Page 184 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“Dover Beach”
by Matther Arnold, pages 67-68

Vocabulary
tranquil – peaceful, calm
ebb – description of the coming in of the sea
cadence – flow, rhythm
turbid – state of turmoil, muddled
melancholy – depressed
certitude – confidence, certain
shingle – pebble beach

1. Who is the speaker of this poem? Who is he talking to? What is their relationship?

2. What is the relationship between the setting in stanza one and the description in stanza two of
what Sophocles heard beside another sea?

3. What is the relationship of the first and second stanzas to the "Sea of Faith" described in stanza
three?

4. The final stanza offers love as the solution for the problems that the speaker and his lover see in
the world around them. Explain the meaning of love and its importance in this poem. Do you
agree with Arnold's idea? What does this poem suggest about love and the modern world?

5. The poem’s concluding image calls to mind the chaotic night-battle at Epipolae when Athenian
warriors, unable to see, killed friend and enemy alike. What, to the speaker, do the waters warn
of?

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