Dover Beach

"Dover Beach"
Matthew Arnold
p892

"Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold presents three different bodies of water, each with their own respective meaning. In the first stanza, the English Channel is referenced. The second stanza alludes to the Aegean Sea. The third, the Sea of Faith.

The reference to the English Channel establishes the setting of the poem. Dover beach is located in an area which has a view of both the "French coast" and the "cliffs of England," (Arnold, 892). Through this literal body of water, the reader is able to understand where the thought process of the speaker is taking place.

The next referenced body of water, the Aegean Sea, serves a slightly different purpose. It is introduced following an allusion to the Greek philosopher Sophocles who "long ago heard [the eternal note of sadness] on the Aegean," (Arnold,  892). By alluding to such a well-known intellectual, the speaker is able to show the universality of what he is experiencing. If a normal man can experience the same emotions that a man as wise as Sophocles can, then the reader is able to conclude that this downtrodden feeling is common among humans. Therefore, the poem expresses a universal emotion to which the reader can also connect.

The last body of water that is mentioned is the only figurative image out of the three: the Sea of Faith. There is no literal Sea of Faith, but it does represent the feelings of the speaker. The Sea of Faith represents the speaker's personal level of faith which used to "lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled," (Arnold, 892). But now, the faith has dwindled, drained by a world that is not as it portrayed. The speaker sees no hope in trying to refill the Sea but instead finds comfort in his lover.