Anthony Hecht's poem "the Dover Bitch" helps us understand the meaning of Arnold's poem.

smell and taste, and tactile perceptions. For example the use of sensory imagery is used extensively in the first three lines of the poem: The sea is calm tonight; The tide is full, the moon lies fair; Upon the Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay; Come to the window, sweet is the night air; Arnold and his soon to be wife Frances Wightman look through window in a room overlooking Dover Beach. From their vantage point, the moonlight reveals an ocean that lies calm, a tide that is full, the distant coast of France, and the cliffs of England. Arnold describes a night in which the gleam of the moonlight shimmers across the bay. This is a most tranquil night and he is sharing it with the woman he loves. The imagery he has planted in our minds is beautiful and wonderful. Even the smell, “Sweet is the night air,” presents the reader with an awareness of the world around them. He describes Dover Beach in such detail that you almost feel as if you are there, giving you all the sensory information to paint a vivid picture in your mind. The sensory information changes in line 9 “Listen! You hear the grating roar.” The peaceful tranquility of Arnold’s opening lines is shattered by a disturbing noise. The change of tone is shown in the contrast between the actions of the moon which lies fair and that of the pebbles and waves that pound the beach with angry, relentless determination. Arnold illustrates this contrast by stating: 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. These lines help us to understand that the sounds of a battle of some sort (A battle between him and Mr. Wightman?), as it starts, stops, and begins again. Arnold recalls the, Greek Drama Sophocles, when he compares the ebb and flow of the sea and the flow of human misery (15-18). This I believe is a metaphor for the misery that her father has inflicted on there love. He goes on in line 28 “And naked shingles of the world”, this I think means that their innocent love has been washed and battered by the over bearing Mr. Wightman.         Anthony Hecht’s poem “the Dover Bitch” helps us understand the meaning of Arnold’s poem. The poem  states “Matthew Arnold and this girl” in the beginning of the poem clearly meaning that the poem is about Matthew Arnold and his love Frances Lucy Wightman; which to me is not clear in Dover Beach. Dover Bitch also gives some information about the relationship between Arnold and his wife, though I don’t know if it is factual or not, for it is a parody.