Dover Beach is a poem by Matthew Arnold that is widely considered to be a dramatic monologue. In a dramatic monologue, a speaker addresses a specific audience and reveals their thoughts, feelings, and emotions through their words. The speaker in Dover Beach is addressing his lover, and through his words, he expresses his deep sadness and despair at the state of the world.
The poem begins with a description of the beach at Dover, with the speaker describing the sound of the waves as they come in and go out. The speaker then compares the sound of the waves to the sound of human suffering, saying that "The Sea of Faith / Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore / Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled." In this line, the speaker is expressing his belief that faith, or belief in something greater, used to be more widespread and widely held. However, now it seems to have retreated, leaving people in a state of despair.
As the poem progresses, the speaker becomes more and more despairing, saying that "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." Here, the speaker is expressing his belief that the world is not as perfect and wonderful as it seems, but is actually filled with pain and suffering. He also laments the lack of certainties in the world, saying that there is no peace or help for those in pain.
The final lines of the poem are particularly poignant, with the speaker saying "For nowhere now can find them half so sweet / As when they sang of old the world's delight, / To love and be loved by me." Here, the speaker is expressing his own feelings of isolation and despair, as he longs for the love and companionship that he used to have.
Overall, Dover Beach is a powerful and moving dramatic monologue that explores themes of faith, despair, and love. Through the speaker's words, we are able to understand his deep sadness and despair at the state of the world, and the way that he longs for the love and companionship that he used to have.