Matthew Arnold’s Representation Of The Crisis Of Faith In Dover Beach

Published in 1867, Matthew Arnold’s 'Dover Beach' is short lyrical elegy that depicts a couple overlooking the English Channel, questioning the gradual, steady loss of faith of the time. Set against this backdrop of a society’s crisis of faith, Arnold artfully uses a range of literary techniques to reinforce the central theme of the poem, leading some to argue that Dover Beach was one of the first ‘free-verse’ poems of the language. Indeed, the structure and content of the poem goes against all traditional romantic love sonnets of the day with a decidedly more melancholic and darker tone. Whilst respected critic Stefan Collini explores the notion that Arnold’s poem is too focused on the poet’s own melancholic mindset, I will endeavour to provide an alternative viewpoint which will reason that Arnold successfully delivered a wider commentary about the crisis of faith that resonated not only with Arnold himself, but with the audience.

The poetic techniques that Arnold employs through shifts in metre, rhythm and form serve to reinforce the change in human condition that Arnold is depicting in the poem. This is perhaps best illustrated through examining the meter of Dover Beach, which for all its apparent minimalism and ease, is subtler than one might think. The poem is comprised of four stanzas, which - while differing in length - appear to retain a loose semblance of iambic rhythm. If we examine Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light / Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; the “daDUM” rhythm is apparent. Arnold then makes a swift change to trochaic rhythm a few lines down in 36 where he begins: Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight. The initial trochaic meter of the line is broken on the world ‘alarms’ signalling a fault in the rhythm. When the speaker stumbles on this word it is evident that the line itself starts to stumble, and in doing so reflects the change and indecision that Arnold is reimagining in his poem.

The shifts in rhyming pattern that Arnold uses also serve to represent the disruption that is unfolding in the poem. The second stanza beginning with ‘Sophocles long ago’ follows an ABACBC pattern, whereas in the third stanza beginning with “The sea of Faith” the poem changes to an ABCDBADC pattern (Dover Beach 15, 21). Whilst every line retains its own partner, the rhyming pattern shifts and rhymes begin to take imperfect form, such as “breath” and “faith”. This is a conscious decision from Arnold, who is commenting that in this uncertain time the concept of faith appears to be inconsistent and has no natural partner. As with the meter, Arnold has employed an original poetic form to represent the changing conditions. Indeed, Collini rightly notes that it is the “emotion sprung rhythm of Dover Beach that makes it even more remarkable because it lacks an identifiable structure compared to traditional poetic verse”.

Continuing in our analysis of the rhyming techniques engaged by Arnold, the use of repetition and structure additionally serve to reinforce Arnold’s view. We return to the line analysed earlier: Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light / Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain. The apparent repetition of nor reinforces the melancholic undertones of the poem, and assists Arnold in making the audience question whether these qualities truly exist, and if so, whether anything good remains at all. Arnold is reinforcing the bleak and revolutionary view of the world he is teetering on, and illustrates this building apprehension he feels about the changes in human condition. The variations of the line length are similarly another technique employed by Arnold to mirror this apprehension. The lines of the poem vary between two and five stresses, and by entwining the shorter and longer lines Arnold produces the effect of waves rising and falling of the tide, or “the ebb and flow / of human misery”. Arnold successfully uses the tide as a metaphor for human happiness, and concurrently as a guiding rhythm for the audience while they decipher the questions of doubt.

Whilst it is evident that themes of the poem are set against the corrosion of faith by doubt, Collini argues that Arnold is not the subtle witness of the intellectual dilemmas of his age that other historians have accounted for. He further elucidates that although Arnold is often taken as a representative of the ‘Victorian crisis of faith’ and similar large scale intellectual shifts, “he was not attempting to construct an alternative system of synthesis in the way other nineteenth century doubters were trying to do, rather, he was more modestly just ‘trying to see his way’. This is the main argument of Collini: Arnold’s poetry, Dover Beach included, is inherently reflexive and that his poems are nearly always fundamentally about himself and thereby the mood and message of the poet is the focus of attention. He argues that Arnold’s work shows elements of struggling with the intensity of these changes in faith, but that it is always accommodating and promoting the poet’s sensitivity first. Collini justifies this by going on to clarify that melancholy is inescapably self-important, thereby suggesting the melancholic undertones of Dover Beach will always be viewed as intrinsically self-geared.

Whilst I appreciate Collini’s argument, I do not feel this statement can be applied liberally to all of Arnold’s work, particularly to Dover Beach. This is primarily as the 19th century crisis of faith was not one in which Arnold was experiencing alone. In Arnold’s world of the mid-1800 's, the pillar of faith supporting society was seemingly collapsing under the influence of scientific advances by the likes of Darwin. Consequently, the existence of God was cast in doubt, not just for Arnold but for all those in society who were religious, and well-educated. Although Arnold speaks in first person, I do not believe that it precludes the audience from being able to share in the emotions that are central to the poem, nor does the melancholic tone of the poem read as ‘unrelatable’. Just as feelings of cheer are impersonal, so too are feelings of melancholy and sadness: these are universal feelings in which all can partake and do so through the use of literary techniques engaged by Arnold. Indeed, Collini makes the admission that even contemporaries of Arnold’s such as George Elliot found that Arnold’s poetry spoke to their anxieties and yearnings with “a special power”.

There can be no doubt that at the time this work was published many would have found themselves with Arnold wading through this “Sea of Faith”. It for these reasons that Dover Beach successfully reaches out to the audience and provides a relevant dialogue and commentary on the social and religious conditions of the time. The theme of the poem is aided by the use of a range of literary techniques, including free verse meter, imperfect rhyme and repetition to reinforce the central message of the poem, evoking the feelings that Arnold wished his audience to experience with him. Whilst respecting Collini’s conclusions, it is my opinion that Arnold successfully delivered his elegy in a way that reached out and spoke to the audience, arousing the sentiment of the crisis of faith that a number in Victorian society were experiencing.