DOVER BEACH SUMMARY
MATTHEW ARNOLD
The poet watches out upon a calm sea, and
notices the completion of the tide and the moon reflecting on the water.
Looking across the English Channel, the poet sees the lights of the French
coast disappear, while the Cliffs of the English coast stand tall and
brilliant, and the bay appears to be quiet. Abruptly, the poet tends to another
person, and asks to come and take a gander at what the poet is taking a gander
at, and to appreciate the night's lovely air. The poet detects something isn't
exactly correct, and depicts the splash where the water meets the twilight
land. The poet trains the other individual to pay attention to the sound of the
stones (pebbles) as the waves shift them to and fro, up the sea shore and down
once more. The poet notes this slow activity, and distinguishes it with eternal
sadness.
Out of nowhere, the poet contemplates the
antiquated Greek dramatist, Sophocles, and envisions Sophocles hearing a
similar sadness in the Aegean Sea as the poet hears now on the English coast.
Sophocles, in the mind of the poet, compares the sad sound of the waves to the
overall distress of humankind, which moves like the waves. The poet then, at
that point sees another thought that accompanies the sound of the sea.
Clarifying this next thought, the poet
portrays religious faith as a sea that was once full like the tide. Around
then, it stretched around the earth like a support. Presently, however, the poet
simply hears that sea's sad retreat. As the Sea of Faith decreases, says the poet,
it vanishes into the climate and leaves the edges of the world exposed.
The poet unexpectedly addresses the partner
as love and states frantically that both of them need to treat each other with honesty
and validness. This is on the grounds that the world, however it has a fantasy
like quality of variety, magnificence and originality, doesn't really offer
satisfaction, love or clearness. Not one or the other, claims the poet, would
it be able to give assurance, harmony, peace, or relief from pain. The poet
then, at that point looks at their aggregate circumstance to remaining on a
level and dark piece of land, which is up to speed in the disorder of battling.
Here, fights between accidental gatherings proceed under the front of
obscurity.
