"Dover Beach" analysis
...te of depressing thoughts. Also, the form of the poem is not very strong. Every stanza has a different number of lines. Since it is not a sonnet it makes the reader expect something calm, exciting, or joyous. Even the pacing of the lines and the repetition of the words in that stanza suggest the waves on the ocean. Which, again, is a positive thought to most people. Although the poem starts out nicely, it takes a sudden turn in the middle of the poem starting with the second stanza with the line, “Sophocles long ago / Heard it on the Aegean…” Even though it does not sound very depressing on the outside, if the history of Sophocles and the Aegean Sea is known, it is obvious that the mention of it in the poem has a meaning. Knowing that Sophocles is a form of tragedy gives the poem a tragic tone. Also, it gives the image of the Aegean Sea in the same line. Since the Aegean Sea is so old it is saying that tragedy is old, and it has always been and always will be in people’s lives. In addition, in the very center of the entire poem is an important line, “Of human misery; we” Considering their situation of just getting married an on their honeymoon, one would think of this as a happy and joyful event during life. When this line is read it can get confusing. It could either be good or bad depending on how the reader perceives it. It could be bad if the reader thinks of it as he is in misery because they are together, or it could be good as they are in misery but they are doing it together so they can get through it. Either way the line is very strong in the sense that it stops abruptly with plenty of room to put the rest of the line there, but since this is not done, the reader know that it is done that way to prove some meaning. He knows how much misery people have gone through in the past and he may believe that people will continue to have a life of misery forever. At the beginning of the third stanza there is another line with a hidden meaning. “The sea of faith …” When he uses it in this line he is trying to tell the reader that he believes the world used to have religious faith. Used to look to religion and God when they had no one else to turn to, and now he believes that the world does not do this any more after the line, “But now I only hear…” In this stanza he starts using cacophony and more negative words such as, “melancholy” and “roar”. Again, he has negative feelings but this time more towards people in general and their actions. The last stanza in the poem I believe is the strongest. He starts talking about pleasan...