Matthew Arnolds Dover Beach Essay -- Matthew Arnold Dover Beach Essay

Matthew Arnolds Dover BeachMatthew Arnolds Dover Beach employs the sounds of language in three ways, through onomatopoeia to aurally represent the actions occurring on the shore, a varying meter which mirrors the varying high of the waves on the beach, and a rhyme scheme which searches for its identity. In each stanza of the meter when the sounds of language are chaotic, the optical descriptions in the rime are peaceful, entirely when the visual descriptions are chaotic, the sounds of language become tranquil. This never resolved push represents the struggle the talker finds himself in, which is about looking for something in his world which sounds and looks concurring(a) with his beliefs. The first stanza of the song visually describes a tranquil ordinary beach scene, but through the sounds of language the reader learns the speaker sees the beach in more chaos than the visuals suggest. Passive verbs that dominate the first five lines of the poem such as ?is? (line 1) and ?lies? (line 2), as well as describing the sea as ?calm? (line 1) and the moon as ?fair? (line 2) contribute to the tranquil visual image of the beach. However, onomatopoeia, rhythm and rhyme do not agree with the tranquil beach scene. For example, onomatopoeia serves to aurally represent the violent action of the waves on the pebbles. The pebbles are already in a chaotic state with their ?grating make noise? (line 9). Then the waves come and, ?draw back, and fling? (line 10) the pebbles to create more chaos. ? vortex? ends the line on a chaotic note. This process is aurally delineated by, ?begin, and cease, and then again begin? (line 12). The line presents the reader with a mystify that further emphasizes the chaotic pattern of the waves and pebbles. T... ... until the darkness leaves and light can enter. The poem ends with the speaker finding what he wants to hear to put him at peace, silence. His love one has listen to him throughout the poem and has not once spoken. The speaker wants someone he can talk to that will listen to him during the assurance crisis. There may be more than a crisis of faith in the speaker?s life, but faith is the most important difficulty he wants fixed, since the entire third stanza is devoted to ?The Sea of Faith? (line 21) However, the speaker still sees the world as a chaotic lie, which over shadows eyesight his loved one with him listening to him. Aural peace has been achieved while visual peace has not.Works CitedArnold, Matthew. Dover Beach. Perrines Literature Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Thomas R. ARP. 7th ed. frontward Worth Hartcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. 715-716.