The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits;—on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the {AE}gean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
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This poem could easily become one of my favourites if only for that wonderfully evocative first verse. On reading it it is so easy to imagine oneself on the South Coast of england looking out to the distant patch of fuzzy lght that shows the coast of France and listening to the water as it washes over and sucks through the shingle on the beach. Ahh what memories are in his words.
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Poignant to the last line. How sad is this man whilst writing this poem. He sets the scene as 'calm', 'tranquil' and a sweet seascape underpinned only by the stoic cliffs and the permanence of the tides.
Darwins' theory brought Arnold's structure to disruption and decay. He firmly believe in the stories of the Bible and his Christian faith was shattered to think he had descended from primates. the only direction in which to go is to appeal to his sweetheart, but proves to be not much help at all. It's melancholy feel saddens me.
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Insight
Dover Beach was a popular spot where people would spend their wedding night, before they sailed to America. Some say that Arnold wrote this poem on his honeymoon in 1851.
Darwin's Origin of Species came out in 1859. At this point in time a lot of people were questioning their faith. Everything is calm/ordinary and then everything starts to get sad. He is describing people losing religion and them turning to darwinism, and darkness surrounding them clouding their minds, "Into his mind the turbid ebb..." People began questioning their beliefs.
"ah, love, let us be true" he is asking his wife to remain true to him, because nothing else is certain anymore. The world was lost without faith, so all he had was his love. -
Haunting
The last three lines are the ones I never forget:
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
I've always assumed this poem was related to a period of warfare.
Charley Noble -
an all time great
To my ears, "...of stuggle and of flight....." sounds better. I'm sure that Arnold knew what he was doing, so I am curious if others have a similar reaction, and, if so, why. -
some seem to believe that this is a poem about love, however a different perspetive would suggest that this poem is about hope for the world. the first stanza of the poem serves for establishing the mood, more so the first stanza focuses on the beauty of the sea. if anyone has ever been to the ocean and closed their eyes to listen to the waves crash, you would certainly understand the beauty of the first stanza. more importantly, notice the structure of the first stanza. notice that each lines vary in length, rather like the constant pulling forward and backward of the ocean wouldnt you say? the next two stanzas continue to reinforce the universal feelings that the sea evokes. arnold clearly shows that he sea is constant through time (Sophocles) and culture (Sea of Faith). the last stanza is what can throw people off when deciding the meaning of this poem, the word "love" is sometimes thought to mean love between two individuals, however, arnold speaks of a more universal timely love between all human kind. he shows that love between humans must stand true depsite the fact that the world is falling apart - which he shows in the 5-7th lines. "ignorant armies clash by night" are ignorant people who fight for no apparent reason. after all isnt that what wars are all about? what are we fighting for? money is it? in case anyones noticed money is only valued because we as humans have given it value. arnold shows us that though there is strife in human kind, we need to be able to hold together and bind together in love, and make sure that love is constant... constant as the sea.
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This a great poem. I felt deeply touched by the way he interprets his world of sadness and pain. It seems to me that he has been hurt and his in great pain. I feel deeply sorry for the narrator who is reading the poem to us. Cry my child, Cry!
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This poem has to do with the inner pain and struggle the narrator is dealing wiht. Obviously he has been hurt by the loss of love and passion that he once had for a women in which he really loved. Great classical stuff. Arnold is a great poet.
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I thought it was a good poem, but I found that in order to really understand it you needed to know the history of the time period.
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i dont think i really understand the poem but to me it seems like hes connecting the sea with sadness and love.. what is it really about?
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a romantic! a dreamer! beautiful poem!
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this is one of the poems we studied in my 12th grade english lit class, beautifully written for such a pessimistic poem
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I think that the last verse establishes this as a slightly pessimistic poem. In the beginning we have the illusions of utopia, but in the 2nd stanza we find "of human misery,we find also in the sound a thought". In the 3rd, we find that the "sea of faith" is no longer full, and "but now, I only hear its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar." And in the 4th, we obviously return to being confused lovers, wondering about what the world will bring. By the way, Kevin, thank you for featuring this guy, I had never read him before; it is about time I am introduced. Good pick!
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I've been studying Arnold's theory of 'High Art' as defining a societies culture, based on stuff we've been talking about in my anthropology class. He was a facinating figure for his time.
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I like the concrete imagrey. Is this an optimistic or pessimistic poem?
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A true romantic! A fabulous poet ..tho a trifle dis-illusioned.
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