Summary/Main Idea of the Poem Dover Beach

Dover Beach

      - Mathew Arnold

Brief Summary and Central Idea/Theme/Main Idea:

Dover Beach is one of the representative poems of Mathew Arnold. In the poem, he shows the declining condition of faith and spirituality in the world that is changing rapidly with the growth of science and technology. He is expressing his sadness and says that there is gradual loss of human faith in the materialistic world. He adds that in the past time the sea of faith had encircled the earth, and there was no melancholy, sadness and misery. But there is no more sea of faith now. Humanity, culture, faith, spirituality, etc. are disappearing in the world. There is nothing except the eternal note of sadness. The world has become more like a dream world, and there is neither joy nor life, nor light nor certitude, etc. Everywhere there is confusion, struggle and fight among one other. Man is like a soldier fighting with an unknown enemy in darkness without any purpose of fighting. Thus, he asks his beloved to be true to one another in order to be free from this situation and also to keep alive human faith in this world.

This poem can be divided into two parts. On the first part, he talks of the resounding of waves on the pebbled beach. It is just the background which later leads to real consequence. In the latter part, he expresses his deep feelings about the real situation in the world that is changing rapidly with the change of time. The world is not as beautiful as it appears to be. It seems unreal, various and new. It has become more beautiful and fresh, but it lacks all positive virtues like love, faith, peace, certitude, help for pain, etc. Thus, he again asks his beloved to be true to each other to survive in this faithless world.