An Analysis Of Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach

Matthew Arnold was an English poet and prose writer during the Victorian age in England. His parents were Mary Penrose Arnold and Dr. Thomas Arnold. He was also the oldest child in his family. Matthew lived from 1822 to 188. Throughout his life, Matthew Arnold wrote various works in the style of poetry and prose. He is well known for many of his works including the poem “Dover Beach” (“Dover Beach” 52). “Dover Beach” has been described in various ways, but like most poets their work represents something. “Dover beach” was told in the way Matthew Arnold lived his life, sad and Victorian.

Matthew Arnold was a very lucky man in that he had wonderful people in his life to be influenced by. Growing up, Arnold was fortunate enough to have

During his time at the university, Matthew Arnold published the poem “Alaric at Rome” in 1840. He later was able to graduate from college in 1844 (“Dover Beach” 52). Matthew spent his whole life up to this point being influenced by others, now it was time for him to be the influencer. Max Miller said that Matthew had “Olympian Manners” when he attended the university. This is where most of his education was obtained and his writing began to take off. Matthew fell in love with the city of Oxford and the countryside that was accompanied in it during his time at the university. During his schooling, Matthew must have made an amazing impression because he was later asked to return. When Matthew was asked to return, he was asked to join Oxford University as the Oxford Chair of Poetry from 1857-1867 (Allot 203, 207). Being the Chair of Poetry meant he needed to write a lot of lectures on poetry itself. This was when his prose work began, and he really started focusing on that rather than poetry (“Dover Beach” 52). Matthew Arnold spent a lot of his life in the town of Oxford at Oxford University. “An inspector of schools, he advocated secondary education reform, some of his inspiration coming from continental tours of schools” (Thompson). Matthew Arnold continued to influence others and spend time in school when he became a school inspector. Although he did make an

The poem is not only about the ocean and beach but is almost a comparison to life itself. The setting of “Dover Beach” in the beginning is being described as sweet and calm(Arnold 1, 6). It can be assumed that Arnold enjoys the beach, its beauty, and all of the sensations that come with it. Towards the middle of “Dover Beach”, the setting is described as melancholy and sad (Arnold 14, 25). Then again at the end of “Dover Beach” he describes the setting as beautiful (Arnold 32). Life can almost be described the same way this beach/ocean setting is. Life can be calm and sweet as a child, but as people grow old it becomes more melancholy and sad. In the end of a typical life, most people start to see the beauty in how they lived and the things they were able to accomplish in their lives. Arnold could have an underlying tone of life and love and what they mean to him. With life, it can be split into parts of a person’s life where there are different emotions surrounding each time period. Love is a constant rollercoaster of emotions mostly being happy and sad. However love is very beautiful