In the poem "Dover Beach",witten in 1867 Matthew Arnold creates the mood of the poem through the usage of different types of imagery. He uses a dramatic plot in the form of a soliloquy. Arnold also uses descriptive adjectives, similes and metaphors to create the mood. Through the use of these literary elements, Arnold portrays the man standing before the window pondering the sound of the pebbles tossing in the waves as representation of human suffering. The man arrives at the vision of humanity being helpless against nature. Arnold creates the mood by suggesting mental pictures, actions, sights and sounds the man sees. Some examples are "folds of a bright girdle furled", "lie before us like a land of dreams" and "moon-blanched land". Arnold's use of different types of imagery and descriptive adjectives to induce sensory impressions of the setting, create the fluctuating mood of the poem, which is the eternal struggle of nature over man.
In "Dover Beach", Matthew Arnold uses detailed adjectives and sensory imagery to describe the setting and portray the beginning mood, which begins with the illusion of natural beauty and ends with tragic human experience. The poem begins two-part stanzas, the first which is promising and hopeful; the second replaces optimism with a reality which is grim. Arnold uses contrast when he appeals to the sense of sight in the first section and to hearing in the second. Arnold starts with the descriptions of the "calm sea", "fair tide" and the "vast" cliffs which create a calming, innocent appearance. This sets the mood of peace and contentment which the speaker feels when he gazes out upon the sea. "Come to the window, sweet is the night-air", gives the reader the impression of a cool, summer night. The mood begins to be soothing and calming to the reader. Arnold then however, begins to change the tone. Arnold describes, "The grating roar of pebbles, Of the pebbles which the waves draw back", with "a tremulous cadence". This...
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