Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold: An animated poetry reading be Mallory Jameson

Ah, culd you give us some background on this, please?

Sure, I'll ping you to clarify.

Matthew Arnold was an English poet who wrote Dover Beach in 1867. Here is a copy of the poem from the web. You can find more info. about him at Wiki. Ill be back to summarize what I can. Thanks.

The sea is calm to-night.
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 A gaean, 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.

Arnold was considered a "sage writer" and became a Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1867. He toured the US giving lectures on education, democracy, and Emerson. (Wiki)

Interesting animation!

I know, Doug. I thought it was rather odd, too. However, I really enjoy the poem! Thanks!

Thank you, a great endevor.

Brushstrokes

Very nice poem!

Thank you, Kushal and Jo!

Most interesting video, dear Jen, and a great dedication to Chris! :-)

Hugs and blessings - S.

Thank you, Sveta! Hugs.

Thank you for the poem, I was curious about the animation. Very interesting.

Featured in the Triple Name Club.

I'm sorry Kathryn, I don't know anything about the animation other than youtube showed that the reader was an actor named Mallory Jameson. Thank you for featuring it.

This is indeed a most important voice to heed from the common past of our language.
Necessary material from whose forging flame the language's creative voices may progress.
Important as a key, seminal, and basic counter-zeitgist expression of victorian self-doubt, in contrast to imperial pretense.

Jennifer, this is gorgeous. I'm so glad that this poem is a source of inspiration for you.

This is indeed a great poem (which probably means the kind I like), and the reading is beautiful too.

(And oh, yes, so 19th century, with that "Sea of Faith" bit.)

I'm sure the animation is a masterpiece in its own right, but it is a bit freakish. I just listened without looking. :-)