Potpourri Blog Post #4

Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

 There are three basic seas in this poem. The significance of each one is important to the meaning of the work. The first place is the English Channel. When the speaker is standing at Dover Beach and looking out, he is able to see the English Channel. He sees a beautiful sight at first, but then listens and can hear only depressing and almost scary sounds. The "eternal note of sadness" (Arnold) is not only heard by him though, he says that Sophocles heard it long ago. This means that the sound is timeless and has gone on for a long time now. The Sea of Faith is dwindling and it is actually very depressing. It is not only his faith though, it's the faith of the entire world. People are losing faith and the speaker's call to action is not to go back and return to faith and try to strengthen it. He looks to his love and says "ah, love, let us be true to one another!" (Arnold). The world is not what it seems and there really is nothing good for people to have faith in. His call to action is to rely on one another to get through the tough times because people are losing faith and they need to struggle and fight through life together.