I really need help with the scansion of the first stanza of Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold. I have tried it but i have serious doubts that it is right. Can someone ive me a clue please? thank you so much



i'm not mislead, i've got no one to follow-afi

There's a good analysis of the poem here:

[eir.library.utoronto.ca]

I will leave the scansion, though I know the poem contains free verse, to Hugh and Chesil who can identify its form and meter.

Les

I hear it thusly, but make no claim it is what the author intended:


1The SEA is CALM to-NIGHT.
2The TIDE is FULL, the MOON lies FAIR
3UpON the STRAITS;--on the FRENCH COAST the LIGHT
4GLEAMS and is GONE; the CLIFFS of ENGland STAND,
5GLIM'ring and VAST, OUT in the TRANquil BAY.
6COME to the WINdow, SWEET is the NIGHT-AIR!
7ONly, FROM the LONG LINE of SPRAY
8Where the SEA MEETS the MOON-blanch'd LAND,
9LISten! you HEAR the GRAting ROAR
10Of PEBbles which the WAVES draw BACK, and FLING,
11At THEIR reTURN, up the HIGH STRAND,
12BeGIN, and CEASE, and THEN aGAIN beGIN,
13With TREMulous CADence SLOW, and BRING
14The eTERNal NOTE of SADness IN.

Thank you so much. Now I am much more confident in my presentation because that is roughly what I got minus a few careless mistakes of mine.



i'm not mislead, i've got no one to follow-afi

Whaddya think, Arnold intended the meter to mimic the ebb and flow of the sea? Like Longfellow's:


The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on the roofs and walls
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

so i dont really know what this entire conversation was about but i just want to say thanks to hugh clary for saying that about the longfellow poem. im doing it for an english project and was having some trouble finding anything. i feel really dumb for not realizing that earlier. thanks a lot.