Comments on Dover Beach 多佛沙滩评论

Comments on Dover Beach

摘要:

多佛沙滩是一首由四个小节每个小节有十四行的抑扬诗，前两节每节有十四行，却又不是严格的十四行诗，这首诗可以被称为“一系列非独立的十四行诗”。这首诗在艺术上是一首忧沉的诗，作者采用“感情误置”这种方式，把人们那种悲哀之情付于无生命的物体上，在本诗中，他就把人们的这种感情寄托给了大海，读者可以在欢愉的节奏本身体会到那种忧郁。在本诗的主题和结构上来看，在诗的开头，作者描写了沙滩上夜晚的景，然后把描写转移到了听觉上，以描写海波的声音，这种海波的声音引起一种悲伤的情绪。第二节介绍了Sophocles关于人类起伏而感到悲哀的观点，与前一节形成了一种对比的情景，在第三节中大海转向了大海的信仰，为那段时间做了个比喻，那段时间人们依然在崇拜着宗教，但是新时代的到来却带来了达尔文思想，工业革命等。总之，本诗运用不同的方式表达了一种悲伤的感情和对人类社会起伏的同情。

关键词：Form and structure theme and subject

Comments on Form and Structure

"Dover Beach" consists of four stanzas, each containing a variable number of verses. The first stanza

has 14 lines, the second 6, the third 8 and the fourth 9. As for the metrical scheme, there is no apparent rhyme

scheme, but rather a free handling of the basic iambic pattern. In stanza 3 there is a series of open vowels

("Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" (l. 25). A generally falling syntactical rhythm can be detected and

continues into stanza 4. In this last stanza one can find seven lines of iambic pentameter (l.31-37), with the

rhyme scheme of abbacddcc.

According to Ruth Pitman, this poem can be seen as "a series of incomplete sonnets", and David G.

Riede adds:

The first two sections each consist of 14 lines that suggest but do not achieve strict sonnet form, and

except for a short (three foot) opening line, the last section emulates the octave of a sonnet, but closes with a

single, climactic line instead of a sestet — as though the final five lines had been eroded. (197)

The thoughts do not appear as obviously structured and organized as in "Calais Sands", which is

accentuated by the fact that run-on lines are mixed with end-stopped lines. In the first stanza the rhythm of

the poem imitates the "movement of the tide" (l.9-14). [Roy Thomas, How to read a Poem? (London:

University of London Press Ltd, 1961) 102. Hereafter cited as "Thomas."

Terms of Art

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"Dover Beach" is a melancholic poem. Matthew Arnold uses the means of 'pathetic fallacy', when he

attributes or rather projects the human feeling of sadness onto an inanimate object like the sea. At the same

time he creates a feeling of 'pathos'. The reader can feel sympathy for the suffering lyrical self, who suffers

under the existing conditions.

The repetition of "is" in lines 1-4 is used to illustrate the nightly seaside scenery:

The sea is calm tonight, the tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French

coast the light Gleams and is gone; . . . [emphasis mine]

It leads up to an eventual climax with 'the light/ gleams and is gone’. The first two is portray what can

be seen. The last 'is' emphasizes that the light is not there, that it cannot be seen any longer, but is gone and

leaves nothing but darkness behind. In a metaphorical sense of the word, not only the light is gone, but also

certainty. The darkness makes it hard to define both one's own and somebody else's position, and one can

never be certain that the light will ever return.

A repetition in stanza 4 underlines a series of denials: ". . . neither joy, nor love, nor

light/ nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;" (l. 33-34) [emphasis mine]. All these are basic human

values. If none of these do truly exist, this raises the question of what remains at all. With these lines, Arnold

draws a very bleak and nihilistic view of the world he is living in.

As in "Calais Sands", he uses a lot of adjectives to enrich the poem's language, such as "tremulous

cadence" (l.13) and "eternal note of sadness" (l.14). These help to increase the general melancholic feeling of

the poem.

Exclamations are used at various points of the poem with quite opposite effects. In the first stanza,

Arnold displays an outwardly beautiful nightly seaside scenery, when the lyrical self calls his love to the

window ("Come. ..!" (l.6)) to share with him the serenity of the evening. First she is asked to pay attention to

the visual, then to the aural impression ("Listen!" (l.9)).

In the fourth stanza, however, after he has related his general disillusionment with the world, he

pledges for his love to be faithful ('true') to him. ("Ah, love, let us be true/To one another! . . ." (l. 29-30))

A simile in stanza 3 ("like the folds of a bright girdle furled," l. 13)) contrasts with "Vast edges

drear/and naked shingles of the world." (l. 27-28). Peter Hühn calls this "Kleidervergleich" and explains:

Es tritt andeutungsweise noch ein weiteres Bild zur Meeresmetapher hinzu, der Kleidervergleich, der

die Sinnentleerung als Prozess der Entblössung wiedergibt . . . Eine wichtige Implikation dieses Bildes ist die

Vorstellung, dass der Sinn nicht den Dingen selbst innewohnt, sondern ihnen vom Menschen (seinem

"Glauben") erst übergezogen wird." [74]

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Throughout the poem, the sea is used as an image and a metaphor. At first, it is beautiful to look at in

the moonlight (ll.1-8), then it begins to make hostile sounds ("grating roar" (l. 9); "tremulous cadence" (l.13))

that evoke a general feeling of sadness. In the third stanza, the sea is turned into a metaphoric "Sea of Faith"

(l.21) — a symbol for a time when religion could still be experienced without the doubts brought about by

progress and science (Darwinism). Now, the 'Sea of Faith' and thus the certainty of religion withdraw itself

from the human grasp and leaves only darkness behind.

Theme and Subject

The first stanza opens with the description of a nightly scene at the seaside. The lyrical self calls his

addressee to the window, to share the visual beauty of the scene. Then he calls her attention to the aural

experience, which is somehow less beautiful. The lyrical self projects his own feelings of melancholy on to

the sound of "the grating roar /of pebbles, which the waves draw back, and fling/ At their return, up the high

strand" (ll.9-11). This sound causes an emotion of "sadness" (l.14) in him.

The second stanza introduces the Greek author Sophocles' idea of "the turbid ebb and flow of human

misery" (ll.17-18). A contrast is formed to the scenery of the previous stanza. Sophocles apparently heard the

similar sound at the "Aegean" sea (l. 16) and thus developed his ideas. Arnold then reconnects this idea to the

present. Although there is a distance in time and space ("Aegean" — "northern sea" (L. 20)), the general

feeling prevails.

In the third stanza, the sea is turned into the "Sea of Faith" (l.21), which is a metaphor for a time

(probably the Middle Ages) when religion could still be experienced without the doubt that the modern

(Victorian) age brought about through Darwinism, the Industrial revolution, Imperialism, a crisis in religion,

etc.) Arnold illustrates this by using an image of clothes ('Kleidervergleich'). When religion was still intact,

the world was dressed ("like the folds of a bright girdle furled" (l. 23)). Now that this faith is gone, the world

lies there stripped naked and bleak. ("the vast edges drear/ and naked shingles of the world" (ll. 27-28))

The fourth and final stanza begins with a dramatic pledge by the lyrical self. He asks his love to be

"true" (l.29), meaning faithful, to him. ("Ah, love, let us be true /To one another!" (ll. 29-30)). For the

beautiful scenery that presents itself to them ("for the world, which seems/ To lie before us like a land of

dreams,/ So various, so beautiful, so new" (ll.30-32)) is really not what it seems to be. On the contrary, as he

accentuates with a series of denials, this world does not contain any basic human values. These have

disappeared, along with the light and religion and left humanity in darkness. "We" (l.35) could just refer to

the lyrical self and his love, but it could also be interpreted as the lyrical self addressing humanity. The

pleasant scenery turns into a "darkling plain" (l. 35), where only hostile, frightening sounds of fighting

armies can be heard:

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night." (ll.35-37).

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Conclusion:

This poem is, unarguably, about a loss of faith. With many new philosophies during the Victorian Era,

such as existentialism, materialism, socialism, darwinism, anarchism and a lot more -ism's, a massive

stepping down from the Christian faith occured (in Great Britain). Matthew Arnold places the poem in a

more existentialist/agnostic view, as he does not question God, but the way people follow God and the

decline in what their faith was before the Victorian Era.

What he describes in Dover Beach, the seemingly peaceful Sea of Faith, only serves to compare his real

view of the church. Historically, during the Victorian Era, the Anglican Church became what some would

call a "decorated coffin". People would go to service because it was a tradition, or a habit- one of the original

reasons the Anglican church had trouble with the Catholics (as the Catholics were more prone to this, and the

Anglicans supported more "liberal" ideas at the time). What Arnold sees is a dead church and a reality in

which there is nothing to look forward to.

Bibliography：

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WWW Version. BibRef 9703

John Wileyand Sons, New York, 1983. BibRef 8300

General comments and additions

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