The Dover beach was written in the nineteenth century by Mathew Arnold. The poem talks about true love that is likely to last for long. On the other hand, Anthony Hecht wrote the Dover Bitch in response to the Dover Beach and mocks him that there is no true love but just a mere joke of affection which does not exist for long.
In order to get a clear understanding of the Arnold’s poem, one must understand what was happening through the time period or era. When Arnold wrote his poem, there was a large change on how people reasoned as well as what information was considered acceptable. The society was shifting from a religious based society to a society that respected the work of science after the end of the Victorian period.
Then again, the poem Dover Beach summarized the period when the poem was written. The poem was written when the writer was having a honeymoon with his mate in the late 19th century. It is believed that the just married were on their honey moon at Dover Beach however, it is not clearly revealed.
Arnold’s Dover beach as well as Hecht’s the Dover bitch use different features of poetry to demonstrate the tone of the speakers. Elements such as allusion, as well as symbolism have been used in both poems in order to bring out clearly the attitude of the speaker. In Arnold’s poem, the speaker is timid and miserable, his anticipations of getting true love is uncertain. In Hecht’s poem, the speaker is ridiculed to a certain extent for his mood as well as attitude in Dover Beach. This is attained by offering the reader with the perception of the beloved in Dover beach, one that is not elated with.
The themes of these two poems display the character of each writer differently. Arnolds’s theme displays him as a hopeless romantic person while Hecht’s theme displays him as a pessimist and cynic individual in matters of love. Some of the noted aspects that impact the writer’s literary works comprise of: time, entity of love, as well as the general outlook of the world in their poem. These elements and the tones of the poems assist in conveying the writer’s outlook on love, as well as its position in society.
The Dover bitch seems to be mocking the Victorian values by openly exaggerating the speech, symbols and ideas of the Victorian era. He presents a woman as an educated person to make the readers aware that women are not supposed to sit at home and wait for their husbands to feed them or women have the ability to work. However, Arnold displays women in a contrary way to Hecht. He displays women as people who should sit at home and do according to the orders of their husbands. Moreover, Arnold tries to display women as objects of sex.
Then again, Hecht’s poem tries to display that it is time that women stopped depending on their husbands for everything that they wanted. Furthermore, the poem seems to call for an end to the male dominant society.
In conclusion, the two poems reveal the changing values in different times. Hecht tries to show that women should be faithful to their husbands but also bet let free to do what they want. Contrariwise, Arnold’s “Dover Beach” seems to be encouraging the retention of traditional ways of restricting women. However, the main theme of both two poems is romance.
Leave a Comment