How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams, (30)
The notion that the speaker puts forth here, that the world is a dream, and happiness is an illusion, has a long philosophical history, from Plato to The Matrix. In every case, we need a Morpheus to wake us up to reality, to show us the "desert of the real." The speaker of "Dover Beach" is doing that for us, waking us up to the ugly emptiness beneath the illusion of reality.
Quote #5
And we are here as on a darkling plain (35)
We just love the contrast between the beauty of these words and the darkness of their message. Doesn't "darkling plain" just have a certain ring to it? It's just one of many moment where Arnold creates a brilliant tension between beautiful language and deeply depressing ideas.