Writing the Literary Analysis
Essay on a Poem
Dover Beach
―Dover Beach‖ Context
―Dover Beach‖ Prompt
• In ―Dover Beach,‖ Matthew Arnold
presents an argument for love and fidelity.
In a well-developed essay explain the
argument and the techniques Arnold
employs to develop his persuasive poem.
Refer to such tools of the poet’s craft as
diction, organization, meter, poetic
devices, and imagery.
• What is the prompt asking you to do?
Annotate the poem according
to the prompt
What’s the overall idea? What
argument is Arnold presenting?
What literary techniques or
devices did you notice?
• Allusion (15, 37)
• Assonance (25)
• Caesura (12)
• Onomatopoeia (9--―grating roar‖, 25)
• Enjambment (throughout)
• End rhyme (throughout)
• Metaphor (21, 28)
• Parallelism (33-34)
• Personification (26)
• Simile (23)
How is writing about a poem
different than writing about a
novel or a short story?
Thesis Formula
• (Author) (verb: uses, utilizes, employs,
depicts, etc.) __________, __________,
and _____________ in order to (overall
idea/argument).
• Example:
• In Sonnet 140, Petrarch anthropomorphizes
love, comparing it to a knight, in order to
present the argument that it is better to devote
oneself to love and experience the pain of
rejection rather than live without love.
Another Thesis on 140:
• Petrarch’s Sonnet 140 anthropomorphizes
love and uses tone shifts in order to show
the speaker’s ambivalent attitude about
the power love has over him.
• Now, write your own thesis on ―Dover
Beach‖ in which you answer the prompt.
Poetry Essay Organization
The Introduction
• If possible, start with an interesting stylistic
hook
– Don’t start with a generalization
– Don’t start with ―throughout history‖ or ―many
works…‖
• Provide an overview of what the poem is
about—the big picture
• Thesis
Explain What the Poem(s) Is
Literary About
• What’s the situation and setting?
– Who and where is the speaker?
– Who is he speaking to?
– What is happening on a literal level?
• Length would depend on how ―difficult‖ it is
• Maybe in intro?
• Maybe the first body paragraph?
Organizing Your Body Paragraphs:
Brainstorming What You Could Discuss
• Subjects
– What are the key subjects dealt with in the poem?
– Can you discuss each subject in a paragraph?
• Diction
– How would you describe the language as a whole?
– May be harder to write a whole paragraph on diction
• Metaphors/symbols
– Can you devote a paragraph to a single metaphor?
• Tone
– What is the poem’s tone? Does it shift?
– If you write about tone, wait until you have discussed the basic
meaning of the poem (same with diction, metaphor, etc.)
More Ideas, cont.
• Imagery
– What kind of imagery does the poet utilize? Does this
contribute to your thesis?
• Other literary devices (personification, allusion,
alliteration, onomatopoeia, enjambment …)
– Incorporating some of these terms lends credibility to
your writing
– But only discuss them if you can tie them into your
argument
– How do these devices impact the meaning? How can
you incorporate them into your argument?
Other Ideas to Consider
• Form/structure
– Does the form or structure enhance the
meaning? Does it contribute to your thesis?
How?
• Organization
– Can you divide the essay by discussing each
stanza/section of the poem?
• One paragraph on each stanza
• One paragraph on the octave, one on the sestet
―Dover Beach‖ Organization
Stanza by Stanza Organization
• 1st stanza
– establishes images
– tranquil but also melancholy
• 2nd stanza
– explain significance of allusion
– sea metaphor for humanity
• 3rd stanza
– world has lost faith—explain the simile
– exposed
• 4th stanza
– The conclusion/solution explained
– why love must be true
Sample Stanza by Stanza Paragraph
• Thesis: The metaphors and allusion in Matthew Arnold’s
―Dover Beach‖ all reiterate his position, that love is the
only certainty in an ignorant and hostile world.
• 3rd ¶: The third stanza introduces a more abstract
metaphor, linking religion and nature. This ―Sea of
Faith,‖ a metaphor for religion, was ―once…at the full,
and round earth’s shore.‖ The sea’s withdrawal and
retreat, however, reveals the speaker’s loss of belief and
disillusionment. By contrasting the once ―bright girdle
furled‖ with the ―melancholy…drear, and naked‖
beaches, Arnold presents a negative example of the
irreligious modern world. This analogy develops to elicit
both empathy and response on the part of his beloved.
He has lost everything—God and Nature, but she can be
his salvation because, by implication, he still believes in
her. She will be his faith, his light, his constant sea.
Discuss Separate
Devices/Ideas in Each Paragraph
• Imagery in whole poem
– Contrasting images
– Illusory images
– Explain how Arnold uses imagery for his argument
• Use of metaphor
– Explain metaphor of the sea, what it represents
– Explain how it enhances Arnold’s argument
• Use of allusion
– Sophocles
– Why mention this?
• Poetic devices
– Assonance (line 25)
– Caesura (line 12)
– Onomatopoeia (―grating roar‖)