"Dover Beach" is the most celebrated poem by Matthew Arnold, a writer and educator of the Victorian era. The poem expresses a crisis of faith, with the speaker acknowledging the diminished standing of Christianity, which the speaker sees as being unable to withstand the rising tide of scientific discovery. New research and intellectual inquiry cast doubt on humankind's central and special role in the universe. The speaker in the poem senses this change almost subconsciously, seeing and hearing it in the sea that the speaker is looking out upon. In its expression of alienation, doubt, and melancholy, the poem is often interpreted as a remarkably forward-thinking precursor to 20th century crises of faith—like Existentialism and Absurdism. In essence, the poem is an inquiry into what it means to be alive.
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The Full Text of “Dover Beach”
1The sea is calm tonight.
2The tide is full, the moon lies fair
3Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
4Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
5Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
6Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
7Only, from the long line of spray
8Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
9Listen! you hear the grating roar
10Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
11At their return, up the high strand,
12Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
13With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
14The eternal note of sadness in.
15Sophocles long ago
16Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
17Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
18Of human misery; we
19Find also in the sound a thought,
20Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
21The Sea of Faith
22Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
23Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
24But now I only hear
25Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
26Retreating, to the breath
27Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
28And naked shingles of the world.
29Ah, love, let us be true
30To one another! for the world, which seems
31To lie before us like a land of dreams,
32So various, so beautiful, so new,
33Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
34Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
35And we are here as on a darkling plain
36Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
37Where ignorant armies clash by night.
The Full Text of “Dover Beach”
1The sea is calm tonight.
2The tide is full, the moon lies fair
3Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
4Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
5Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
6Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
7Only, from the long line of spray
8Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
9Listen! you hear the grating roar
10Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
11At their return, up the high strand,
12Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
13With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
14The eternal note of sadness in.
15Sophocles long ago
16Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
17Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
18Of human misery; we
19Find also in the sound a thought,
20Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
21The Sea of Faith
22Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
23Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
24But now I only hear
25Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
26Retreating, to the breath
27Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
28And naked shingles of the world.
29Ah, love, let us be true
30To one another! for the world, which seems
31To lie before us like a land of dreams,
32So various, so beautiful, so new,
33Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
34Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
35And we are here as on a darkling plain
36Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
37Where ignorant armies clash by night.
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“Dover Beach” Summary
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“Dover Beach” Themes
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Loss of Faith and Certainty
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Nature and Alienation
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Love
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Dover Beach”
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Lines 1-3
The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; -
Lines 3-5
on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. -
Lines 6-14
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
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. -
Lines 15-20
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea. -
Lines 21-28
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world. -
Lines 29-34
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; -
Lines 35-37
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
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“Dover Beach” Symbols
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The Sea
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“Dover Beach” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Anaphora
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Apostrophe
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Assonance
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Allusion
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Consonance
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Caesura
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Enjambment
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Metaphor
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Simile
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End-Stopped Line
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“Dover Beach” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- straits
- moon-blanched
- strand
- tremulous
- cadence
- Sophocles
- Aegean
- turbid
- ebb
- girdle
- furled
- drear
- shingles
- certitude
- Darkling
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Dover Beach”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Dover Beach” Speaker
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“Dover Beach” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Dover Beach”
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More “Dover Beach” Resources
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External Resources
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A Map — A map showing the geographical position of Dover Beach in relation to France.
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A Reading — Reading of the poem by actor Tom Hiddlestone.
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"Calais Sands" — Another poem by Matthew Arnold, this time set on the opposite shore in France.
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Portraits and Photographs — Portraits and photographs of the poet held in London's National Portrait Gallery.
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A Painting of Dover — A painting of the white cliffs of Dover by JW Turner.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Matthew Arnold
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