Arnold in 'Dover Beach' notes how the pebbles of the sea rolled by the sea-waves bring into the mind the “eternal note of sadness.” Here he points out that in ancient times Sophocles heard the same sound of the pebbles on the shore, and it reminded him of the ebb and flow of human misery. In his Antigone Sophocles expressed this thought. Now this poet hears the sound of this Dover Beach, and he finds in it the same thought. The poet explains the gradual loss of man’s faith in a grand and suggestive simile. He compares faith in religion to a sea that surrounds the world. The poet reminds the world in which there was full of faith and men believed in religion. But now that faith is gradually passing away and men’s minds are like pebbles on the shore. The passing of faith causes the minds to be isolated in the border between belief and disbelief. It is a sad melancholy state. When the poet hears the grating roar of pebbles of the sea, he is reminded of the “melancholy, long, withdrawing roar” of faith as it retreats from men’s minds. The lines from 'Dover Beach' give bitter expression of Arnold’s loss of faith, his growing pessimism. The world seemed to be strangely unreal, without anything real to cling to on grasp. It has variety, beauty and freshness. But it is all blind negation: there is in it neither love nor joy nor light nor peace. There is nothing certain in it. Therefore he compares men struggling in the world with armies struggling on a plain at night. There is a sound of confused alarms and struggles, but the soldiers are ignorant as to what they are fighting for and why. 'Dover Beach' is one of Arnold’s typical poems. It expresses frequently the lack of faith and certitude which was the principal disease of the Victorian age. The first stanza opens with a calm, bright moonlit sea which reflects the serene, peaceful, receptive mood of the poet. He calls upon his companion to share the sweetness and tranqui