Dover Beach Man and the Natural World Quotes

This line sets the mood for the whole opening part of the poem. It starts us out feeling sort of peaceful. After all, what's more relaxing than a calm ocean at night? In a way, this is kind of a trick, because this poem is going to wind up being anything but calm. Arnold hides his bigger themes behind these pretty images. Then again, lots of artists use this technique—start small, then go epic. Plenty of the great rock ballads work this way, right?

We singled this one out just because we think it's lovely. It gives us such a great sense of place. We can just imagine that vivid, gorgeous line between the land and the sea. This poem is so much about the imagery of water, so it makes sense that Arnold takes extra care to make us see the line of the coast.

Here's where things start to shift in this poem, where the images of nature turn kind of ugly. We think it's all riding on that word "grating." Up to this point, the images of nature are harmonious and beautiful sounding. Then, all of a sudden, we get this ugly grating sound. It's one of the many ways that Arnold slips sad and grim elements into this poem.