Poetry changed alongside wider society Essay

We learn that Arnold can no longer draw comfort from the â€Å"sea of faith† or religion which encompassed him and like the â€Å"folds of a bright girdle furled. † Instead, the coast and sea is an analogy for religious trend. Christianity is ebbing away because of scientific dispatch. This results is the â€Å"naked shingles of the world†; a place that is unprotected and fragile with no supreme power to guide man. This confusion is emphasized the informality of its structure. The lack of a coherent rhythm and rhyme scheme creates the illusion of tide, â€Å"But now I only hear, Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating to the breath,† which swashes and washes along the coast just like the different line lengths. As we can see, Arnold is hesitant of change and acceptance for him results in apprehension. This is unusual in the sense that, conventionally, acceptance results in peace of mind. Ironically, in god’s Grandeur, when Hopkins refutes absolute science, he is more buoyant and cheerful towards which is not the usual characteristics of denial. In the poem, despite the fall of contemporary Victorian society, â€Å"nature is never spent† and permeates the world with â€Å"the dearest of freshness. † Hopkins conveys an image of god being a regenerative force who is able to bring morning following the â€Å"last lights of the black west. † He is defiant of the theory of evolution and instead believes in the â€Å"holy ghost. † Gods Grandeur ends with: â€Å"World broods with warm breast and with ah! Bright wings. † This imagery is inspired with hope and resembles the techniques by Romantic poets where an animal would be used as the vehicle to escape misery; for example the skylark in Keats poem. On the other hand, Dover Beech is not optimistic but instead shares the pessimism associated with poems in the 1900. Arnold depicts the world as a stagnant site with â€Å"neither joy, nor love nor light. † In the last stanza, he talks personally to his wife: â€Å"Ah, love, let us be true† In a place of no faith, Arnold wishes to pin their faith on each other- the language becomes poetic with a series of semantically related adjectives: â€Å"So various, so beautiful, so new† The Victorians lived through a time of change however change in the near future results in â€Å"neither certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain. † This apprehension is felt by Arnold who is â€Å"swept with confused alarms†; the complete antithesis of Hopkins.