Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach”
Mermin and Tucker, Victorian Literature, pg 720
“ Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw 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.” (9–14)
“Dover Beach” reflects Matthew Arnold’s philosophy on life, which mainly consists of a ball of existential anxiety, reflected in the imagery and form of this poem. In the quote above, pebbles beat again and again against the shore, lamenting the never-ending cyclical motion of life.
Until this point in the poem, Arnold had characterized nature as being grand and calm. Line 9 is a turning point in the poem when the reader is commanded to “Listen!” beyond the facade of the grand and hear the “eternal note of sadness,” introducing a motif of sound into the poem. What I find particularly interesting is Arnold’s use of the word “cadence” in line 13. “Cadence” means rhythm, but it also means “ending.” Example: Sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” as you read these lyrics … Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you — STOP. Does that bother you? It should. The note on the word “are” resolves the tension in the melody and thus ends the phrase. If you take this into consideration with Arnold’s line “tremulous cadence” it either reflects the cyclical motion of the rocks (rhythm) OR suggests the beginning of a shaky ending. Either reading turns out to be a fairly bleak assessment of the world: either a sad ending is coming slowly, or the eternal drudgery of time via the rocks against the shore is a sad process. In my opinion, the second consideration is more compelling, especially if one takes into consideration the spiritual aspects of the poem (it is often cited as a response to developments in science at the time and the loss of faith many Victorians experienced in the aftermath.)
The final stanza of the poem prescribes a solution to the anxiety found earlier in the poem: love. I don’t neccesarily agree with Arnold here. It’s a gross oversimplification to say that many solutions of the world’s problems boil down to love alone. While that’s a lovely sentiment, it’s somewhat untrue. The problem in Syria can’t be solved with staying “true to one another.” Neither can time nor the course of nature be stopped with love. Don’t take it from me — I’m not the only one who sees a problem with this solution. US Poet Laureate Anthony Hecht’s wildly amusing poem “Dover Bitch” argues against the final stanza in the same manner through the eyes of the woman in “Dover Beach.”
Dover Beach. Digital image. Youtube. N.p. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Hecht, Anthony. “The Dover Bitch.” Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 1967. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
