We can hear the waves through his verse: they “begin, and cease, and then again begin” (12) with a pause in the middle showing the waves’ brief pause. So beautiful.
"Eternal note of sadness" - to be pondered.
"The phrase 'ignorant armies' seems especially apt now, with the internet providing the field of battle" -- true enough.

I think Arnold meant to include the generals, too.

Mary, I seem to remember a teacher, or maybe it was a textbook, pointing out the line about the waves.

Yes it is.

The difference in their responses being pretty striking. If I remember correctly Arnold had at least some respect for the Church but I don't know if he ever gave it serious consideration. He and Newman were rough contemporaries and surely Arnold must have had something to say about him at some point, but if I've ever come across it I don't remember now.

It's been a *long* time since I read his prose, but based on my vague memories I wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless you're specifically interested in the intellectual history of the times. But I would like to know what if anything he had to say about Newman and his works.

"Even people who heard them continually, and felt them to be different from any other sermons, hardly estimated their real power, or knew at the time the influence which the sermons were having upon them. . . . They made men think of the things which the preacher spoke of, and not of the sermon or the preacher.' Matthew Arnold, a theological liberal who had no sympathy whatever with the Catholic Revival, pays a similar tribute to the influence of Newman's preaching: ' Who,' he writes, ' could resist the charm of that spiritual apparition, gliding in the dim afternoon light along the aisles of St. Mary's, rising into the pulpit, and then in the most entrancing of voices breaking the silence with words and thoughts which were a religious music--subtle, sweet, mournful. Happy the man who in the susceptible season of youth hears such voices. They are a possession to him for ever.'"
http://anglicanhistory.org/bios/jhnewman.html

"he never ceased to admire in him the combination of traits —the mingled gentleness and irony, lucidity and urbanity — which had captivated his boyish imagination, nor to revere in him the inspirer of his youth."
https://newspapers.bc.edu/?a=d&d=BOSTONSH18940421-01.2.14

Here's a whole article about it:

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/arnold/delaura3.html

This is a good poem Because the sea is a real symbol of Faitj and the tide going out is a great symbol for the loss of faith. It is remarkable because I think it may have been the only good or memorable poem the author wrote

I'm not surprised to hear that about his father. I am a little surprised to hear that about his brother.

Very Grumpy, I think he did write other good poems. But this is probably his only great one.

Neuhaus draws upon Arnold's image in the _Death on a Friday Afternoon_ section "Dereliction." How much am I myself capable of learning? How much am I able/willing to share with my students as I teach a bit of poetry to them this current season? Questions I am not yet able to answer.

Yes. I am an adjunct English instructor for McMurry University, a U. Methodist school in a nearby city. About to leave now to drive there. Coming back to the blog just now to post the title of a hymn that fits "Dover Beach" - "Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our life's wild restless sea." Gotta go follow. Thinking of my AMDG friend with gratitude.

Thing is, Maclin, Mary retired a long time before you did. Retiring seems to be a difficult thing to do.

AMDG

I'm applying for two jobs tomorrow. ;-)

AMDG

Well, that was always in the plan.

AMDG