Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dover Beach

Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold
  • 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-blanched 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 Aegean, 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 furled.
  • 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.

The English poet and critic Matthew Arnold (1822–’88) was one of the leading intellectual figures of the Victorian era. A plea for unwavering constancy in a world filled with violence and in an age of dwindling faith, the poem exemplifies Arnold’s stylistic austerity and nobility of temper. Addressed to Frances Lucy Wightman, the poet’s wife, it was most likely composed in 1851, the year of their marriage.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Hike off those holiday calories, Poinsettias are peaking

Winter Solstice is here and what is winter?
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold
  • 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-blanched 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 Aegean, 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 furled.
  • 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.

The English poet and critic Matthew Arnold (1822–’88) was one of the leading intellectual figures of the Victorian era. A plea for unwavering constancy in a world filled with violence and in an age of dwindling faith, the poem exemplifies Arnold’s stylistic austerity and nobility of temper. Addressed to Frances Lucy Wightman, the poet’s wife, it was most likely composed in 1851, the year of their marriage.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Operatic Gender Wars

Are there any operas with all-female choruses?
Next Article

Memories of bonfires amid the pits off Palm

Before it was Ocean View Hills, it was party central
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader