Dover_Beach

Dover Beach Truth What appears to be true and what actually is true are two very different things. “Dover Beach”, written by Mathew Arnold uses an exquisitely calm ocean filled with tension to present a position of appearance verses reality. In the poem “Grecian Urn”, author John Keats creates an illusion of mortality painted on the urn verses the immortality of true life. Nathaniel Hawthorne also uses appearance verses reality when Young Goodman Brown discovers the true evil nature of mankind in what seemed to be his good friends and fellow townsmen. “Dover Beach” is about a beautifully calm sea, although when looking underneath the surface, it is a world full of hidden turbulence. Arnold starts the mood with the essence of tranquility and serenity. Dover Beach is described as, “calm [that night], the tide is full, the moon lies fair,” and all seems right. The appearance of Dover Beach at this time is only of what the human senses can envision. Arnold looks beneath the surface of Dover Beach and unveils the true nature of the sea. When Arnold stops to really listen to the sea, “[he] only [hears] [the sea’s] melancholy, long, withdrawing roar.” goodman, brown, urn, true, mankind, dover, beach, arnold, appearance, evil, young, verses, really, never, life, grecian, good, faith, world, truth, sea, reality, forest, devil, calm, whom, townsmen, through, things, surface, senses, secretly, realizes, poem, painting