Compare and Contrast Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold with The Dover Bitch by Anthony Hecht (Essay Sample)

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Compare and Contrast Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold with The Dover Bitch by Anthony Hecht
Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold is a story of a man and his girlfriend or wife who lives along Dover Beach, which is between France and England. Ideally, Arnold shows that the two countries are at war. The first sight of the Dover waves seems to be comforting to the narrator but the narrator remembers that not everything is beautiful s good. The speaker takes a twist and remembers another sea that he initially thought to be beautiful, which is religion. The narrator notes, the “Sea of Faith” (ln. 21) in the past “lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled” (ln. 23). Here the speaker insinuates that religion and faith was associated with abundance and propriety in the society. However, over the course of his life the narrator has noticed that people can only be satisfied through their deeds but not via faith.
On the other hand, Anthony Hecht takes a different approach to reveal the challenges that humankind face in their lives. The narrator addresses a woman who seems to be less concerned with his feelings. Hecht notes, “'Try to be true to me, /And I'll do the same for you, for things are bad/ All over, etc., etc.' (lns. 4-6). In essence, this shows that the narrator is unsure about the feelings that his lover has for him. He would expect the woman to be faithful but he notes that she is too much interested in the good life in France which miles away from their location.
Even though the two poems are set during different eras, they show that challenges that human beings face in their everyday lives. For instance, Arnold shows that life could present some beautiful scenarios that would lie to the observer that everything would be okay. However, both faith and love could be lies to deceive people to be comfortable in their lives (Joseph 25).
I believe that Hecht and Arnold provide an ideal view of life given that people should trust their friends of lover blindly. Hecht enjoys the time he spends with the woman but does not know what she does when alone. He notes that it could be a year before he meets the woman again but as he tries to read her thoughts, he establishes that she could be unfaithful. In addition, Hecht relishes the time he spends with the woman because he believes that they share nice time as a couple. However, whatever happens after they part is beyond his control. On the same note, Arnold clarifies that Faith cannot lead to happiness because people would pretend to appease their friends. Just as the sea waves, seem to be comfortable, in the midst of a war between neighboring countries, the person one loves could be the source of one’s misery.
At the same time, the two poems represent di...