ENGLISH 1C06 Lecture : History of English Literature-Feb.9 The 19th Century (continued)

• School: McMaster University
• Department: English
• Course: ENGLISH 1C06
• Professor: Peter Walley

Document Summary

The nineteenth century god and nature defiled (continued) Matthew arnold dover beach : verse form: choppy in some, imitating the sound of the waves" cadence. Breaks are within the line, instead of at the end; its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar (25) Creates the sense of the vacuum, when the wave pull the rocks back: doesn"t have a strict structure, makes it own, verse paragraphs; follows the rain of thought, almost a stream of consciousness. Movement from calm beauty to violence over the course of the poem. Rhythmically threatening, mechanical roar: white cliffs of dover emblematic of england, national site. Everyone invaded dover as a site of warfare, conflict and invasion. The ebb and flow of the tide: time, violence and: anarchy godlessness makes everything unhinged, turning us into. Hobbesian beasts: love poem becomes despairing introspection, sense of loss of society; the church has ceased to be a centre of cohesion