The Analysis Of Arnold's Works
Arnold was born in 1822 December 24 and was the eldest son of Thomas Arnold. Thomas was appointed headmaster of Rugby School in 1828 and Matthew entered Rugby in 1837 and then attended Oxford as a scholar of Balliol College. He won the Newdigate Prize because of his poem Cromwell in 1843 and was graduated with second-class honours in 1844. In 1851, in order to secure the income needed for his marriage with Frances Lucy Wightman, he started working as an inspector of schools. This was to be his routine occupation until within two years of his death. He died peacefully at age 65 on the 15th of April 1888 in Liverpool, England.
In ‘Sea Fever’ the poet is trying to tell the audience about the ocean and its surroundings, such as the tides, sea and sky. While explaining the surrounding, the poet is trying to tell us how calm and peaceful the oceans are. I can tell because the layout of the poem is very flowy and smooth like how he explains the ocean. The poet is also explaining his life of living on a ship. I can tell because he mentions a tall ship and how to steer it by using the stars.
In ‘Dover Beach’, the poet is trying to explain to the audience about the beach and how once it was used to battle on. The poet is also trying to make you imagine the sadness on this beach and it reminded him of the Aegean Sea. The message is first he observes the tide and the moon reflecting on the water. Then, he sees the French coast lights fade away from the English Channel. Then he explains to someone about the air, waves and pebbles. He also mentions how the world has variety, beauty and newness; it doesn’t actually offer joy, love, clarity, certainty, peace or relief from pain.
Some differences are that ‘Sea fever’ mentions about living on a ship whilst ‘Dover Beach’ is more poetic and miserable. Another difference is that ‘Sea Fever’ explains the ocean in much more detail than ‘Dover beach’ does. They both write about the sea in different perspective because ‘Sea Fever’ is a perspective from living on a ship while ‘Dover beach’ is about emotions and faith rather than descriptions about the ocean. ‘Sea fever’ has more English techniques such as alliteration and contains more rhythm than ‘Dover Beach’.
A similarity is that they both are written in first person and both start with rhymes about the sea and how peaceful it is. They both express their appreciation for the beauty of the ocean. Both poems are telling a story about an experience that they’ve encountered themselves.
The ‘Sea Fever’ poem is written in quatrains while the ‘Dover beach’ is written in a stanza. ‘Sea fever’ has a rhyming pattern of AABB while ‘Dover beach’ doesn’t really have a rhyming pattern. ‘Sea Fever’ has a bunch of alliteration for example: I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife. I also noticed that the alliteration is only used for the letter S and W. Some similes include: To lie before us like a land of dreams, this technique is used to make us imagine more. In ‘Dover Beach’ I noticed a lot of repetition of the word nor and so; So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain. Both poems are ballads and contain enjambments.
