2078 Q.No. 1 How does Matthew Arnold show the conflict between religion and science in the poem `Dover Beach´?[5]
ANSWER
Dover Beach is a highly celebrated poem for the modern change that is faithless. The speaker of the poem calls from the window that symbolizes a perspective to see the whole worlds the Europe mainly. The cliff is meaningful to give the message about the perspectives raised by the speaker's point of view.
The poem talks about the conflict of tradition and modern perspective. Though the modern world looks much luring but in reality it is completely different. The modern man's faith has been shattered by the material thinking. The love also has become the faithless. The poet has beautifully juxtaposes the ebb of the sea with the ebb of the faith. The science and technology has challenged and changed the world. He finds the sea calm but in real that is not calm. The large body of the water seems to join the England and the rest of Europe. It means he is able to see/ observe the Europe. The moon-light might makes the whole world silvery. He can even hear the rhythmic eternal note of sadness in it.
The poet remembers the Sophocles time. Even in that times the ebb and flow of the sea waves used to bring the message of human misery. It is the normal phenomenal story that the human miseries are brought by the sea waves. As the water happens in the pebbles that draw back the human history. The poet uses the poetic device of simile by using 'like' to the whole ocean to the griddle. The griddle is like a belt that binds the earth. He can observe it in such situation. He contrasts the situation. The gridling ocean looks melancholy, long and withdrawing roar. And that takes to the visions of the night wind, roar, coarse, naked world which is completely faithless.
He calls the love of the modern time. He desires the love to be true. The utopian world, the land of dream is expected to fulfill the dewelling of the love. Then only the love would be various, beautiful and new. He calls for the faithful reaction in love. At last, in the darkness, the unknowing groups engage themselves in a conflict under the cover the darkness.
Probable question: Analyze the poem from the perspective of loss of faith and certainty.
ANSWER
The Victorian poet, Matthew Arnold laments on the loss of the faith and advancement of other scientific and technological development in the poem. Beach works as the griddle to the earth that binds the whole earth. As he is able to see the griddle the earth, he finds all the faith of the religion binds the whole earth. Loss of faith is equal to loss of certainty. We can say Matthew Arnold has brought the hints of the Modern Decadences in the Victorian time too. The beautifully played music of the waves to the pebbles creates the eternal note of sadness. The slow repetitive movements of the ripples of the wave symbolizes the slow and steady, gradual but inevitable loss of faith that the speaker senses in this historic movement. The making of the loss of the religious faith happens to be in the cyclical order. The speaker imagines that ancient Greek playwright Sophocles hearing the same sadness in the sea that the poet/ speaker hears now. The ancient world had been replaced by the past and the past loss of faith would be replaced by the science and technology. The contrast has been brought by the words like 'full' and 'bright' with 'melancholy'. The loss of faith is dominating globally. The science versus faith is seen every where in the earth.
In the last couplet of the poem, the speaker brings the belief that scientific changes and advancements will only bring the scientific advancements but not the religious faith or spiritual changes. Though the poem brings the faithless change in the society by the science and technology he is in the state to accept it. He admits the process that is inevitable and sure to happen. We see a type of helplessness of the speaker who only observes the scene from the window and accepts. The night scene blankets over all the possibilities of happening of the faithful world.
In a sense, we can say the poem is a pre-modern pessimistic poem. The speaker is ready to accept the griefs that the loss of faith gives. This type of theme hints the theme of the alienation. The speaker is alienated. He is only the voyeur of the whole scenario and finds himself helpless alienated and the indifference nature to humankind. His thought about the Sophocles reminds us of the Sophocles tragedies that show the downfall of the heros because of their own flaws.
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