Poetry essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Poetry - Essay Example Standing in the direct line of poet-critics from Philip Sydney to T.S Eliot, he hoped that literature would rise and take up the place of religion offering consolation and sustenance to man. His short poem â€Å"Dover Beach† reflects his melancholic temperament and his dismay at the retreating tide of religious faith. He extols humanity to hold fast to one another because the world is a deceptive and dangerous place, the darkness of which needs moral and spiritual enlightenment to guide people through. The poem begins with tempting description of the night-scene from the Dover Beach. The sea is described as calm, the tide full, â€Å"the moon lies fair upon the straits†, the distant lights on the French coast come on and off, the vast cliffs of England stand â€Å"glimmering†, the bay is tranquil, and the night air is sweet. The speaker invites the other to come to the window and witness the alluring scene. The poem is in the form of a talk, and there is an inevitable presence of a listener. The speaker is airing his thoughts and feelings to an intimate ‘other’ present with him. The seventh line in the first stanza of the poem marks the transition in the speaker’s mood. From the alluring description of the outside view and the invitation to share the beautiful moment with him at the window, he swiftly moves to the melancholic aspect of the repetitive sound of the waves gathering and flinging back the pebbles from the shore on their coming and retreating. He calls this â€Å"the grating roar of pebbles†. The noise is disturbing in its recurring pattern of â€Å"Begin, and cease, and then again begin†. The slow and â€Å"tremulous cadence† of the waves bring to the poet â€Å"the external note of sadness in†. Arnold uses poetic techniques like inversion to heighten the impact of his words. In the last lines of the first stanza the inversion in â€Å"with tremulous cadence slow† works wonders bringing home the