Matthew Arnold
This poem had a unique structure with four stanzas of differing lengths. The first stanza discusses the sights and sounds of Dover Beach on the English Channel, which goes from positive to negative aspects. "Grating roar" (Arnold, line 9) marks the shift in the first stanza and the speaker's opinion of the water and life in general. I think that he sees the beauty of the beach but then the truth comes out when one hears the sounds which portray it in a negative light. The second stanza is much shorter than the first and depicts the Aegean Sea and includes a reference to Sophocles who brings a common factor. Humans have felt the same even thousands of years ago, and human nature does not change. The third stanza offers a metaphorical body of water, The Sea of Faith, which is in stark contrast to the other two bodies of water mentioned earlier in the poem. This sea is diminishing and degrading as time goes on, while the other two were full and prosperous. Most people would expect a solution to re-attaining the faith that has been lost, but Arnold chooses instead to offer a means of dealing with the problem. The last stanza explains simply that people need to stick together and find others to love and survive life with. Kind of depressing, actually...
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