Matthew's Arnold's Dover Beach was not an easy, convenient read; it took me a good number of tries to figure it out. It starts out with a beautiful description of the Strait of Dover, then turns into a what seems to be a struggle. It seems to change subjects almost instantly which doesn't make it any easier to comprehend. The small little biography of Arnold in the back of the anthology wasn't much help either. (It's only three sentences long. I actually counted). Thus, I started to tear it apart.
I started with the end, since that's where the struggle and frustration of the poem seemed to be, and worked my way forwards, piecing it together from there. I came up with a message that, after my analysis now seems rather blatant: life really isn't all that glorious. On lines thirty through thirty thirty three, Arnold writes, "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." I interpreted this to mean what I wrote previously: the world may seem nice, but it's really not. I think that's why Arnold started out with a soothing description of the Strait of Dover. He makes it seem lovely and wonderful, prepared to tear it down in the following stanzas. Not to mention, his last lines: "And we are here as on darkling plain / Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight / Where ignorant armies clash by night." I believe most of us are confused. We don't know why we're here or why life just has to be so frustratingly hard at times; it's definitely not beautiful as it may visually appear to be.
How did you all interpret the poem? Did you see it the same way or as something completely different?
I thought that the poem was very difficult to understand towards the end because there was a change in the mood. It seemed to be very depressing towards the end but what he's really saying is that life isn't fair and will change.
ReplyDeleteI definitely enjoyed the poem, but I agree that this was not an easy read! I thought that the poem was very well written, but it took something that is very beautiful in most instances and used it to depict something that is miserable.
ReplyDeleteI struggled with the text as well! I agree with your idea that there is a perceived statement about life not being all the great within the text. With that, I think it can also be transferred to people. I know the sea is commonly referred to as a "she" and a "cruel mistress" and other feminine names, so I can image that looking at the sea being so beautiful can be enticing like looking at someone from the outside, but inside, they can show their inner turmoil and inner darkness. This is not for just women, but humanity as a whole. I may be reaching, but I think maybe Arnold could have been not only saying life sucks, but people do too.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of going to the end of a poem and working backwards is something I have occasionally done myself. It helps to look at a piece a different way.
ReplyDeleteThere were a great many lines that took me a little while to grasp as well, but looking at a poem multiple times can only help. I will also agree that the indecently short biography (and I use the term sarcastically) is greatly unhelpful when trying to analyze this piece of poetry.
I can agree that Arnold has the idea of things seeming good on the outside or in theory, but the reality is terrible. The Industrial Revolution seemed like a grand idea, and it was now that we can look back at it from a historical stand point. To the people living through that time period it was Hell. People were dying, living quarters were cramped at best, and sanitation wasn't on the up-and-up. However, to the people not directly dealing with the hazards of the Revolution it seemed perfect.