Dover Beach - A report I liked for its balanced sentences

'Dover Beach'

Dover Beach is a poem through which Matthew Arnold expresses his deep sadness due to the growing impersonality of the industrial age in the mid 1800s, and as a result, the distance created between mankind and their faith in religion, their loss of connection with nature. In spite of the melancholy tone of the poem, the poet did not fail to present the words in a nice manner using alliterations and similes to make it sound rhythmic and lifelike.

According to Arnold, the advancements in science has cast shadows of doubt and confusion in people's belief in God and the Bible. In the opening stanza the poet creates an environment of dimming effects of light (light gleams and is gone) indicating that people's confidence in the concept of religion which was once strong was getting weaker due to the clashes between the religion and scientific theories...and so he finds it painful that 'the sea of faith' has become the sea of despair and desolation leaving suspicion of religion in the minds of people, creating a dark world filled with bewilderment, hatred and no morals. They have no light of hope to guide them ahead, only loneliness and misery. They are mislead by the cravings for materialistic life which seems is mysteriously dangerous....

Arnold believes that only love and intimacy can bring out the world from the darkness of distress and so he calls out to the listener to be honest and true to each other and their principles, because the rest of the world is a misguidance.

Durdana