Matthew Arnold - Dover Beach

Matthew Arnold – Dover Beach

1. Biography

First of all, we are start with the biography of the poet. Because most information is not really required to understand the poem, we are going to cut it short.

Matthew Arnold, born in 1822, went to the Rugby School when he was four years old. His father, who was headmaster of that school, died in 1842. Matthew changed school in 1844. He went to Balliol College in Oxford. As from the years he went to school, he was obsessed by poetry and making poems.

After his school career, he became private secretary to Lord Lansdowne.

His literary career began in 1849 with the publication of The Strayed Reveller and Other Poems.

In 1851, he married Frances Lucy Wightman, daughter of a judge. In order to support his family, he took up a job as school inspector. And in 1857 he became professor of poetry at Oxford, a position he will