Dover Beach

Essay by darkdcxCollege, UndergraduateA, November 2002

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DOVER BEACH

Dover Beach is a very 'mood' evoking poem . We are first met with an appreciation for the sea and different emotions that is draws to the observer. However as the poem progresses we are gradually introduced to a large metaphor for love and like the sea is able to evoke many moods , and different emotions , whether prosperous or decayed. The poet describes the emotions with extreme passion and perhaps with slight hysteria. We are given as sense of loss by this hysteria which becomes clearer in the last stanza.

The title of this poem , 'Dover Beach' , really sets the scene to the reader almost instantly . Dover , with its white cliffs , giving us a sense of dominance and magnificence. The poet may have done this as to set the mood for the opening stanza .For others it may provoke a thought or memory of the past .

Perhaps on childhood holidays with your parents. The could be provoking these thoughts so that you can empathise later to what he is experiencing in the poem . This setting for many , will of course bring the Channel to mind , a gigantic image , provoking again thoughts, this time of France. The title itself however does not give you any emotional insight into the poem . I feel the poet did this as to not alert the reader to what is going to transcend upon them further in the poem.

The poems opening stanza is to begin with very soft and tranquil , 'The sea is calm tonight'. The words the poet uses are pleasing , ' Gleams , sweet , glimmering'. The mood for the poem is being set. The reader is filled with visions of peace...