How does Matthew Arnold create a sense of foreboding in Dover Beach?

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How does Matthew Arnold create a sense of foreboding in Dover Beach?

The poem Dover Beach, written in 1951, by Matthew Arnold, creates a sense of foreboding in some points along the verses. One of the main themes in this poem is the fact that the poet is starting to lose his faith in God and religion, he is unsure whether to believe in him or not. This conveys a sense of chaos and turmoil.

In the opening lines of the poem's first stanza, the sea is calm and peaceful, the moon is shining and the air is sweet. Matthew Arnold is looking out onto the beach at night with his new wife and describing what he sees, as we can see from this quote: "Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!". However, in the final line, Matthew Arnold disturbingly represents this scenery as the way that brings "the eternal note of sadness in" ; the emotional music, that carries with it spiritual living, brings up the bitter-sweet understanding that none of it is actually real.

In the second stanza we immediately experience a tonal shift, especially in the way Arnold presents the sea. The Greek