Victorian Poetry
Topic: Make a contrast and comparison between W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming" and Mathew Arnold's "Dover Beach.
Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach" is set on the South coast of England, near Dover. Arnold wrote the poem while he was on his honeymoon with his wife. The poem is usually classified as a dramatic monologue, a form of poetry that was popular among romantic poets such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Robert Browning. The monologue is delivered by a single voice and becomes dramatic due to the presence of a silent audience, which can be one or more listeners.
"The Second Coming" is a well-known poem composed by William Butler Yeats. Yeats employed the literary technique of mystification in this poem. This technique involves connecting a contemporary event from his time to something from history, mythology, or religion. In "The Second Coming", Yeats prophesized about the 20th century being the age of the Antichrist. This poem contrasts with others as it speaks about the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.
In every century, there seems to be an epidemic that plagues the world. When Yeats wrote his poem, the world was grappling with the Spanish flu, which had caused widespread devastation. In fact, Yeats' own wife, who was pregnant with their first daughter, had contracted the flu, and her delivery was a difficult one. Both mother and child did not survive. Additionally, the world was in the midst of a war, and there were still power-hungry individuals fighting for ultimate control. Given these circumstances, it's no wonder that Yeats' poem paints a bleak and apocalyptic vision of the future.
Arnold's poem "Dover Beach" presents a bleak outlook on the world, highlighting the absence of love and faith. In the poem, Arnold urges his beloved wife to be true to each other, emphasizing their commitment to one another. Although the world may seem like a dream filled with peace and love, in reality, there is no such thing. Therefore, no matter what happens around us, it's necessary for us to remain honest and love each other until the end of our days.
There are several comparison elements exist between these two poems. First of all, both poems reflect the curse of the scientific & industrial revolution.
In "The Second Coming" where Yeats talks about the First World War, war science, plays a curse on human beings, in times of war the world turns into a destroyed place that is not suitable to live in, and massive chaos happens on that time, war weapons & progress of technology bring this destruction. Knowledge can be evil for human beings it’s also reflected in this. People question God's existence also, if God exists then how could war happen in the world.
In Yeats' "The Second Coming" he talks about religious beliefs that are losing day by day. Some of the poem's lines are "The Falcon cannot hear the Falconer; Things are falling apart; the center cannot hold" Here the falcon refers to a human being and the falconer is Jesus Christ, the humans are followers of Jesus Christ they are lost in the 20th century because of losing faith in God who is center for human so that the things are fall apart, it’s cannot hold things anymore.
In "Dover Beach," Arnold uses the phrase "the sea of faith" to refer to religious faith as well as faith in humanity. During the time when people had faith in humility, they were sympathetic towards each other's misery, struggle, and suffering. However, the scientific and industrial revolutions caused humans to become emotionless and machine-like. This led to a loss of faith in religion, according to Arnold's "Dover Beach."
History repeats itself, and in "Dover Beach," Arnold references human suffering through Sophocles.
Also in "The Second Coming" "The darkness drops again" which means the world is also familiar with war & destructive nature of humans.
In conclusion, though both poems contain many contrasts & different backgrounds some inner and small similarities between them also exist.