Dover Beach

-          Matthew Arnold 1822-1888)

(The poem deplores the ebb of faith in a world that is changing rapidly with the growth of science and technology.)

The sea is peaceful tonight. The tide is calm and the moon shines and disappears above the sea nearby the French coast. The cliffs of England look like large and shiny object beside the calm bay in the moonlight. Come and look out of the window. The air smells sweet at night. You can see the sea meets the moonlit land. There the pebbles are drawn and flung to and fro by the waves and a loud unpleasant noise is produced. The process begins and stops and again begins slowly and rhythmically which represents the mood of sadness.

Sophocles heard the sound produce by the pebbles many years ago. It made him think about the rise and fall of human misery. The sound makes even us to meditate.

The sea of faith was also full in past. People all around the earth believed in religion and God. But now I only hear the loud noise full of sadness produced by the people’s loss of faith.

My Love, let us be true to each other. The world before our eyes seems full of various beautiful and new dreams. But it has neither happiness nor love, nor light, nor certainty, nor peace, nor help for pain. We are in a confusing world that is growing more difficult for us to understand, and that is like a battle field where friends cannot be identified from foes.