"Dover Beach"

 “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold

In “Dover Beach” three bodies of water are mentioned and they are connected by the same idea of an “eternal note of sadness.” Two of the bodies of water are literal while one of them is figurative.  The first body of water, the English Channel, introduces the “eternal note of sadness.” “Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling… with tremulous cadence slow, and bring the eternal note of sadness in,” (Arnold, 892). The channel looks beautiful, but the sound is harsh. “Sophocles long ago heard it on the Aegean, and it brought into his mind the turbid ebb and flow of human misery,” (Arnold, 892). The second body of water, the Aegean sea connects the idea from the previous body of water to human misery. The idea established in the first body of water grows bigger from just water to now humans. In the third body of water, “the Sea of Faith,” the idea grows to relate to the world. The speaker establishes a connection between sadness and faith. For example, “was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore… but now I only hear its melancholy, long withdrawing roar,” (Arnold, 892). As faith decreases, sadness increase; therefore, sadness is eternal and faith is fading. “For the world, which seems to lie before us like alnad of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new, hath really neither joy, nor love…” (Arnold, 893). The eternal not of sadness relates to the idea that the world appears to be this beautiful place full of opportunity; however, it is full of eternal sadness and misery.