigurnost jer ih more stalno
pomjera i to zapravo predstavlja nove teorije koje su poljuljale vjeru, on se osjeća kao taj kamenčić. Ova strofa počinje
direktnim opisom mora i efektima svjetlosti, ali bitno je primijetiti promjenu u brzini – silabički sadržaj je prvo snažan, a
onda se opušta kratkim i dugim samoglasnicima. To simbolizira more, odnosno pomjeranje kamenčića – povlačenje i
vraćanje.

II STROFA: U drugoj strofi postoji ogromna doza melanholije – plima postaje metafora za ljudsku bijedu. Govori kako
je i Sofokle stajao i kako mu je ista misao pala na pamet: podsjeća ga na mutnu plimu i osjeku ljudske bijede koja je
stalno tu i on vidi to isto.

III STROFA: More vjere. To more, zapravo religioznost, je nekada bila velika i opkoljavala je zemlju više puta, kao neki
lijepi pojas. Vjera je davala nadu i sigurnost ljudima. Ako on more upoređuje sa religijom, u stvari govori da je religija u
nama i oko nas, pošto je voda u nama i čini ¾ planete. Dakle, nekada je vjera bila svuda, a sada čuje tužan, melanholični
uzvik povlačenje i odustajanja. Za razliku od vode, vjetar je nestalan i nesiguran. I on govori da se vjera pretovrila, ne u
vjetar, nego samo u dah vjetra. Sada se sve preliva i nestaje. Arnold se plaši nepoznatog – šta će se desiti sada kada smo
odustali od onoga u šta smo vjerovali. Kada za nešto nemamo dokaz onda pribjegavamo vjeri, ali Arnold priča o vjeri
koja od nas pravi bolje ljude. On se plaši da će sada ljudi promijeniti moralna načela, odnosno da će postati nemoralni.
Arnoldova poenta je da se sve desilo prebrzo, da odjednom ne postoji sve ono u šta su vjerovali. To ljude mijenja iz
korijena i predstavlja jednu stresnu situaciju.

IV STROFA: Vidi se da više vjere nema, pa on sada pribjegava ljubavi - ona je jedino utočište i jedina neopipljiva
duhovna stvar koja je ostala u svijetu, kao i vjernost, koja je bitna u ljubavi. Svijet je i dalje predivan, izgleda kao zemlja
snova, ali u tom svijetu nema radosti, spokoja, svjetla, nema olakšanja patnji. Čemu se radovati ako znamo da ništa posle
ovoga ne postoji, sada čovjek ne može računati ni na tu jedinu utjehu koju je nekada imao. Oni su tu kao na nekoj
mračnoj ravnici i imaju oči zatvorene, sada smo u pomračini, zbrkani borbom i stalnim jurišanjem; neuke vojske se
sudaraju u toku noći. Te vojske mogu predstavljati misli koje se bore i koje nam ne daju mira, koje nam ništa ne
objašnjavaju; ili se može misliti konkretno na vojsku - šta nas sada sprečava da ubijemo drugo stvorenje kada nema vjere;
bilo je dosta ratova izazvanih vjerom. On se svega plaši i drži se za ljubav. Drži se za ljubav jer mu je to jedina utjeha,
jedino utočište, i on vjeruje u nju. Dakle, on i dalje vjeruje, nije odbacio svoja vjerovanja. Ljubav je tu, i nju mu ne mogu
uzeti. Nju nije potrebno objašnjavati, kao što ni religioznost ne treba objašnjavati, tako ne treba ni ljubav.
Arnold je bio vrlo pesimističan: sve njegove pjesme su takve i rijetko se lijepo završe.
SYMBOL ANALYSIS:

THE SEA - The sea is everywhere in "Dover Beach." It shows up in different places and in different forms, but we feel
its power all over the place. Sometimes it's a physical location, something you can actually see, like the English Channel
or the Aegean Sea, and sometimes it morphs into a metaphor for the fate of humanity.

 Line 1: This is a really simple opening line, focused on a really simple image. We think that's a key part of this
poem's effect. We start with this calm, vivid picture in our heads, and from there everything slowly dissolves
away. Over 37 lines, the speaker strips away our illusions, and shows us the nightmare behind this calm ocean.
 Line 8: Another powerful image, this time of the sea meeting the land. It's important to notice how much time
Arnold spends making us really see this vision of the coast of England in the moonlight. The sea is going to turn
into a huge metaphor in this poem (so stay tuned), but for now it's just a pretty spot.
 Line 16: In this line, the sea is part of an historical allusion. The speaker uses the sea (in this case the Aegean,
which is part of the Mediterranean) to connect him to the ancient playwright Sophocles. In this passage the sound
of the rising and falling tide is used as an analogy for the "ebb and flow of human misery" (line 17).
 Line 21: This is one of the major, go-for-broke metaphors in "Dover Beach." The speaker uses the idea of the sea
that he's spent so much time building up, but this time he turns it into a metaphor for the human belief in a higher
power. The real sea of the English Channel is reimagined as a "Sea of Faith."

THE TIDE - The image of the tide shows up repeatedly in this poem. The slow, steady, endless movement of water, in
and out, in and out, becomes a symbol of eternity. It also, though, comes to represent change and loss.

 Line 2: Here the tide is just the tide. It's part of the landscape at the beginning of this poem. At the same time, the
fact that our speaker describes it as "full" contributes to the feeling of calm and happiness in these first few lines.
 Line 17: Here the "ebb and flow" of the tide is used as a metaphor for the way that unhappiness rises and falls in
human life. We think the rising and falling of the tide makes for a kind of guiding rhythm all through this poem.
 Line 25: Here's another metaphorical tide, representing human faith. In this case, though, it doesn't go in and out.
It just rolls back forever, deserting the world and leaving us confused and alone.

THE MOON - The moon makes a couple of cameos at the beginning. Even though its role in this poem is pretty brief,
we think it's important. The opening parts of "Dover Beach" are so much about the world that we see, and the moon is
one of the crucial features of that first scene. It helps to establish a feeling of calm that will later be completely shattered.

 Line 2: Here the moon is part of the happy natural imagery that opens the poem. In this line the moon is described
as being "fair" (lovely or beautiful). If we only read this first stanza, we might think we were dealing with a
simple little nature poem, or a happy sonnet, perhaps. Our speaker has bigger and darker plans than that, though.
 Line 8: The world is still pretty much okay when the moon shows up here. Still, we think there are little hints that
not everything is just great. There's something just a little bit sinister about the sound of the land being "moon-
blanched." It makes us think of something being unnaturally pale, maybe even a little deathlike.

NIGHT - The night has a few different roles to play in this poem. In a way, it's kind of a flexible image. At first, it
connects with the feelings of comfort and calm that dominate the opening scenes of the poem. By the end, though, it's part
of a much more sinister set of ideas, connected metaphorically with all of the pain and suffering of humanity.

 Line 6: In this line, nighttime sounds pretty great. The speaker even goes so far as to describe the air as "sweet" a
figure of speech that fits in beautifully with the relaxed ambiance of these opening lines.
 Line 27: By this point in the poem, the night has become a symbol not of peace and happiness but of desolation
and fear. The night-wind (in comparison with the night-air in line 6) sounds kind of evil and threatening to us.
Rather than caressing the speaker, it howls around a lonely and vulnerable world.
 Line 37: It's no accident that "night" is the final word in this poem. With an ending like that, Arnold leaves us in
darkness, abandoned in the confusion of the faithless world. While night doesn't always have to symbolize
emotional darkness, it sure does here.
NAKED SHINGLES - This is such a pure and utterly bleak image that we think it deserves special attention. The
speaker of this poem has a bunch of different ways of describing the desolation of the modern world. For our money, this
is one of the best moments, one of the strongest expressions of that feeling of hopeless emptiness and vulnerability.

 Line 28: In this line "shingles" means the rocks that lie on the shore. So what Arnold is doing is picking up the
imagery of the coastline that he worked so hard to establish in the first stanza and turning it into something evil-
sounding and scary. The coast the speaker can see is calm and comforting. The naked, empty metaphorical coast
in his mind is anything but.

DARKLING PLAIN - This is the imaginary landscape where the great final simile of the poem comes to its catastrophic
end. Just think about how far we've come in such a short poem, how far we are from the pleasure and calm of the
beginning. We think there's something totally spine-chilling about the image of this pitch-dark battlefield.

 Line 35: The image of the "darkling plain" opens up the epic simile (notice how he says "as on a darkling plain")
that ends the poem. The basic idea here is that the speaker is comparing human existence to a dark battlefield,
where friends and enemies clash together and fight each other in total confusion.

ANTHONY HECHT: THE DOVER BITCH

So there stood Matthew Arnold and this girl

With the cliffs of England crumbling away behind them,
And he said to her, ‘Try to be true to me,
And I’ll do the same for you, for things are bad
All over, etc., etc.'
Well now, I knew this girl. It’s true she had read
Sophocles in a fairly good translation
And caught that bitter allusion to the sea,
But all the time he was talking she had in mind
The notion of what his whiskers would feel like
On the back of her neck. She told me later on
That after a while she got to looking out
At the lights across the channel, and really felt sad,
Thinking of all the wine and enormous beds
And blandishments in French and the perfumes.
And then she got really angry. To have been brought
All the way down from London, and then be addressed
As a sort of mournful cosmic last resort
Is really tough on a girl, and she was pretty.
Anyway, she watched him pace the room
And finger his watch-chain and seem to sweat a bit,
And then she said one or two unprintable things.
But you mustn’t judge her by that. What I mean to say is,
She’s really all right. I still see her once in a while
And she always treats me right. We have a drink
And I give her a good time, and perhaps it’s a year
Before I see her again, but there she is,
Running to fat, but dependable as they come.
And sometimes I bring her a bottle of Nuit d’ Amour.

Ova pjesma je nastala u Americi dosta nakon što je “Dover Beach” objavljena. Ona zapravo prikazuje perspektivu
Arnoldove žene, dakle to je priča sa njenog stanovišta. Prvi strih: “So there stood Matthew Arnold and this girl” ukazuje
da se pjesnik podruguje, on to prepričava kao neku dosadnu priču. Ovdje se klifovi raspadaju, ruše, dakle nema ideala,
nema sigurnosti.
“etc. etc” - njegov stav prema ovome, dok je Arnold bio ozbiljan, ovdje se pjesnik ruga. Govori kako je poznavao tu
djevojku, navodi kako ona nije čitala Sofoklea u originalu, dakle ukazuje na to da nije obrazovana. Dok je Arnold pričao
o životu i religiji, ona je razmišljala o fizičkom kontaktu, o njegovim brkovima na svome vratu. Dok Arnold posmatra
svjetla na francuskoj obali, ona misli na široke krevete, parfeme, francuska vina, na uživanje u životu. On vidi jedno, ona
vidi drugo - pjesnik ukazuje da nisu na istim talasnim dužinama, da nemaju isti pogled na svijet.
Ona govori kako je on dovukao iz Londona i tražio da mu bude utočište, ona to ne želi, to njoj predstavlja teret, ona je još
lijepa i želi isključivo da uživa u životu. Gleda ga kako korača sobom i kako je nervozan, kako razmišlja o krucijalnim
stvarima, i onda mu je rekla nešto ružno što ne može ući u pjesmu. Ali pjesnik govori da joj ne sudimo, jer je ona dobra
osoba. Govori kako ponekad popiju piće i kako je on zadovolji, dakle aludira na preljubu. Dodaje da možda prođe i
godina da se ne vide, ali da je ona i dalje tu kad zatreba - dakle između njih nema ljubavi, samo čisti flert. Pjesnik govori
da joj nekad i donese flašu francuskog vina, što znači da Francuska predstavlja njemu isto što i njoj, da su na istim
talasnim dužinama i da žele uživanje u životu.

Ova pjesma je nastala jer je pjesnik možda bio izrevoltiran što se u pjesmi ne čuje ženski glas, dakle možda je ona to
stvarno i mislila i iskoristila svoju drsku stranu koju svako živo biće ima, tako da “bitch” u naslovu možda nema
negativnu konotaciju. Pa tako, ako Arnold uživa u spiritualnosti, ona ima pravo da uživa u životu.