English compulsory B.A.I DOVER BEACH Matthew Arnold Prepared By: Jasreet
About the author Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) Victorian poet the founding father of modern criticism He believed that “poetry alone can revive the spiritual quality of the age” and poetry should exhibit “high seriousness”
Literature and Dogma( 1873) Contd----- Other works by Arnold: Essays in Criticism (1865) Culture and Anarchy (1869) Literature and Dogma( 1873)
About the poem Most well-known and acclaimed lyric Represents conflicting urges of Arnold- classical austerity and need for human love collective tragedy of humanity due to erosion of religious faith, loss of joy, certitude and peace is manifested the only hope is human attachment and loyalty
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.
Straits: A narrow strip of sea between the two areas of land Gleams: Glimmering and vast: Tranquil bay: quiet and peaceful bay
Come to the window, sweet is the night air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the ebb meets the moon- blanched sand,
Listen! You hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves suck 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. Grating: grinding sound , Pebbles: small stones Fling: throw , high strand: sea shore tremulous cadence: trembling but rhythmical beat or tilt This stanza describes the scenic beauty, the sights and sound of the sea at night. The sound of the pebbles and the waves fill the heart of the poet with eternal sadness.
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Aegean, 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. Sophocles Turbid : cloudy, muddy Ebb and flow : rise and fall of waves
The sea of faith