Dover Beach A Poem By: Matthew Arnold PowerPoint By: Nicholas Giurleo
Transcript
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PowerPoint By: Nicholas Giurleo
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Poet Biography: Matthew Arnold Date and Place of Birth:
December 24, 1822 in Laleham, England Eldest son of Thomas Arnold
and Mary (Penrose) Arnold; his father was a historian and the
Headmaster of Rugby School located in Rugby, England Received an
education at Winchester College, Rugby School, Balliol College and
Oxford University 1828: his family moved from Laleham to Rugby when
Thomas Arnold received a job as headmaster at Rugby 1831: he was
sent back to Laleham to be under the care of his uncle John
Buckland at his preparatory school; he returned home and was
tutored along with his younger brother Tom
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1838-1842:Matthew and his brother produced a magazine twice
yearly called the Fox How Magazine; poetry from Mathew was featured
frequently Also at this time Matthew received his secondary
education at Winchester, Rugby, and Balliol College; he received
many awards for poems he wrote such as Alaric at Rome and Cromwell
1842: his father unexpectedly died 1843:graduated from Oxford with
2 nd Class Honors in Greats (a completion of the classics course)
The years after his graduation he spent much of his time teaching
at Rugby and traveling through Europe (i.e. Wales, Ireland, and
France) after he received a fellowship (a funding for additional
educational endeavors) by Oriel College Poet Biography: Matthew
Arnold (Cont.)
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1847: granted the position of secretary by a lord named
Lansdowne who personally knew Arnolds father; Lansdowne was a very
generous employer to Arnold and gave him many holidays which Arnold
spent traveling the European continent 1849: anonymously published
his first poetry book, The Strayed Reveller and Other Poems 1851:
with the recommendation of Lansdowne, he was promoted to inspector
of the schools of London by the crown (Queen Victoria); he remained
in this position for 35 years Shortly after securing this
financially beneficial position he married Fanny Lucy (Flu)
Wightman; she was the daughter of a judge; she bore Arnold six
children; three died in early childhood
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Poet Biography: Matthew Arnold (Cont.) During the later part of
his life Arnold began to devote more attention to social and
theological subjects; such works included his Last Essays on Church
and Religion and the Church of England; Arnold was a devout
Christian who concluded in his writings that Christianity would
survive because the teachings of Christ addressed issues central to
the moral existence of mankind 1883: receives a substantial pension
from Prime Minister Gladstone After receiving this pension he took
two lecture tours through the United States; these lectures were
published later as his Discourses in America 1888: he died suddenly
while walking with his wife to catch a tram (a trolley) in
Liverpool to meet his daughter who was arriving by boat from the
United States
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Inspiration for Writing Dover Beach Some events Arnold lived
through (roughly 1822-88): 1819Queen Victoria is born 1829Catholic
Emancipation, ends most restrictions on Catholic civil rights,
property ownership, & public service. 1834Slavery banned in
British colonies. 1844Irish potato famine begins. 1848Marx and
Engels, Communist Manifesto. 1851First telegraph cable laid across
the English Channel 185356Crimean War 1858Government of India
transferred to the Crown. 1859Darwins Origin of the Species.
1868Disraeli becomes Prime Minister 1879Edison invents the electric
light bulb 1901Death of Queen Victoria at age 82 Following his
honeymoon with his wife, Arnold and his wife visited Dover, Kent,
England, and he had the inspiration to write this poem after
spending time on the coastal beach with his wife through the
admiring of the view of the Strait of Dover
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Speaker A male individual on a beach near Dover, England
(almost certainly Matthew Arnold)
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Audience A female individual on the beach listening to the
speaker; the speaker loves this individual (almost certainly
Arnolds wife Fanny)
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Purpose To emphasize the message that challenges to the
validity of long- standing theological and moral beliefs has harmed
societys faith in religion
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Poem Type This poem is free verse because it has no defined
structure (i.e. no consistent rhyme scheme) and the ideas of the
poem are broken up into sentences.
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Literal Meaning First Sentence: (lines 1) The sea is calm
to-night. Second Sentence: (lines 2-5) The tide is full, the moon
lies fair Upon the straits; -on the French coast the light Gleams
and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out
in the tranquil bay. Third Sentence: (line 6) Come to the window,
sweet is the night-air! Fourth Sentence: (lines 7-14) Only, from
the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanchd land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw
back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and
cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in. 1. Tonight the sea is calm. 2. It
is full tide, and the water reflects the image of the moon. The
enormous cliffs of England, like the French coast glimmer brightly.
3. Come to the window. The night air is sweet. 4. Where the ocean
meets the land whitened by the light of the moon you can hear the
roar of pebbles which the waves take into sea and throw back to the
land. Again and again this happens in almost a rhythmic way. It is
quite saddening.
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Literal Meaning (cont.) Fifth Sentence: (lines 15-20) Sophocles
long ago Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the
turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a
thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. Sixth Sentence:
(lines 20-22) The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and
round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furld. 5.
I hear now the sound of sadness that the ancient Greek dramatist
Sophocles once heard on the Aegean Sea. Like Sophocles I too hear a
thought from the sea that greatly disturbs me. 6. Religion
(Christianity) was once wrapped around the world much like how a
girdle surrounds a persons waste.
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Literal Meaning (cont.) Seventh Sentence: (lines 23-27) But now
I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to
the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked
shingles of the world. Eighth Sentence: (lines 27-34) Ah, love, let
us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before
us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath
really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace,
nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept
with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies
clash by night. 7. Now I only hear the sad withdrawing roar of the
night wind that blows down the vast and dull gloomy edges of the
world 8. But love, let us be honest to each other. The world
appears to be a land of beautiful and new dreams, however in
reality it is not. There is no love, no peace, no joy, no light,
and no compassion. Here we are on a dark beach confused and lost
because around us the battle between the ignorant forces of
religion and science fights on.
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Figurative Language
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Simile Example: (lines 20-22) The Sea of Faith Was once, too,
at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright
girdle furld. Sea of Faith (symbolic for religion) girdle =
surrounds/encircles Emphasis on symbolizing religion
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Metaphor Example: (line 20) The Sea of Faith Faith Sea =
flood/inundate Emphasis on symbolizing religion
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Symbol Example: (line 1) The Sea = religion (Christianity)
Example: (line 8) Land = science The poem is an allegory for the
battle at the time between religious conformity of the past and
scientific and rationalist thought promoted by industrialization
and the Victorian Era
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Hyperbole Example: (line 14) The eternal note of sadness
Calling sadness an eternal note is an extreme exaggeration
Emphasizes the speakers sadness for observing what he believes is a
symbolic representation of the battle between science and
religion
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Allusion Example: (lines 15-18) Sophocles long ago Heard it on
the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of
human misery These lines allude to a passage in the ancient Greek
play Antigone, by Sophocles. The eternal note of sadness also is a
reference to a line from this play. Arnold is possibly referencing
that Sophocles also experienced a sensation of revelation similar
to the one Arnold experienced on the beach of Dover
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Metonymy Example: (line 15) Sophocles = tragedy Sophocles was
essentially the inventor of the play type of tragedy because he was
one of the first documented humans to ever write a piece in this
type
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Personification Example: (lines 8-9) [the] roar Of pebbles
Pebbles cannot roar; roaring is a human trait Sensory detail that
can also be interpreted as metaphoric for science making increasing
noise and becoming more apparent to religious conformists
throughout the changing world
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Synecdoche, Euphemism, and Apostrophe Not present in this
poem
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Sound Devices
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Assonance Example: (line 2) The tide is full, the moon lies
fair Sensory detail that metaphorically represents the security of
religion prior to the emergence of new scientific and rational
thought
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Consonance Example: (line 33) Swept with confused alarms of
struggle and flight Adds to the sudden change in intensity at the
end of the poem which metaphorically represents the panic organized
religion was facing by the suddenly emergence of developing
scientific thought
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Dissonance Examples: (line 34) Ignorant clash (hard g sound)
(hard k sound) Adds to the sudden change in intensity at the end of
the poem which metaphorically represents the panic organized
religion was facing by the suddenly emergence of new scientific
developments
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Alliteration Example: (lines 1-2) The sea is calm to-night. The
tide is full, the moon lies fair Sensory detail that adds to the
metaphorical representation of the security of religion before the
emergence of new rational scientific thought
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Repetition Example: (lines 1-2, 4) The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; -on the
French coast the light Gleams and is gone The use of this repeated
verb helps to illustrate the scenery; more sensory detail to add to
the metaphorical representation of the security of religion before
the emergence of new rational scientific thought
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Internal Rhyme Example: (line 12) Begin, and cease, and then
again begin, Begin, again, and begin rhyme and are all located in
one single line of the poem Emphasizes metaphorically the back and
forth struggle between religion and science
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Onomatopoeia Example: (line 9) roar The word roar sounds like
what it actually represents Personifies the pebbles from line
10
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Rhyme Scheme Not present in this poem
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Fin. Thanks for Watching! Next Slide is Bibliography