1 The sea is calm tonight.

2 The tide is full, the moon lies fair

Directions: Pre-read the poem to analyze its
3 Upon the straits1; on the French coast the light
4 Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, structure.
5 Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
6 Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Before reading:
7 Only, from the long line of spray • Number the lines
8 Where the sea meets the moon-blanched 2 land, • Label the rhyme scheme
9 Listen! you hear the grating roar
• Note meaningful punctuation
10 Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
11 At their return, up the high strand3,
• Make a prediction based on the title
12 Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
13 With tremulous cadence4 slow, and bring
14 The eternal note of sadness in.

15 Sophocles5 long ago Analyzing Structure

16 Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
17 Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow6 • What is the poem’s point of view?
18 Of human misery; we 1st person
19 Find also in the sound a thought,
20 Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
• What can you infer about the speaker?
21 The Sea of Faith7 They love the ocean.
22 Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
23 Lay like the folds of a bright girdle 8 furled.
24 But now I only hear • What is a lyric poem?
25 Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Expresses personal emotions or feelings
26 Retreating, to the breath typically in first person.
27 Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
28 And naked shingles9 of the world.
• What is the poem’s setting?
29 Ah, love, let us be true
30 To one another! for the world, which seems The beach or shore
31 To lie before us like a land of dreams,
32 So various, so beautiful, so new,
33 Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
34 Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; • What kind of conflict appears in the poem?
35 And we are here as on a darkling plain Struggle with faith.
36 Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
37 Where ignorant armies clash by night.
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1
straits: The Straits of Dover are between England and
5
Sophocles and the Ægean: A playwright in ancient
France. On a clear day, it is possible to see across the water to Greece, which is on the Aegean Sea.
the opposite coastline. Dover is a port on the southeast coast
6
turbid ebb and flow: The roaring but regular sound of
of England (facing France). The Cliffs of Dover are chalky the tides rolling in and out.
white with a sheer drop into the ocean.
7
The Sea of Faith: This represents traditional religious
2
moon-blanched: shining white or brightly in the moonlight beliefs, previously believed to be beyond doubt or
3
strand: shore or beach question
4
tremulous cadence: a wavering rhythm, as in music
8
girdle: A woman’s belt or sash
9
shingles: beaches with gravel that has been worn by
the tides
 Directions: Read the poem, and answer the following questions. Use complete sentences and evidence
from the text to support your answers when appropriate.
1. The poem begins with a fairly regular meter,
but the meter begins to break down. Why does
the poet make this choice?
a. To show how society is changing
b. To show how poetry is decaying
c. To show how Nature is dying
d. To show how time is passing
2. While the poem lacks a traditional rhyme
scheme, most of the lines end with a rhyme.
“Faith” in Line 21 and “breath” in Line 26 do
not rhyme with any other lines. What might this
suggest to readers?
a. The speaker has lost their faith.
b. The world is out of sync with faith.
c. The Church has turned its back on
people.
d. The advances in science and technology
have made faith irrelevant.
3. How does the poet use assonance and
repetition in the first stanza?
a. To create an ominous mood
b. To create an indifferent tone
c. To create the motion of the waves
d. To create a sense of impending doom
4. What does the tide symbolize?
a. Human evolution
b. Humanity’s hubris
c. Humanity’s struggle with change
d. The human inability to be surprised by
anything
5. The poem makes use of which motif?
a. Light and dark
b. War and peace
c. Success and failure
d. Empathy and ignorance
6. Consider the answer to the previous
question. The motif symbolizes all of the
following conflicts EXCEPT
a. Life vs. Death.
b. Faith vs. Cynicism.
c. Tradition vs. Innovation.
d. The past vs. The future.
7. What does the allusion to Sophocles
suggest?
a. Humans are incapable of change.
b. Humans have long struggled with the
same ideas.
c. Humans have made the same mistakes
many times.
d. Humans can find comfort and guidance
in the classical past.
8. In the last stanza, how does the speaker
signal their internal conflict? Select all that
apply.
a. Anaphora
b. Repetition
b. Parallelism
d. Juxtaposition
e. Verbal irony
9. Based on the answer to the previous
question, what causes the speaker’s internal
conflict?
a. Doubts about human valor.
b. Indifference to human suffering.
c. Concerns about human progress.
b. Anxieties about human potential.
10. Based on the answer to the previous
question, what is the poem’s main idea?
a. Love provides comfort.
b. Change requires bravery.
c. Human progress relies on innovation.
d. There is little potential for human
growth.
 Directions: Read the poem, and answer the following questions. Use complete sentences and evidence
from the text to support your answers when appropriate.
15. Why might the poet have chosen to write
11. What is the mood in the final three lines?
this poem as a lyric?
a. Calm
a. To capture the speaker’s inner struggle
b. Moody
b. To illustrate the conflict in Nature
c. Ethereal
c. To demonstrate society’s conflicts
d. Sorrowful
d. To argue that conflict is useless
12. What is the speaker’s tone in the last three
lines? Analyzing Historical Context
a. Pessimistic Read the description of the Victorian Era below,
b. Desperate
and then describe how “Dover Beach” represents
c. Brutal
the historical context in which it was written.
d. Cruel

13. Where is the poem’s turn?
a. Line 15: Start of Stanza 2
b. Line 20: End of Stanza 2
c. Line 25: Middle of Stanza 3
d. Line 29: Start of Stanza 4
14. Consider the answer to the previous
question. What main idea does the turn
suggest?
a. Humans cannot control their lives.
b. The world is a dangerous and awful
place.
c. Humans should focus on what they
can control.
d. The world is full of possibilities to be
cherished.
Victorian Era: Written during the reign of Queen
Victoria (1837-1901), Victorian literature occurred
in an era of great social reform and technological
advancement. Such significant changes exposed
tremendous social inequality, so it is not surprising
that many Victorian writers expressed alienation,
isolation, and a sense of powerlessness. Perhaps
because of the ongoing upheaval, Victorian
literature drew inspiration from the classical past
even while Victorian poets experimented with form
and style.

A. The Sea of Faith B The foundations of society

16.______

B. The decaying beach C A time without progress or innovation

17.______

C. The darkling plain 18. ______

A Traditional beliefs and values
D. The ignorant armies 19.______ Groups afraid of progress
D