"Dover Beach" Analysis

Background

This poem was written in June 1851 shortly after Arnold visited Dover on holiday with

his newly married wife, Lucy. However, it is perfectly legitimate – some would say

preferable – to read the poem without reference to these biographical details. What

is evident is that, in the poem, Arnold’s agnostic approach to religion is very evident

and clearly of great concern to him.

Line 3: straits: the strait(s) of Dover is the narrowest part of the English Channel just

before it becomes the North Sea. The coast of France can often be seen over the

water from Dover.

Line 6: can be taken as addressed to his companion, his new bride, in his hotel.

Line 11: high strand: the upper part of the beach

Line 15: Sophocles was a Greek tragedian. On several occasions he compares the

misery of Man to the ebb and flow of his local sea, the Aegean. Here is just one

example from the play Antigone:

‘When a house has once been shaken by the gods, no form of ruin is lacking,

but it spreads over the bulk of the race, just as, when the surge is driven over the

darkness of the deep by the fierce breath of Thracian sea-winds, it rolls up the black

sand from the depths, and the wind-beaten headlands that front the blows of the

storm give out a mournful roar.’

Line 17: turbid: muddy; can be used figuratively to suggest muddy or confused

thought.

Line 20: this distant northern sea: the English Channel as distinct from the southern

sea of Sophocles, the Aegean.

Line 21: The Sea of Faith: a change to a metaphorical Sea – that of certainty of

belief. At first it is depicted at high tide, later retreating.

Line 23: girdle furled: a belt or band, rolled up

Line 29: again reminding us that he is addressing the poem to his wife at Dover.

Lines 30-31: one might expect the couple to be optimistic as they start out on a

holiday at the beginning of their married life together.

Line 35: darkling: dark, shadowy

Lines 36-37: Arnold seems to evoke here the picture of a battle by night. The armies

are ignorant because, unable to tell who is their friend and who their foe, they are

totally confused. It has been suggested that the poet refers to the battle of Epipolae

in the Peloponnesian War, but the exact reference is unimportant.