Page 86 - 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?

The speaker of the poem is a young man. He is speaking to his love. The poem suggests that
they are having a difficult relationship (“And we are here as on a darkling plain swept with
confused alarms of struggle and flight”).

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

In the first stanza, the sea is described as playing an “eternal note of sadness.” Similarly, the
Aegean Sea brings misery to Sophocles’ mind. The relationship is that the sea is not a symbol
of hope and independence, but rather of misery and of constraint.

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

The Sea of Faith, like the beaches and seas described in the first two stanzas, once was alive
and present around the world. The difference is that the Sea of Faith represents hope and faith,
while the new water represents misery.

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?

Love, like the waters, is ever present, but also ever changing (ebbing and flowing). The speaker
suggests that love is the solution since it is natural and unsought for. Love, too, is present. He
urges his love to focus on the present calm, the present love, in hopes that it will lead to a
bright future.

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?

The waters warn of humanity’s sad destiny by reminding him of the past.

T-68