Dover Beach Analysis

The Analysis of Dover Beach By Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold uses many literary techniques to make Dover Beach such a prominent and well-known poem. By rhetorical schemes, tropes, and imagery, Arnold demonstrates a theme that can connote many different ideas. However by analyzing this poem, I interpreted Dover Beach to be about Christianity. The theme or central message of Dover Beach pertains to people questioning the moral and theological concepts of Christianity; therefore, people losing faith is religion and god. Arnold wrote this poem in 1851. During this time period, science contested many religious beliefs, which caused Christianity to no longer be a pillar of faith supported by the people. Through his poem, he illustrates his strong religious beliefs. The “light” he sees in Dover Beach off the French coast of England is symbolic of faith, which “gleams and is gone” (Line 4). This shows that faith of the people is dying. Dover Beach consists of a somber tone. It contains sadness like an elegy does, as if faith is the death being mourned instead of a person. The poem also has qualities of a dramatic monologue. There is only one speaker whom is talking to an imaginary audience. For example the speaker says, “Listen! You hear the grating roar,” in line 9 as if he is preaching to a crowd of people, however he is not. There is no set meter and rhyme varies from line to line. Therefore, Dover Beach is considered to be free verse. Although this poem is written in free verse, it still attains a strong cadence through rhetorical schemes. End rhymes are sporadically seen throughout the poem. An example is in the last two lines, “Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight/Where ignorant armies clash by night.” “Flight” and “night” rhyme, which creates rhythm throughout the poem. Another tool Arnold uses is parallelism. For instance line 2 has parallel syntax. Both phrases in, “The tide is full, the moon lies fair,” have the same structure of an