Mathew Arnold's 'Dover Beach' is a beautiful lyric which describes the helpless uncertainty and doubt of the Victorian period. There was a gradual decline in man's faith in God and religion. The Victorian mind was dazzled by the achievements of science and material progress. Faced with this choice between the world of faith and the world of materialism, the Victorian found himself in a sad Plight. In Dover Beach Mathew Arnold pictures this inability of man to make the right choice. The poet uses the sea as a symbol to bring home this idea.
The poem has a very beautiful setting. It is a very peaceful quiet moonlit night at
the Dover Beach.
The sea is calm and full. The Dover cliff stands out
glimmering and vast. The night air is
sweet. The tides coming to the shore
fling down pebbles on the stand with a clattering sound. The poet watches this ceaseless action of
the waves. He listens to the rhythmic
cadence of the waves and he detects the eternal note of sadness in it.
The sad note is not only the poet's own personal
feeling. It is the universal note of
sadness. The poet now takes us back
through history to the time of Sophocles.
He too listened to the sad music of the waves; it brought into his mind
the miserable plight of humanity, its turbid ebb and flow. Though the reference is to Sophocles, Arnold
bridges the present with the past.
From the real sea Arnold
now goes to the metaphorical sea. It is
the sea of faith. It was once full,
beautifully spread out and deep. This
sea of faith once encircled and protected the entire world's faith in God and
religion sustained humanity in those days of glory. The poet feels a sense of loss and utter despair
as he looks on the dimly lit scene before him.
The sea of faith is no longer full. It has receded with a long melancholy roar
like the sea in front of him has receded exposing the pebbles and leaving the
shore littered with shingles. Arnold has in mind a
society which has moved away from religious faith cherished in the past and is
now torn between faith and the glamour of materialism.
Arnold thinks that there is only one clear solution for
man to get out of this dilemma. It is
the power of true love. The last part of
the poem thus reveals Arnold's abiding faith in the power of true love to console
man when he is plunged in despair.
The world of science and technology seems to be a dream
world, so beautiful, so varied and so new.
The poet feels that there is no real joy and happiness in this
world. No joy, no light, no certitude,
it is only a beautiful mirage.
The poet is once again plunged in despair as he looks on
the dimly lit sea scape. The tide has
receded so low that the sea shore seems to expand in to a vast dark plain. The poet now visualizes ignorant armies
clashing on this battle field. They are
in utter confusion and fight without knowing friend from foe. Thus Arnold closes the poem giving us a
terrifying picture of anarchy and futility.