Based on the more recent events that have transpired over the past few years, I believe that the view that Matthew Arnold holds in his writing of “Dover Beach” can be applied to the current word we live in today if interpreted correctly. In the beginning of his poem, he describes a setting that is nothing short of ordinary, “the sea is calm..the tide is full, the moon lies fair.” At this point in time the world is as it is, peaceful and serene much like a “tranquil bay” as he puts it. As we go further into the poem he writes about a light that “gleams and is gone” then about a “sweet[ness] in the night-air!/Only, from the long line of spray/Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land.” Here we see certain aspects of this world that are fleeting. Much like that of the glimmering light that disappears and the sweetness that comes only from a specific place, the world we live in today is changing and the happiness we look for is not available to everyone. We see a world that is described as a “moon-blanched land”, which in essence is a pale ghostly color that seems to have lost its purpose or its will, reflective of many people in this day and age where the whole world seems to be a warzone making hope and love scarce. In the second stanza Arnold brings in an ancient Greek tragedian playwright by the name of Sophocles. Within this poem is a repetition of the idea of repetition, by which I mean he describes the world to be like a tide that describes the “turbid ebb and flow/Of human misery”, a cycle that seems to “Begin, and cease, and then again begin.” Sophocles once said that “To him who is in fear everything rustles” and “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.” I believe Arnold chose Sophocles specifically for those quotes and the way his writing seemed to resonate with the world around us. With the tragic events happening all over the world, whether it be acts of terrorism or simply hate crimes, there is a lack of hope and love in the atmosphere that drives people to do things and act in ways people shouldn’t. In the US alone this 2017 there have been a reported 2557 suicides, 1004 homicides, 687 murders by guns, and 87 cases of domestic violence. There are protests happening all over the nation and the world due to various I need not name and that’s only the beginning. Arnold wrote that “The Sea of Faith/Was once, too, at the full… But now I only hear/Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,/Retreating, to the breath… And naked shingles of the world.” The world we live in today is no longer what it used to be, though the world prior wasn’t all that great either it is still in worse state than ever. The violence leaves us vulnerable as he uses the word ”naked” and the people are scared. So Arnold searches for love in his last stanza as he says “Ah, love, let us be true/To one another” in a world that is “like a land of dreams [that]/Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light/Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain,” a world that is “swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight/Where ignorant armies clash by night.” As sad as it is, we live in a world where it is no longer blissful to live in ignorance because being ignorant, whether by choice or not, will not prevent more violence and sadness nor will it cease the ones already happening. Matthew Arnold once said that “truth lives upon the lips of dying men,” so how many more people must die before we start listening to the pain and suffering of loved ones gone too soon?
I really like the idea of this blog post connecting Arnold's point of the view of the world to how the world is today. Specifically I like how you researched statistics of the number of suicides, homicides, murders by guns and cases of domestic violence in the United States. There are a few grammatically and semantic errors but that is easily fixed through proofreading a bit more. One point of criticism that I have is that clarification on the "repetition of the idea of repetition" might be needed. I am unsure of the meaning and point you are trying to prove there. Otherwise everything else made sense.
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