"Dover Beach"
By Matthew Arnold
The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Drew Wachtel
ReplyDeleteI think that this book was a great book to end the year with because we started the year with Anthem which is a futuristic book like Fahrenheit 451. I liked how this book predicted things that actually happened in 2019. I found that I was at the edge of my seat for most of the book trying to find out what predictions came true in real life today. I think Dover Beach is a perfect poem for this book because the poem talks about the ocean and peace and happiness and I think that is what Montag is looking for in his life. Montag also wanted to love his life more because he was always stressed out and depressed. Overall I think that books should stay in our society because even though movies are easier on the brain at least books make you think and work out the brain.
Sophia Lakos
ReplyDeleteThis book was definitely one of my favorites because a lot of predictions about the future were made, and a good amount of them became real. This poem fits the book well because as time goes on the ocean becomes less and less beautiful to them. It seems like when he first saw the ocean he was much happier because times seemed more simple. But then when he saw it later he was stripped of happiness and seemed more stressed. Society got more strict which caused people to not perceive things as much.
Peyton Levental
ReplyDeleteOverall, this book had many surprises. I enjoyed reading it and the ending was shocking yet happy at the same time. When reading the poem “Dover Beach”, Fahrenheit 451 uses many allusions that involve many this poem. In “Dover Beach” and Fahrenheit 451, both refer to a dystopia were there is a world without any truth and on the outside people seem fine but on the inside its otherwise. When the poem says, “Ah, love, let us be true”, this reminds me of Montag trying to find someone else like him. Someone true and thoughtful like he is.
Frankie Huntress
ReplyDeleteI imagine that this book was an incredible book to end the year with on the grounds that we began the year with Song of devotion which is a cutting edge book like Fahrenheit 451. I enjoyed how this book anticipated things that really occurred in 2019. I found that I was at the edge of my seat for the vast majority of the book attempting to discover what expectations materialized, all things considered, today. I think Dover Shoreline is an ideal ballad for this book on the grounds that the sonnet discusses the sea and harmony and satisfaction and I feel that is the thing that Montag is searching for in his life. Montag additionally needed to adore his life more since he was constantly worried and discouraged. By and large I imagine that books should remain in our general public on the grounds that despite the fact that motion pictures are simpler on the mind at any rate books make you think and work out the cerebrum.
Ben Worthley
ReplyDeleteI think Fahrenheit 451 was a great book to end the year off on. I liked how the author predicted how things are today. I think Dover beach was a good example for the poem that Montag reads. It captivates the human ability to react I think that's why the girl stared to cry for no reason. The book was a great way to wrap up the year because we started the year with Anthem. I believe the two pieces have a symbolic meaning. You need to be able to think on your own to have a working society.
Evan Brenner
ReplyDeleteMy Final thoughts on the book is that it was good and one of my favorites. It short and pretty and easy to read. It was very interesting to see the predictions into the future. Montag lives in a society where the people are kind and love to read books. After an explosion they almost built a new society. The poem “Dover Beach” by Ray Bradbury relates to the book Fahrenheit 451 because there societies are very similar and have the same qualities. Also have a lot in common.
Lucy E.
ReplyDeleteThe book in the end provided some interesting thoughts and went along with some of the other books we have been reading throughout the year. Lack in knowledge is a horrible thing. Montag becomes a fugitive and runs away and finds Granger and The Book People. He realizes what happiness and has a revelation about the sun. Montag figures the world can’t be full of destruction- because of course being the fireman he sees a lot- and he voes not to ever light a fire again. Granger reminds Montag that they are not important, that only the books are, that even when books were legal people never used what they got out of them.
The poem "Dover Beach" is a very interesting piece to include in this book, and none the less to have Montag reading it. Montag needs to enjoy life more, he started to look differently when he was talking to Clarissa, and he is always fighting with his wife. The Book was good and interesting, looking at the flaws of society and showing us how something that is so overlooked now is supposed to be cherished, and has been forgotten.
Lucas Kaufman
ReplyDeleteAs Fahrenheit 451 concludes, Guy Montag is thrust out of society, an outlaw and a murderer, and on the run encounters a group of men whose sole goal in life is to remember the books they had burnt. Fahrenheit 451 was a nice book to end the year on, as I think it brought the course full-circle with its many similarities to our first major reading, “Anthem”. Both books take place in dystopian societies disguised as utopias, both feature a once-normal protagonist who makes one small discovery that leads him on a path to becoming a great intellectual, and both are cast out of society because of this, fleeing to much more rural areas where they can live out their existences in peace, while still planting the seeds for revolution. “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold, which was directly incorporated into the book in “Part II: The Sieve and the Sand”, is a great poem to use as a summary of Montag’s intellectual struggle throughout the book, as it speaks of the sea, which may be a metaphor for the thought and knowledge of history’s greatest thinkers, and how it was heard by “Sophocles/on the Ægean, and it brought into his mind the turbid ebb and flow of human misery” (15-18), and Montag seems to have heard this too. The line, “Ah, love, let us be true to one another!” (29-30) calls back to the relationship between Montag and Mildred, who were supposedly happily married but it was clear that they had no attraction to one another, and while Mildred was unfazed by this Montag truly yearned throughout the book to feel true love for Mildred, or really just for anyone.
Jayden Cho
ReplyDelete6/12/19
In the last part of the book Fahrenheit 451, there are so many intriguing concepts and ideas to ponder about, and really makes your brain to start thinking. What didn’t really surprise me and I expected was how Montag’s wife turned him in, along with her other friends. As mentioned in my previous blog, this world they live in doesn’t contain love, and only in self interest. This pains Montag for he still believed in his wife understanding and being loyal to him, to the point where he trusted her enough to share his law breaking secret. A very important part of the ending was how Montag easily was able to get rid of Captain Beatty, and only while he is running away does he give thought to this incident. He realizes Captain Beatty wanted to die, and was the reason why he stood there waiting for the kill move. It is shown that Captain Beatty also knows of the writings in the books, and is even knowledged enough to have memorized a wide variety of quotes and lines from books. Although we are never shown his true intentions, what I inferred is that Captain Beatty knows the importance of books, but just like Faber he is too scared to go against the whole society and pretends to be like everyone else. He is the kind of person who is able to walk out of the “cave”, and is even able to see everything and experience the new wonders. However, in the fear of the people still in the cave to persecute him, he intentionally and wisely chooses to not share his enlightening moment. However, although a wise decision to stay alive, he realizes this life would never be at its fullest and he will constantly suffer knowing he cannot share his knowledge. With this, he believes death would be the easiest way to go, and thinks he will be in peace. I think Ray Bradbury chose the poem Dover Beach for many reasons, but they all revolve around the idea of emotions and feelings. These ideas are forbidden and even unknown to their society, and shocks many with new feelings when felt, like Mildred’s friends when hearing upon the poem. Although cut off in the book, after reading the whole poem you can see it is very similar to what happens in the end of Fahrenheit 451. The last lines of the poem really struck me as almost exactly the same to what happens in the end, “And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.” These lines are how Montag and the rest of the book loving crew continue to hide patiently until they know it is right to come out when called for help. They know that the “ignorant armies” are too caught up on their own selves, and are actually in the midst of a war, where we can see the bomb destroying the whole city moments after Montag escapes. This poem truly embodies the main points of this novel, and it was a pleasure to experience the same kind of feelings from the book and poem.
at the end of Fahrenheit 451 montag was kicked out of society as a "murderer, outlaw, and a lier". throughout the book there were many intriguing parts which made me never want to stop reading. the author kinda formed how society would be today and in my opinion the best poem for this book would most definetly be "dover beach" the poem dover beach expresses the feeling of calmness and relaxation that is why i think these two readings are similar. the peace and relaxation represented what montag wanted for his life but never ended up getting it.
ReplyDeleteJames Kiladis