Psychological Depths and "Dover Beach"
Author(s): Norman N. Holland
Source: Victorian Studies, Vol. 9, Supplement (Sep., 1965), pp. 4-28
Published by: Indiana University Press
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N. Holland
Norman
PSYCHOLOGICAL
IDEPTHS AND "DOVER BEACH"
SYCHOANALYSIS AND LITERARY ANALYSIS
have mingled uneasily
found
eversince15 October1897,whenFreudsimultaneously
inhimself
andjealousyofthe
andin Hamlet"loveofthemother
father."
itturnedout,couldsaymanyinteresting
things
Psychoanalysis,
aboutplaysandnovels.Unfortunately,
itdidnotdo at all wellwiththe
of1915orso,poems
analysisofpoems.In thesymbolistic
psychoanalysis
becamesimplyassemblages
into
ofthemasculineor feminine
symbols
the
world.Poems,often,
whichpsychoanalysis
seemedthento divide
werereducedtomeredreams- forold-style
couldlook
psychoanalysis
at
the
the
of
not
form,
content,
only
poetry.
criticsmayfarebetterwithnew-style
Literary
psychoanalysis
indeed,notso new,forone coulddate it fromAnnaFreud'sThe Ego
and the Mechanisms
of Defensein 1936.This laterphase of psycho- thatis,
defensesor defensemechanisms
takes
account
into
analysis
andto
so
as
ward
off
of
with
or
to
drives
ways dealing
anxiety
impulses
criticrecogin a positiveorusefulway.A literary
adaptdrivestoreality
like
what
Burke
Kenneth
nizesthisconceptofdefenseas something
very
thatcan deal withdeA psychology
wouldcall a "strategy"
or "trope."
fensescan deal withpoemsin termsofformas well as ofcontent,
for
in literature
formis to content
as,in life,defenseis to impulse.I would
can lookat both
alsoliketosuggestthatbecausetoday'spsychoanalysis
worksframea
we
can
from
and
form
content,
literary
literary
literary
the
fundamental
as
to
patternsof driveand
hypothesis
psychological
shouldin turn
defensein a givenculture.Sucha psychological
pattern
andothers
forms
fail.
succeedina givenculture
tellus whysomeliterary
like
what
I
to
test
case
is
Victorian
would
see,first,
England.
My
of defensescan add to the conventional
an understanding
explication
can
ofdefenses
ofa poem.Second,I wouldliketoseewhata knowledge
the
of
Victorian
tellus forliterary
history
history specifically, literary
then,we shouldlookat a Victorian
poem,perhaps
England.Naturally,
theVictorian
poem.
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DOVER BEACH
Thesea is calmto-night,
Thetideis full,themoonliesfair
- ontheFrenchcoastthelight
Uponthestraits;
Gleamsandisgone;thecliffs
ofEnglandstand,
and vast,outin thetranquilbay.
Glimmering
Cometothewindow,sweetis thenight-air!
thelonglineofspray
Only,from
Wherethesea meetsthemoon-blanch'd
land,
Listen!youhearthegrating
roar
Of pebbleswhichthewavesdrawback,and fling,
Attheirreturn,
up thehighstrand,
and
cease,and thenagainbegin,
Begin,
Withtremulous
cadenceslow,andbring
Theeternalnoteofsadnessin.
5
10
15
Sophocleslongago
Hearditonthe£Egxean,
anditbrought
Intohismindtheturbidebbandflow
we
Ofhumanmisery;
Findalsointhesounda thought,
sea.
Hearingit bythisdistantnorthern
20
The Sea ofFaith
Was once,too,at thefull,and roundearth'sshore
Lay likethefoldsofa bright
girdlefurl'd.
ButnowI onlyhear
Its melancholy,
roar,
long,withdrawing
tothebreath
Retreating,
downthevastedgesdrear
Of thenight-wind,
Andnakedshingles
oftheworld.
25
Ah,love,letus be true
To one another!fortheworld,whichseems
To liebeforeus likea landofdreams,
So various,
so beautiful,
so new,
Hathreallyneither
joy,norlove,norlight,
Norcertitude,
norpeace,norhelpforpain;
Andwe arehereas ona darkling
plain
alarmsofstruggle
andflight,
Sweptwithconfused
Whereignorant
armiesclashbynight.
30
35
VICTORIAN
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STUDIES
6
NormanN. Holland
"Dover Beach" (accordingto The Case for Poetry)is the most
widelyreprintedpoem in thelanguage.Certainly,it seemslikethemost
widely explicated,once you begin researchingit. Let me tryto summarize in a few paragraphswhat a dozen or so of the most useful
explicatorsand annotatorshave to say.1
First,the date. Arnoldwrotea draftof the firstthreestanzas on
notes forEmpedocles on Etna. He had completedthe poem, then,in
the summerof 1850 (Tinker) or 1851 (Baum). Depending on which
summeryou settlefor,the poem refersto some rendezvouswith Margueriteor to Arnold'sseaside honeymoonwithFrances.
The referenceto Sophocles in the second stanza is somewhat
vague, but it seems quite clear thatforthe finalimage Arnoldhad in
mindthe episode in Book VII of Thucydideswhere,duringthe ill-fated
Sicilian expedition,the Atheniantroops became confusedduringthe
nightbattle at Epipolae. The enemylearned theirpassword,and the
Athenianswent down to disastrousdefeat (Tinker).
The poem itselfmoves fromlight to darkness,paralleling its
thematicmovementas a whole fromfaithto disillusionment(Case for
Poetry),or fromthe wholly literal to the wholly metaphorical,from
small abstractionsto large ones, frompast to present(Johnson,1961).
At the same time,the poem builds on a seriesof dualismsor contrasts.
The mostironicof themis the contrastbetweenthe tranquilscene and
the restlessincertitudeofthe speaker (Kirby),but the mostpowerfulis
thatbetweenthe land and the sea. The sea, in particular,evokes a rich
varietyof symbolicvalues: a sense of time and constantchange, of
vitality- the watersof baptismand birth- also a sense of blankness,
1 Since explicationsnecessarilyoverlap,it is hard to give creditwherecreditis due, but
I will try.To avoid a cumbersomeseriesof footnotes,I will simplygive in parentheses
what seems to me the mostappropriatename or title,referring
aftera givenstatement,
to thefollowinglistof explications:Paull F. Baum,Ten Studiesin thePoetryofMatthew
Arnold (Durham, N. C., 1958), pp. 85-97. Louis Bonnerot,MatthewArnold,Poete:
Essai de biographiepsychologique(Paris, 1947), p. 203. The Case for Poetry,eds.
FrederickL. Gwynn,Ralph W. Condee, and Arthur0. Lewis, Jr. (Englewood Cliffs,
1954), pp. 17, 19, and "Teacher's Manual," pp. 14-15. RodneyDelasanta, The Explicaand
tor,XVIII (1959), 7. ElizabethDrew, Poetry:A ModernGuide to its Understanding
Enjoyment(New York,1959), pp. 221-223. GerhardFriedrich,"A TeachingApproach
to Poetry,"EnglishJournal,XLIX (1960), 75-81. FrederickL. Gwynn,Explicator,VIII
(1960), 46. Wendell Stacy Johnson,"MatthewArnold'sDialogue," Universityof Kansas City Review, XXVII (1960), 109-116. Wendell Stacy Johnson,The Voices of
MatthewArnold:An Essay in Criticism(New Haven, 1961), pp. 90-94. J. D. Jump,
MatthewArnold(London, 1955), pp. 67-68 and 81. J. P. Kirby,Explicator,I (1943),
42. MurrayKrieger,"'Dover Beach' and the Tragic Sense of Eternal Recurrence,"
Universityof Kansas City Review, XXIII (1956), 73-79. Gene Montague,"Arnold's
'Dover Beach' and 'The Scholar Gypsy,'" Explicator,XVIII (1959), 15. FrederickA.
Pottle, Explicator,II (1944), 45. NormanC. Stageberg,Explicator,IX (1951), 34.
C. B. Tinkerand H. F. Lowry,The Poetryof MatthewArnold:A Commentary(London,
1940), pp. 173-178. I do not know of any psychoanalyticexplicationsexceptthatreferredto in n. 7.
VICTORIAN
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STUDIES
PSYCHOLOGICAL
DEPTHS
AND
DOVER
BEACH
7
and mystery(Johnson,1961). One could thinkof thelandformlessness,
as one betweenman and natureorpresentand past (Krieger)
sea conflict
or between the dry,criticalmind (note the pun) and a natural,sponexistencerepresentedby the sea (Johnson,1960).
taneous,self-sufficient
One could even thinkof thesea as a kindofProvidencefailingto master
the Necessityrepresentedby the eternalnote of the pebbles (Delasanta). The sea is stable,as faithis; yetit has its ebb and flowand spray,
turbidlikehumanmisery.Similarly,
theland is itselfsolid and coherent,
but its pebbles and shinglesare atomisticand agitated (Gwynn), as
thoughthe point of miseryand conflictwere rightat the edge or minglingof land and sea (Case forPoetry).
The dualismof the poem shows in its structureas well. Each of
the fourstanzas divides quite markedlyinto two parts.In stanzas one,
three,and four,the firstpart is hopeful;the second undercutsillusion
with reality(Krieger). In everycase, illusionis presentedin termsof
sight,and realityin termsof sound (Delasanta). Thus, the poem moves
back and forthfromoptimisticimages of sightto pessimisticimages of
sound.We can perhapsthinkofhearingas "themorecontiguoussense,"
the "more subtle sense" (Krieger), but the sounds that dominatethe
poem are alarmsof battleand gratingand withdrawingroars(Gwynn).
The poem builds on thismanifolddualism,but at the same time
it presses steadilyforward,with each stanza referring
to the one preThere
is
a
of
as the poem
kind
structure
five-part
ceding (Krieger).
moves froma settingto a dramaticsituationto a transitionalpassage
(the second stanza) to an ethical, philosophical comment (the third
stanza); finally,that philosophical commentconvertsto a seemingly
unrelated image with a shock of abruptness and strangeness
(Montague).
The firststanza gives us a scene so richlyladen in values as to
make us feel a kindof total satisfactionor uttercompleteness.Then, at
the word "only"the scene lapses into the harsh sound and message of
hints
thepebbles (Krieger).Yet even in thefirst
line,the word"to-night"
at the transitory
qualityof this fullnessand satisfaction(Friedrich),as
do in thethirdand fourthlinesthe appearance and disappearanceof the
lightfromthe French coast. The French lights,though,contrastwith
and vast" and so
the stable cliffsof England which"stand,/Glimmering
balance the French ebb and flowwith permanency.The magnificent
the
"Begin,and cease, and thenagain begin" also acts out in its rhythm
inexorable quality of the struggle(Krieger). The firststanza closes
with the musical words "cadence" and "note,"a humanisticovertone
which bridges to Sophocles (Gwynn). But the firststanza also ends
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8
NormanN. Holland
the calm of the
withthe "grating
roar,"a harshsoundthatshatters
the
off
to
and
sends
more
the
Egaean(Drew).
poet
drastically
opening
a shift
The shiftfromthe firststanzato thesecondrepresents
and always(Krieger);the
fromthehereand now to theeverywhere
eternalnoteofsadnessandthebattlebetweensea and landmergepast
tothesea as complete
we andthey.Thethirdstanzareturns
andpresent,
exthenbreaksat the "but"intoa disillusionment
and self-sufficient,
pressedas sound(Krieger).The lightfadesas faithdid (Stageberg)
and
and leads us intothelasthalfofthestanzawhosefallingrhythm
into
the
final
stanza
us
over
vowels
(Jump).
pour relentlessly
open
forthe firsttime
That last stanzastatesthe themeexplicitly
(Kirby),the contrastbetweenseemingperfectionand real chaos
betweentheworldas an illusionofbeauty(Pottle)and the
(Krieger),
harshrealityof life (Drew). The lastthreelinesgiveus a startlingly
new image (Baum), harshand surprising
(Jump),one whollymetawhollyrealisticsettingof thepoem
phoricalas againstthe otherwise
we
(Johnson,
1961).Once we getovertheshockoftheimage,though,
from
what
butprogresses
can see thatit is notdiscontinuous,
logically
theearliercontrast
behas gonebefore:the"darkling
plain"continues
theearlier
tweenthelandandthesea (Kirby)andextendsandenlarges
of
The
the
"naked
rhyme-word
"light"
image
shingles"(Kirby,Drew).
and "night"takeus
halfwayin thestanzaand thesubsequent"flight"
backto theopeningrhymes
and "light"(Kirby),givingus a
"to-night"
the firstthreestanzas
sense of closureand completeness.
Similarly,
in an unpredictable
mixedlinesoffivefeetand less and used rhymes
The last
way,thoughone thatgave us a vague senseof recurrence.
the
break
at the
abba
cddcc
with
is rigorously
stanza,though,
rhymed
breakin thought;
and onlytheopeningand closinglineshave irregu- the body of the stanzaconsistsof sevenfive-foot
lines
lar lengths
fill
to
clash
Even
within
this
consonants
so,
heavyregularity,
(Krieger).
outinsoundthesenseofthefinalbattleimage(Drew).
The poemends,thus,as it began,in duality.A senseoftwoness
thevariousattempts
to statetheidea
runsthrough
by theexplicators
thatinforms
andpervadesthepoem:"thepoet'smelancholy
awareness
oftheterrible
illusion
and
between
reality"
incompatibility
(Delasanta);
"therepetitive
ofthehumancondition
anditspurposeless
inclusiveness
"thetragicsenseofeternalrecurrence"
gyrations,"
(Krieger);"theseathe
of
world
in
of
the
and
also
poet'ssoulwhichfinds
rhythm
general
itselfmysteriously
in accordwiththatcosmicpulse"(Bonnerot).
In general,thepoemmovesback and forthbetweenhereand
landand sea,loveand battle,butmoreimporthere,pastand present,
VICTORIAN
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STUDIES
PSYCHOLOGICAL
DEPTHS
AND
DOVER
BEACH
9
tantlybetween sweet sightand disillusioningsound, between appearance and reality. What informsthe poem, then, is an attempt to
re-createin a personalrelationshipthe sweet sightof stabilityand permanence which the harshsound of the actual ebb and flowof reality
negates.
Now, withall these explicatoryriches,what can psychoanalysis
add to a readingofthepoem? Like all explications,thesetreatthepoem
as an objectivefact,whichit is - in part.The part we prize,though,is
our subjectiveexperienceof thepoem,theinteractionof the poem with
what we bringto the poem - our own habits of mind,character,past
experience,and presentfeelingsthat act with the poem "out there"to
make a total experience"in here." Psychoanalysisis that science that
triesto speak objectivelyabout subjectivestates;and,by the same token,
thepsychoanalytic
critictriesto talkobjectivelyabout his subjectiveexperienceof the poem.
To me, "Dover Beach" is a tremendouslypeaceful and gently
since,afterall, it is
melancholypoem. And thatis somewhatsurprising,
a poem at leastpartlyabout disillusionment,
loss of faith,despair- why
should such a poem seem peaceful or satisfying?
In effectI am asking
the same questionAristotle(and indeed, Arnoldhimself)asked about
tragedy:how is it thatthe mostpainfulexperiencescan be feltas pleasurable in worksof art?2A psychoanalystwould answer: "Because art
imitateslife."That is, we approach life througha seriesof interacting
impulsesand defenses,and a workof art offersus a ready-madeinteraction of impulses and defenses. When we take in Arnold's poem,
2 "Though the objects themselvesmay be painfulto see," notesAristotle,"we delightto
of themin art .... The explanationis to be found
view the mostrealisticrepresentations
in a furtherfact: to be learningsomethingis the greatestof pleasuresnot only to the
philosopherbut also to the rest of mankind,howeversmall theircapacity for it: the
reason of the delightis thatone is at the same timelearning- gatheringthe meaning
of things."And Arnold: "In presenceof the mosttragiccircumstances,
representedin a
workof Art,the feelingof enjoyment,as is well known,may stillsubsist:the represento destroyit.
tationof the mostuttercalamity,of the liveliestanguishis not sufficient
of which,thoughaccurate,no
... . What ... are the situations,fromthe representation
findsno vent
poetical enjoymentcan be derived?They are thosein whichthe suffering
in action; in which a continuousstate of mental distressis prolonged,unrelievedby
to be endured,nothingto be
incident,hope, or resistance;in whichthereis everything
done. In such situationsthereis inevitablysomethingmorbid,in the descriptionof them
somethingmonotonous"(Preface to Poems, 1853).
NeitherAristotlenor Arnoldhad a psychologyadequate to the problem,but the insightsof both are sound,as far as theygo. Translatedintomodernterms,theyare saying that painfuleventscan give pleasure in tragedybecause the workof art provides
defensiveways of escapingthe pain and turningit into meaningfulpleasure. Aristotle,
typicallyGreek, stressesintellectualizationas a defense. Arnold,typicallyVictorian,
would say you have to analyze the
stresses action. I, typicallytwentieth-century,
defensesand adaptationsofparticulartragedies,tragedyby tragedy,beforegeneralizing.
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10
NormanN. Holland
experienceit, we take in the drivesthe poem expresses.We also take
in the poem's way of dealing with those drives,satisfyingthem and
the workof art typicallytransmutespatgivingpleasure.And, further,
ternsof impulse and defense into moral and intellectualmeaning,a
wholeness and completenessthat our impulses and defenses do not
have in everydaylife.
Let us, then,talk about "Dover Beach" as a subjectiveexperience. The poem gives me a tremendousfeelingof pacification,tranquility,soothingpeace.3 Why? Because, I think,the poem offerssuch a
heavy,massiveset of defenses.We begin withthe exquisitedescription
of the seascape in which everythingis vast, tranquil,calm - any disin the firstline,
turbancein thatcalmness,such as the word "to-night"
the appearance and disappearanceof the lightfromFrance,is immediately balanced and corrected.Only afterthis strongreassurancedoes
Arnoldgiveus a strongerdisturbance,theeternalnoteofsadness- and,
he fleesin space and timeto Sophoclesand the IEgAean;he
immediately,
turnsthe disturbingthoughtintoliterature- and far-off,
ancientliteratureat that.And thusdefended,he can permitthe disturbanceto come
back again: "we/Find also in the sound a thought,"but even as he
returnsto the here and now, he defendsagain. He turnsthe feelingof
disturbanceintoan intellectual,symbolic,metaphoricalstatement,
in a
line thatneverfailsto jar me by its severelyschematicand allegorical
quality:"The Sea of Faith."Defended again,he can again returnto the
disturbingsound,and in the mostpatheticlines of the poem he lets it
roll offthe edge of the earthin long, slow vowels. In the last stanza,
he bringsin the majordefenseof thepoem,"Ah,love, let us be true/To
one another."He offers
us as a defensea retreatintoa personalrelationof
with
another
ship constancy
person;and so defended,he can give us
the final,terribleimage of the ignorantarmiesthat clash by night.In
short,the poem givesme - and others,too - thistremendousfeelingof
because Arnoldhas offered
tranquillitybecause I am over-protected;
me strongdefensesagainstthe disturbancethe poem deals with- even
beforehe revealsthe disturbanceitselfin the finallines.
Further,thatdisturbanceitselfis neververyclearlypresented.It
is describedobliquely,by negatives.For example,the sea is calm "toacts as a qualification:thereare othernights
night"- and the"to-night"
3 I realize thatothersfindin the poem,not thissense of peace, but an ultimatefeelingof
failureand despairas, forexample,in the explicationsof Delasanta and Krieger(though
Bonnerotfindsthe pacification).Even so, if I can discoverby analyzingmy own reactionthe drivesthe poem stirsup in me and the defensesthe poem presentsfordealing
withthosedrives,thenI can understandthe different
reactionsof othersforwhomthose
defensesare less congenialor adequate.
VICTORIAN
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STUDIES
PSYCHOLOGICAL
DEPTHS
AND
DOVER
BEACH
11
when the sea is not calm, but we do not see them. The window in
line six comes as somethingof a surprise- it is as thoughthe poet were
reachingback forhis companioneven as he reaches out to take in the
seascape, a special formof the dualismthatpervadesthe poem. But the
disturbanceis dim and oblique. We do not see the roomor the person
addressed,onlythe windowfacingaway fromthem.The "gratingroar"
of the pebbles is humanized and softenedinto music: "cadence" and
"note.""The turbidebb and flowofhumanmisery"seemsmetaphorized,
distanced,morethan a littlevague. The world,we are told,seems like
but is not a land of dreams,but what it is we are not told. We are told
that faith is gone; and, while most critics seem to assume Arnold's
"Faith" means religiousfaith,that,it seems to me, is only one of its
meanings.The word "Faith"is notexplaineduntilthe last stanza and is
thenonlyexplainedby what is missing:the abilityto clothethe world
with joy and love and light,to findin the world certitude,peace, and
help forpain. But the poem does nottell us what the worldis like without these things,except,metaphorically,
in the image of the ignorant
armies.In otherwords,the poem offersus not only massive defenses,
but also a specificline of defense:we do not see the disturbanceitself;
we only see what it is not.
There is a second specificline of defense.This poem sees and
hears intensely;it gives us pleasurethroughwhat we see and hear,but
at the same timethe seeing and hearingoperate defensively.Often,in
life,to see and hear one thingintenselymay serveto avoid seeing and
hearingsomethingelse.4In thispoem, we look at and listento the sea,
the shingle,to Sophocles- what are we not lookingat? What is being
hiddenfromus thatwe are curiousabout, that we would like to see? I
trustyou will not thinkme irreverent
if I remindyou thatthis a poem
4 Arnold'sown psycheis no part of the presentpaper. It is interesting,
though,to note
how oftenthe themeof seeingor being seen occursin Arnold'swritings.He praises,for
example, one "Who saw life steadilyand saw it whole" ("To a Friend"). He spoke
throughEmpedocles of "Gods we cannot see," and in "Self-Deception"of a parental
"Power beyondour seeing." As suggestedin the text,Arnoldoftenlooked intenselyat
one thingas a way of not seeing somethingelse.
At the same time,though,this kind of intenseseeing and hearingcan operate defensivelyin anotherway. To say I am seeing can be a way of sayingI am not being
seen, and in Arnold'spoetrythe motifof not being seen or heard cropsout repeatedly.
Callicles, forexample,mustnot be seen by Empedocles as the philosopheris about to
jump intothe burningcrater.NeitherSohrabnor Meroperecognizes(i.e., sees) his son.
One can fairlyguess, I think,at the poet's escapingthe eyes of his parents,"He, who
sees us throughand through"("A Farewell"), or a MotherNaturewatchingher strugglingchild ("Morality"). "I praise," he writes,"the life whichslips away / Out of the
or Obermann.
lightand mutely"("Early Death and Fame"), such as the scholar-gypsy
Thus, in "Dover Beach," Arnoldtreatsthe world,not as seeing himselfand his love,
not caring,not offering
but as indifferent,
help forpain: as "ignorantarmies."One is
remindedof the childrenin "Stanzas fromthe Grand Chartreuse,""secret fromthe
eyes of all," watchingdistantsoldiersmarchto war.
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12
NormanN. Holland
at night.I cannotspeak
at leastpartlyabouta pairof loverstogether
I am curiousas to whattheyare up to.
butas formyself,
foreveryone,
tellsme verylittle,foronlysixofitsthirty-seven
The poem,however,
withthe girl;and threeofthosesixare so general
linesdeal directly
could
refer
to
all mankind.
they
inThisis anothercase in whichthepoemshowsus something
defensively,
by showingus whatit is not.The poettreatsthe
directly,
and the girlas
betweenhimself
here-and-now
relationship
particular
conditionof all mankind.He definesthe
the always-and-everywhere
fortheworld:letus be trueto one anotherforthe
girlas a substitute
withthegirl
worldprovedfalse.He defines
hiswished-for
relationship
with
what
his
relationship
by stating
indirectly,
obliquely,negatively,
theworldat largeis not.
What,then,is thisworldwhichthe girlmustreplace?As the
pointout,it is a worldrathersharplydividedinto two
explicators
toillusionand reality
or,in thetermsof
aspectsroughly
corresponding
thesightofa bright,
thepoemitself,
a world
calmseascaperepresenting
faith.
withfaith,and thesoundofagitatedpebbles,one without
ofthesounds
The themeofsoundreminds
us oftheimportance
the
and
and
of poemitself, particularly
therhyme rhythm
so beautifully
workedintothe senseat threepoints:linetwelve,"Begin,and cease,
of the last fourlinesof
and thenagainbegin";the longwithdrawal
theimage
stanzathree;finally,
theclottedconsonants
thataccompany
armies.It is worthnotingthatthesepointswherethe
of theignorant
inthe
soundbecomesparticularly
areallpointsofdisillusionment
strong
in
the
seems
linked
to
In
rhyme
poem passagesof
poem. general,
strong
ortrust
oracceptance;strong
seemslinkedtoa sense
rhythm
expectation
ofrealityand solidity.
Thus,therhymesare strongin stanzatwo,the
and in stanzafour,theemointellectual
acceptanceofdisillusionment,
tionalacceptance.Rhythm
is strongat theopeningof thepoemwith
itsgreatfeelingofregularity,
thereness.
solidity,
threestanzasof thispoemof divisionand dualism,
In thefirst
andrhythm
tendtobe divorced
from
eachother.Atpointswhere
rhyme
awareoftherhythm,
we arestrongly
therhyme
tendsto disappearfrom
or even fromthe poem.Conversely,
consciousness
at pointsof very
in
as
stanza
the
becomes
and
two,
regularrhyme,
rhythm
irregular
tendsto disintegrate.
Thissoundpattern
seemsto be a partofthegeneraldefensive
ofthepoem- todividetheworldand deal with
strategy
itinparts,toshowus things
us whattheyarenot.Similarly,
byshowing
- and this,
Arnolddivideseach of the linesfromtwo to six halfway
is
of
the
of
division
in
the
again, part
generalstrategy
poem,but also,
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thepoem,a wayof dealingwiththeworldofthepoem
as all through
itin twoto
as he dealswiththeworlddescribedbythepoem:dividing
deal withitinparts.Finally,at thecloseofthepoem,notonlyrhythm,
of defensive
but also rhymebecomesstrong;thereis a strengthening
in
ofgreatest
formas thepoemcomesto itsmoment
stressand distress
at the close to
and senseall cometogether
content.Rhyme,rhythm,
in ourselves
makeus experience
thepoem'sfinalrhymed
acceptanceof
a disturbing
sound.
as rhythmic
reality
expressed
to
the disillusioning
influence
be
sound
itself
seems
Rhythmic
we need to ask what
whichthepoemstruggles
to accept.Obviously,
of thatrhythm
the emotional
is. Consider,fora moment,
significance
thetwosenses,sightand hearing.Whydo we speakof"feasting"
one's
"the
of
with
look?
we
of
conor
a
do
voice"
speak
eyes "devouring"
Why
scienceor ofGod as "theword"?
"Dover Beach"taps our earliestexperienceof our two major
As earlyas the thirdmonthof
senses.Sight,the childcomesto first.
human
or fifth
a
a
face
as such.By thefourth
can
life, baby
recognize
he can distinguish
thefaceofthepersonwhofeedsandfondles
month,
himfromotherfaces.Sightbecomeslinkedin ourmindsto beingfed,
to a nurturing
mother.
Thus,forexample,in "DoverBeach,"thestrong
sightimagesof thefirstfivelineslead intoa demandthata woman
come,a tasteimage("sweet"),and even,ifwe identify
kinaesthetically
withthepoet,an inhalingofthatsweetnightair.In infancy,
sightbecomesassociatedwitha takingin,specifically
a takinginfroma mother
inwhomwe havefaith,
whomwe expecttogiveus joy,love,light,certiin lifecomesas that
disillusionment
tude,peace,helpforpain.Ourfirst
fails
to
stand
calm,full,fair,vast,tranquil,
alwaysthere,
nurturing
figure
butinsteadretreats,
Andthepoemmakesus
ebbsandflows.
withdraws,
hearthiswithdrawal.
withhearingcomeslaterthanseeing.
Our important
experience
Not untilwe begin to understandwords does hearingbegin to convey
as much to us as sightdoes, and it seems to be in the natureof things
thata good deal ofwhattheone or two yearold childhearsis - "Don't."
We experiencesound as a distancingfroma parent,oftena corrective,
notsomething
we mustwillywe anticipate
and expect,butsomething
nillyput up with,since we cannotshutour ears as we can our eyes. In
"Dover Beach," then, what the poet wishes for fromthe world, but
a
knowswill not come, is the kind of fidelity,"Faith,"or gratification
child associates with the sightof his mother,but the sound the poet
hears routshis expectations.And the poem, by associatingsightwith
the worldas we wish and hope it would be, and sound as a correctorof
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14
Norman N. Holland
thatwish,findsin us a responsivenote,forthishas been partof our experience,too.
But what, specifically,does the harshsound of gratingpebbles
to
bring our minds,particularlyas Arnolddescribesit in the poem? For
one thing,as theexplicatorsshow,thepointofmiseryand conflictseems
to come rightat the joiningor minglingof land and sea. For another,
the disturbanceseems to lie in its veryperiodicity,its rhythm.Where
the opening seascape is very solidly there,calm, full,tranquil- "the
cliffsof England stand" (and the internalrhymedemandsheavy stress)
- the disturbanceis an ebb and flow,a withdrawing,
a retreat,a being
drawnback and flungup; the waves "Begin,and cease, and thenagain
sound gains
begin." And slowly,what was simplya harsh,rhythmical
otherovertones.The "brightgirdle"is withdrawnand we are leftwith
"naked shingles."The world does not "lie before us like a land of
dreams."Rather,the "Begin,and cease, and thenagain begin" has become a naked clash by night.There is a well-nighuniversalsexual symnaked fighting
bolismin thisheard-but-not-seen
by night.The poem is
in
in
at
and
evoking me, least,
perhaps manyreaders,primitivefeelings
but
about "thingsthatgo bump in the night"- disturbing,
frightening,
one
Arnold's
a
horror
This
is
at
the
same
like
movie.
time,
way
exciting
or despair into a satisfypoem turnsour experienceof disillusionment
we get fromthisfinal
ing one, namely,throughthe covertgratification
A
a
would
image.
psychoanalyst
recognize "primal scene fantasy."
Arnoldis talkingabouthearinga sexual"clashby night,"justas children
At thesame time,theimage operatesdefensivelyas
fantasysex as fight.5
well. This poem tellsabout a pair ofloversin a sexual situation;as elsewhere in the poem, the image deflectsour attentionfromthat sexual
and moralexperience,
situationand sublimatesit intoa distant,literary,
a darklingplain fromThucydides.
The conventionalexplicatorshave foundsome logic underlying
that final startlingimage: a logical developmentfrombrightnessto
darkness,fromthe pebble beach to the darklingplain. Ordinaryexplication,however,offerslittlebasis forthe armies,while psychological
explicationoffersconsiderable.The poem begins witha worldwhichis
verysolidlythere,a worldwhichis seen,a worldwhichis investedwith
a faithlike a child'strustin thesightofhis nurturing
mother.The poem
movesintosound,to thelater,harshersense,and withit to the soundsof
withdrawaland retreat.Thus, the sound of the ocean shiftsfromthe
5 In the discussionfollowingthe readingof this paper, it was suggestedto me that the
sexual symbolismis even moreexact than statedin the text.The "darklingplain" may
suggestto us, unconsciously,the nuptialbed, the "struggle"a man's activityand the
"flight"a woman'spassivityin the sexual situation.
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rhythmof waves to the more permanent,even geological withdrawal
of the "Sea of Faith."The feelingis one of permanentdecay, a sense of
harshrealityakin to a child's growingknowledgethathis motherdoes
not existforhimalone, thatshe has a lifeof her own and wishesof her
own which cause her to go away fromhim and come back, to retreat
and withdraw.The final image brings in a still strongerfeeling of
withdrawal,a feelinglike that of a child'sexcitedbut frightrhythmic
ened vague awarenessof the naked,nighttimerhythmicsound of that
other,separate adult life. It does not lie therelike a land of dreamsrather,it is violentand brutal;thebrightgirdleis withdrawnand bodies
clash by night.Roughly,we could say thatthe lovelyappearances seen
in the poem - the moonlight,the cliffsof England, the stillness- correspondto a faithin a mother.The harshsounds of withdrawalheard
in thepoem correspondto thedisillusioning
knowledgeof one's mother's
with
the
latter
father,
relationship
expressedperhaps as Sophocles or
father
did
edit
Thucydides (Arnold's
Thucydides).In the mannerof a
the
dream, twoindividualshiddenin thepoem,a fatherand mother,are
disguisedas two multitudes,two "armies";and they,usuallyall-seeing,
all-wise,become in the violentmomentof passion,"ignorant."
But we stillhave not answeredthe question,How does thepoem
turnthisdisturbingawarenessof withdrawalintoa pleasurable experience? So far,we have talkedonlyabout the defensesthepoem uses: the
most imporflightto Sophocles,symbolicdisguise,intellectualization,
between the seen appearance
tant,division,keepinga sharpdifference
and theheard reality.But such defensescan onlypreventunpleasurehow can the poem give us pleasure and create a rounded experience?
The pleasure lies in thataspect of the poem thatthe commentators almost withoutexceptionignore (thus provingthe strengthand
success of Arnold'sdefensivemaneuvers). Let me remindyou again
that this is a poem that talks about a man and a woman in love and
alone together.Yet how oddlyand how brilliantly
thepoem handlesthis
its
of
For
the
first
five
lines we have only
problem stationing speaker!
the vaguest inklingof where he is: lookingat a seascape near Dover.
thathe is indoors,second,that
Then,in line six,we suddenlylearn,first,
thereis someone withhim,someone whom he wishes to take in what
he is takingin. Yet the poem does nothingmorewiththissudden placing. Instead,the curiosityit arouses,the faintfeelingof disturbance,is
displaced ontothe sound heard in the lines afterline six- anotherway
ofmakingus feelthesoundas disturbing,
and as complicatingthescene.
The nexttwo stanzas do littlemorewiththe problemof stationtwo places the speakerin space - by showingus where he
Stanza
ing.
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16
NormanN. Holland
is not,the IEgaean; then,it places him by "a distantnorthernsea." The
"we" of line eighteenhas all the ambiguitiesof the editorialwe - it
could be thepoet as a public speaker,thepoet and his companion,or the
Stanza threeplaces the poet in time,
poet and all his contemporaries.
again, negatively:not "once" when the sea of faithwas full,but "now"
- again, somethinga bit vague and somethingwe alreadyknow.Then,
tellsus somethingnew again - thathe is in
suddenly,line twenty-nine
love withhis companion.Their relationshipthusemergesfromthe rest
of the poem like shadowyfiguresmaterializing,6
until,at last,onlytwo
stationsthepoet and hislove: "And
linesfromtheclose,thepoem firmly
we are here." Even here,though,thereis some blurring,forthe "we"
could be the editorialwe of stanza two as well as the we of you-and-I.
we are no sooner"here"thanwe are there,metaphorically
And,further,
flownto the darklingplain sweptby ignorantarmies.
In short,the stationingof the poet and his love involvesa good
deal of shiftingand ambiguity.As always in this poem, the poem is
tellingus whatthingsare obliquely,by tellingus whattheyare not.The
ambiguityabout wherethe poet and his love are suggeststhatwe look
to see where they are in anothersense- and there, indeed, we can
locate them quite precisely: they are rightthere in lines six, nine,
and thirty-five.
They occur pretwenty-nine,
eighteen,twenty-four,
ciselyat thepointsof divisionin the poem whereit movesfromsightto
litersound,fromappearanceto reality,or,in stanza two,froma far-off,
the
of
to
here
and
now
"we"
the
northern
To
sea.
ary Sophocles
put
by
it anotherway,theloverscome betweenthetwokindsof experiencethe
poem creates.This is the importanceof the phrase,"And we are here,"
which makes us feel the closure and completenessof the poem. Read
over the last lines withvariantphrasingsto see the importanceof that
clause:
... norpeace,norhelpforpain;
Andtheworld
is,asona darkling
plain
alarms
ofstruggle
andflight,
Sweptwithconfused
Where
armies
clashbynight.
ignorant
6 This, too, is a recurring
themein Arnold'swriting- a sense of the truestateof affairs
emerginglike a humanfigure.Thus, the 1853 Prefaceto Poems speaksof a mythin the
Greek spectator'smind "traced in its bare outlines. . . as a groupof statuary,faintly
seen, at the end of a long and darkvista: thencame the Poet, embodyingoutlines....
the light deepened upon the group; more and more it revealed itselfto the riveted
gaze of the spectator:untilat last, when the finalwordswere spoken,it stood before
him in broad sunlight,a model of immortalbeauty." Similarly,at the openingof the
Goddess" who,
1869 Prefaceto Essays in Criticism,he describesTruthas a "mysterious
even if approached obliquely,can only be seen in outline,while, "He who will do
towardsher ... is inevitablydestinedto runhis head into
nothingbut fightimpetuously
the folds of the black robe in which she is wrapped." I am remindedof Empedocles'
rushinginto the crater.
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... norpeace,norhelpforpain;
AndI amhere,as ona darkling
plain
andflight,
Sweptwithconfusedalarmsofstruggle
Whereignorant
armiesclashbynight.
Thepoemneedsthefinality
bothofbeinghereandofbeingwe,forthis
is thepoem'sultimate
defense.
Stanzaoneopenedwithsight,takenas reassuring,
constant,
full,
and closedwithsoundsensedas a kindof corruption
the
penetrating
fairsight.Stanzastwoandthreefledthisconflict
bothintimeandspace,
andfledit in another
thepoet'suniversalizing
ofhisfeelwaythrough
themoverall time,all space,all peoples.Andyetthis
ings,spreading
defenseleaveshimdisillusioned,
and he turnsat theopeningofstanza
fourtothegirlas a wayofdealingwiththeproblem.
He beginsby saying,"Ah,love,letus be true/Toone another";
and"true"is thekeyword.He wantstore-create
inhisrelationship
with
herthelostsenseoffaith;he wantsherto be "true,"
notto withdraw
as
theearliersighthad done."True"also suggests
the
that relationship
of
thetwo,thepoetand his love,willnotbe liketherelationship
of the
twohalvesoftheworldas he seesthem.The loverswillnotcorrupt
or
contradict
one another
as thetwohalvesoftheworlddo - rather,
they
willbe "true/Tooneanother."
The laststanzathenmovesintoa seriesofliststhatact outthe
poet'sfeelingtowardtheworldthathasfailedhim,thatthoughitseems
So various,so beautiful,
so new,
Hathreallyneither
joy,norlove,norlight,
Norcertitude,
norpeace,norhelpforpain.
Thelistsgiveus a feeling
ofinclusiveness,
oftakingitall in,butthelists
arenegative,
"neither,"
theinclusive"nor,""nor"- so thatitis precisely
nessthatis rejected;preciselythefactthattheworldnegatesall the
oftheworld.
thingsthepoetwantsto takein thatleadstotherejection
Here is thefirst
halfofthepoem'sstrategy:
to tryto takein joy,love,
someone part
light,certitude,
peace,helpforpain;but,uponfinding
oftheworldthatnegatesthesethings,
torejectall theworld.A psychoconanalystwouldspeakhereofdenial:thepoetmustdenywhatever
flictswithhiswishto be givenjoy,love,light,and therest.In thekey
line,"Andwe arehere,"thepoetturnsbackto thegirl."We arehere,"
as theseascapewas in stanzaone; and we are quite
solidly,
constantly,
from
whatconflicts
withthatsolid,constant
trustdistinctly
separate
the ignorant
armies.Theyare quitedistinctly
not"we"; and theyare
distanced
from"we"by"as,"thatis,bymetaphor
andliterary
reference.
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Norman N. Holland
halfofthestanza
The factthat"we are here"standsbetweenthefirst
thesecondhalffrompenetrating
thefirst.
and thesecond,preventing
out
Morrison
as
Theodore
Paradoxically,
pointed manyyearsago, the
involvedin a
the
poemuses lovepreciselyto prevent disillusionment
ofsexuality.7
knowledge
The strategy
ofthepoemthusconsistsoffourstages.First,the
a
world
feltas constant,
us
nurturing,
evokingfaith.Second,
poetgives
he discovers
a disillusioning
sound.Third,he rejectsthewholethingto
fromhisglobal
of
that
sound.Fourth,he retreats
rid
get
disillusioning
in a
theearlieridyllicstatein miniature,
wishesand triesto re-create
The poemdefendsby denial;it getsrid of the
personalrelationship.
sound
awayfromthepoet.
by puttingit metaphorically
disillusioning
an adultworldin termsof
Thenthepoemgivespleasurebyre-creating
andfaithinhisparents.8
a child'swishesforconstancy,
trust,
forourselvesthe
Notice,too,how thepoetmakesus experience
He
the
somewhat
the
describes.
first,
givesus,
vague
experience poem
in
to
in
both
a
wish
take
us
more,and a feelingof
seascape,evoking
Thenhe surprises
us withthepresenceof another.
trustand security.
We feela disturbing
whichthepoemtellsus is a sound.So it
influence,
and we want
is - thesuddenspeakingvoiceof"Cometothewindow,"
to knowmore,to takein more.Instead,the secondand thirdstanzas
and distancethedisturbing
butfailand
influence
tryto intellectualize
inus. The fourth
comebackto it,thusbuildingup tension
stanzaabanto deal withtheproblem.First,it suddenly
donstheseearlierattempts
fromtheexternal
retreats
worldtothesmallerworldofthelovers;second,it shiftsin metaphorfromthe Dover seascapeto the ignorant
armies.Thefourth
stanzagivesus thevaguehope,"Letus be true";and,
ofthepoem,we feeltrust,
as at thebeginning
butalsoa desire
security,
totakeinmore.Butnowwe learnthatthedanger,
themovingbackand
7 "Dover Beach Revisited:A New Fable forCritics,"Harper'sMagazine,CLXXX (1940).
"The ordinarydegree of aggressiveness,the normaljoy of conquest and possession,
seemedto be whollyabsentfromhim.The love he asked forwas essentiallya protective
love, sisterlyor motherly;in its unavoidable ingredientof passion he felt a constant
danger,whichrepelledand unsettledhim" (see pp. 240-241). ProfessorMorrisonoffers
his insightin the whimsicalspiritof a Pooh Perplex,but it seemsto me sound nevertheless. This essay, by the way, containsthe only otherpsychoanalyticexplicationof the
poem I know.
8 Like thethemeof
sight,theformofrejectingor givingup one thingso as to gain another
(oftena mollifiedversionof the first)occursover and over again in Arnold'swritings.
Among the poems that take this formare: "To a Republican Friend, 1848" (both
poems), "ReligiousIsolation,""In UtrumqueParatus,""Absence," "Self-Dependence,"
"A Summer Night," "The Buried Life," "The Scholar-Gipsy,""Thyrsis," "Rugby
Chapel"; and among the prose, "On TranslatingHomer," "The Functionof Criticism
at the PresentTime," the rejectionof Philistinism,
anarchy,Hebraism,and so on. "I am
Arnoldwroteto "K," and the tropeseems to representa basic defensefor
fragments,"
him."Dover Beach" is quintessential
Arnoldas well as quintessential
Victorian.
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we takea metaphorical
in timeand space to
is elsewhere;
forth,
flight
at flight
thatfailedin stanzastwoand
theplainofEpipolae.The efforts
threesucceedinstanzafourbecause"wearehere."Thephraseis almost
thepoem
parental;andthus,bytheveryacceptanceofdisillusionment,
letus takeinwhatwe wishedto
gratifies
us,becauseitdoes,ultimately,
witha glimpseofa "clash
takein: itletsus seetwo"true"loverstogether
elsewhere.
bynight"
The poemmakesus experience
theexperience
describedby the
it
and
we
can
does
in
the
see
various
We have
explications.
poem,
the
of
as
a
of
trust
that
willbe
the
child's
he
poem
spoken
re-creating
in
thathe willbe able to take and be takenintosomecomnurtured,
environment.
inforting
Kriegerspeaksof thepoemas "therepetitive
clusiveness
ofthehumansituation."
We havespokenofthepoemas an
attemptto re-createthe worldas it once was, in childhood.Krieger
and "thetragicsenseof eternalrecurrence."
speaksof repetitiveness
We havespokenofthedisturbing
notein thepoemas thesenseofebb
a
and flowthatcutsdown child'sfaiththatthe nurturing
worldwill
be
Bonnerot
"the
the
there.
of
of
worldin
always
speaks
sea-rhythm
the
and
of
soul
which
finds
also
itself
in
poet's
general
mysteriously
accordwiththatcosmicpulse,"9whileDelasantaspeaksof "terrible
- thetwosidesofa child'strust.
incompatibility"
In short,
a psychological
ofthepoemas an interunderstanding
actionofimpulsesand defensescomplements
conventional
explication
our
becauseit revealstheemotional
to
underobjective
underpinnings
of
the
It
enables
us
to
about
our
subpoem.
speakobjectively
standing
the
of
even
when
those
poem,
jectiveexperience
subjective
experiences
But whatcan thiskindofawarenessofthepoemas imvarysharply.
to literary
pulseand defensecontribute
history?
A preliminary
mustbe: Whatdo we meanby
question,
though,
Once
moves
literary
history?
literary
history
beyondthemerechroniof
names
and
in
as
a
reference
thatit
dates,
book,we ask,I think,
cling
9 Bonnerotoffersa curious confirmation
of the readinghere suggested,that the sea in
"Dover Beach" evokesfeelingslike thosetowarda nurturing
mother.Immediatelyafter
the statementcited, he quotes (free associates to?) the followingfromGod and the
Bible: "Only when one is youngand headstrongcan one thuspreferbravado to experience, can one stand by the Sea of Time, and instead of listeningto the solemn and
beat of its waves, choose to fillthe air with one's own whoopingsto start
rhythmical
the echo." It is not too difficult
to hear under Arnold's"whoopings"somethinglike a
child's anguishedhowls to preventhis mother'swithdrawalor bringher back ("start
the echo") or replace the void she leaves ("fill the air"). There is furtherconfirmation
in Arnold'sletterto Clough of 29 Sept. 1848, wherehe describeshimselfas "one who
looks upon water as the Mediatorbetweenthe inanimateand man." See H. F. Lowry,
ed., The Lettersof MatthewArnoldto ArthurHugh Clough (London, 1932), p. 92.
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20
NormanN. Holland
to understand
eventshistorically,
thatis, as havbe an attempt
literary
to othereventsin time.Typically,
relations
ing causesor meaningful
fromchronicle
it shades
when
moves
tohistory,
history
though,
literary
ceases
to be a
as
offintothehistory
of ideas. Literary
history, such,
is
that
we are acThe reasonthishappens,I think,
separatediscipline.
whenwe are lookingat
customedto lookat the contentof literature
in literature
Butcontent
is notwhatis literary
literature
historically.
formis; thekindand qualityofexpression
is. In psychoanalytic
terms,
formandmodeofexpression
aredefenses;
towriteliterand,therefore,
whichis notmerely
ofideas,literary
a branchofthehistory
aryhistory
which
with
what
in
deals
is
we
history
literary literature, shallhaveto
writeaboutthedefenses
a particular
culture
uses.We shallhavetothink
morelikea culturalanthropologist
thanan intellectual
historian.
the
critics
have
said
"Dover
Beach"
is
the
Many
representative,
Victorianpoem,or,in Krieger'sgentlepun,a "highly
quintessential
Victorian"
poem.Mostly,however,the criticshave said thisbecause
see
the
aboutdoubtand loss of faith- major
they
poemas primarily
themesin Victorian
ideas. But "DoverBeach"is an emotionalexperione.Further,
to see thepoemas onlyabout
ence,notjustan intellectual
doubtis notto see theformofthepoem,forArnoldsetshisdoubtand
despairagainsta sexualsituation:thisis a poemthattellsabouttwo
loversaloneatnight.10
We haveseenthat"DoverBeach"defendsagainstthatsituation
and adaptsit to moraland intellectual
three
pleasureby employing
at theloversbyintensely
lookFirst,itavoidslookingdirectly
strategies.
and
to
at
the
the
sea,
else,
ing
listening something
shingle,Sophocles,
and so on. Second, the poem places its "you" and "I" between illusion
and realityso as to keep up a divisionor dualism,to preventcertain
orpenetrating.
The feelingis thatifthenegative
thingsfrommingling
soundtouchesthepositivesight,one mustrejectthemboth.One must
eitheraccepttheworldwhollyorrejectit wholly.Boththesedefenses
thepsychoanalyst
wouldcall formsofdenial:denying
theexistence
of
forbidden
what
are
not;
byseeingonly
things
they
denying
compromise
orimperfection.
thepoemtriesto re-create
in therelationThen,third,
morechildish,but moresatisfying
ship withthe lovera simplified,
ofan adultloveforanother
version
personortheworldas a whole.
10 Thus, I think,Walter Houghtoncomes closerto the themeof doubtwhen he reminds
us: "For the Victorians,the disagreeablefacts were primarilythose of sex, and the
truththe stateof religion"(The VictorianFrame of Mind, 1830-1870 [New
terrifying
Haven, 1957], pp. 413-414). In thissectionof mypaper, I am relyingveryheavilyon
ProfessorHoughton'sbook. My feelinggoes beyondmere indebtednessto sheer gratitude thatsuch an encyclopedicand perceptivebook exists.
VICTORIAN
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thepsychoanalytic
VictorIn short,
studyofthisquintessentially
makes
it
so
"Vicas
to
what
ianpoemcuesus toa particular
hypothesis
torian":a certainpatternofdefenses,
namely,the use of denialto recreatean adultworldtomeeta child'sdemandforperfection.
Now,we
Victorian?
needto ask,To whatextentis thispatterncharacteristically
How didit sustainitself?
Ifitis characteristic,
wheredidit comefrom?
in literary
forms?
Andhowis it expressed
in a mereessay,
we cannotanswerall thesequestions
Obviously,
with
the
the
Victorian
We
butwe can begin. can begin
styleitself
way
oftheRegencyand all thefourGeorges,the
began withtherejection
of
therejection
club-life
and otherlevities,
rejection eighteenth-century
of the aristocracy,
and therejectionof Byronism
and the excessesof
sucha massiverejection
ofthepastis,
Romanticism.ll
Psychologically,
at somelevelofa man'sbeing,a rejection
ofhisparents,
hisforebears
in
orhistorical
a physicalas wellas an intellectual
sense.It is no accident,
I think,thatthisage thatso rejectedimmediateparenthoodshould
also have been so preoccupiedwiththeproblemof evolution,
parenthooddistancedto a prehistoric
past.KennethBurkesuggeststhecharacteristic
mentalhabitof thenineteenth
"escenturywas translating
sence"into"origin"so thatthe statement,
"Thisis the essenceof the
becomes"Thisis how it began."'2And thisstrategy,
situation,"
too,I
for
takeit,is a wayoflooking lostorigins parenthood in areassafely
distancedfromrealorigins.
When the Victorians
rejectedtheirimmediatepast,what did
it
with?
and over-stuffed
theirrooms
Justas theystuffed
theyreplace
felt
withfurniture,
were
new
a
world
themselves
they they
creating
and notwithout
reason."Yourrailroad,"
could
"starts
write,
Thackeray
thenewera.""We are oftheage ofsteam.""It was onlyyesterday,
but
whata gulfbetweennow and thenl"In a veryreal sense,the newly
powerfulmiddleclass could claimto have createditself,psychologically,to havebeenitsown parentsor,in Clough'sphrase,by itsvery
successtohaveachieved'"Thiskeensupplanting
ofnearestkin."
Butwhenwe lookto see howtheVictorians
ofparents,
thought
we findthat,if the Victorians
were theirown parents,theywere a
11 Houghton,pp. 45-53, lo9, 300, and 342. Lionel Trilling,"The Fate of Pleasure:
Wordsworthto Dostoevsky,"in NorthropFrye, ed., RomanticismReconsidered:Selected Papers fromthe English Institute(New York, 1963), pp. 73-106, particularly
pp. 73-90 and 97-101. ProfessorTrilling'spaper develops brilliantlythe idea that
Victorianmoral and spiritualenergyshould be regardedas an effortto mask over indeed, attack- pleasures erotic and gentlemanly.My own essay mightwell be regarded as the attemptto extendProfessorTrilling'shypothesisto a particularpoem
and to literaryforms.
12 Cited by StanleyEdgar Hyman,The Tangled Bank (New York,1962), p. 366.
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NormanN. Holland
22
ratherspecial kind of parent.Motherbecomes Patmore'sAngel in the
House, or, as Tennyson'sPrince describesher,
No angel,buta dearerbeing,all dipt
In angelinstincts,
breathing
Paradise,
betweenthegodsand men...
Interpreter
As forthe gods, we recognizethe Victorianfather:a man thoughtof
a kingor hero on
primarilyin termsof forceand power and authority,
a
of
almost
an
Old
TestamentGod.
model,
captain industry,
Carlyle's
What such parentslack, of course,is adult sexuality,whichis replaced
by a kindofindustrialforceor householdcontentment.
We see the same denial in Victorianhero-worship,
particularly
of heroeswho combinedfeaturesof a fatherand a son: wild, primitive
figures,but of impeccablemoralstature.The favoritewas the Galahad
story,and it tellsus theVictoriansecret:the denial of sexualityleads to
physicalstrengthor, to put it anotherway, the Victorianslooked at a
man's strength
as a way of not seeinga man'ssexuality.Symbolsforthe
denial are thebaptismalimagesthatrecurin Victorianwriting,ofwater
or cleansingofthesoiledself,as in The WaterBabies or Kingsley'swhole
advice forlife- '"hard work and cold water."13
What I am suggestingis that the Victoriansin general, like
Arnoldin "RugbyChapel," soughtparentssuch as a child would wish,
parentsdevoid of sexuality.What the Victoriansrejectedin theirsocial
parents,the eighteenthcentury,the Regency,they rejected in their
actual parents: levity,libertinism,
gentlemanlypleasures,sexuality.As
in
the
Thackeraycomplained
prefaceto Pendennis,his readerswould
not accept a virile man or a realisticwoman. When the Victorians
createdtheirown new world,became parentsthemselves,theybecame
parentson thisinfantilemodel. Thus, we findBeatriceWebb's father,
thoughhe was a railwaytycoon,kneelingdown morningand nightto
repeat the prayerhe learned at his mother'slap - "GentleJesus,meek
and mild,look upon a littlechild."Perhaps it is trueof any age baffled
by the complexitiesof rapid change that it regresses,triesto come to
childishterms;but theVictorians
gripswithitsworldin moreprimitive,
do seem to have done so morethanmost.
In thiswish to re-createone's parentson the model of a child's
wishes,we findan answerto what is to me the mostpuzzling problem
of Victorianlife: Why was it a stable society?Afterall, the Victorians
triedto put down wit, levity,leisure,acceptance, and passivity,along
with sex. It was a stately,solemn,perhapsdrearykind of culture.And
13 JeromeBuckley,The VictorianTemper (Cambridge,1951), pp. 98-105.
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or so years.People musthave foundsome sortof comyetit lasted fifty
pensatingpleasure in it. They found,I think,the grantingof one of the
strongestand deepest wishes of childhood,a wish that persistswith
intoadult life,namely,the desireto maintainthe fantasy
greatstrength
thatone's parentsbe sexuallypure.
Thus,obliquely,"Dover Beach" has led us to at least a hypothesis
about themajorVictorianmodes of defense.In the termsof intellectual
history,Walter Houghtondescribesthem as "a process of deliberately
ignoringwhateverwas unpleasantand pretendingit did not exist."In
terms,thesedefensesare avoidance,denial,suppression,
psychoanalytic
all
thosedefensivestrategiessummedup in Mr. Podsnap's
repression
formulaic,"I don'twant to knowabout it; I don'tchoose to discussit; I
don't admitit!"
But these defenseshave a positive side as well as the merely
to remodelthe world,to
negativeone. They lead to the Victorianeffort
earnestness,enthusiasm,the beliefin the basic goodnessof humannaan emphasison doing (Arnold's"Hebraism"),
ture,dogmatism,rigidity,
the gospel of intellectual,moral,and social work,the driveand dutyto
succeed. All are ways of emulatinga fatherconceived of as non-sexual
industrialor moraldrive;or of gratifying
a motherconceivedin termsof
Ruskin's"Goddess of Getting-on,"
or what Arnoldcalled "Mrs. Gooch's
Golden Rule,"hercounselto herson: "My dear Dan ... you shouldlook
forwardto being some day managerof thatconcern!"As forintellectual
life,we findgenerallywhat Mill described as a "rathermore demonstrativeattitudeof belief' than people thoughtnecessary"when their
personal convictionwas more complete."We see the Victorianneverending quest for truth,as thoughone were constantlytryingto find
some truthotherthanthe one you have denied and leftbehind you. At
thesame time,we findan unwillingnessto draw ultimateconclusions,to
come to a stoppingplace lest the intellectualquest end. Thus, too, we
findpoems like "The Scholar-Gipsy"or Tennyson's"Ulysses"praising
aspiration,movement,energy,forcewithoutaim or end,forifone came
to an end, one mighthave to sit down and thinkabout what was left
behind4 - "The BuriedLife,"Arnoldcalled it;
our own onlytrue,deep-buried selves,
Being one with which we are one with the whole world.
For those with eyes less open than Arold's, the buried life be14
"For the Victorians,intense activitywas both a rational method of attackingthe
anxietiesof the time,and an irrationalmethodof escapingthem"(Houghton,p. 262).
See also Kristian Smidt, "The Intellectual Quest of the VictorianPoets," English
Studies,XL (1959), 90-102.
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24
NormanN. Holland
thefearthatwhatwas
ofVictorian
camethedarkunderside
optimism:
on
denialbe upset.There
the
founded
and
deniedmight
return,
optimism
the
masses.
Theremightcome
frombelow,from
mightbe a revolution
fromabroad,thepernicious
of,say,Balzac orFlauwritings
corruption
Abstract
ofpoetry."
the
school
the
local
or
even
product, "fleshly
bert,
and
love are
are
and
contemplation dangerous.Knowledge
thought
as inBrowning's
Paracelsus.
antithetical,
Levitybecomesthelighttreatofas theoccasionofall evil.The devil
mentofevil.Leisureis thought
findsworkforidle hands- and we can guessat thefearofwhatidle
handsmightbe doing.Theseare theanxieties,
doubts,and pessimisms
ofVictorian
thesuperstructure
thatgnawunderneath
things
optimism,
thata Carlyleorevenan Arnoldwouldtrytoputdownbyforce,
George
Eliotby a cultofobedience,or Macaulayby a trustin progress.
toworkbackedup
Doubtanddespairfollowed
bya commitment
this
of
whatJerome
or
is,
course,
principle
by religious philosophic
and it
"the
Victorian
has
called
of
conversion,"
pattern
Buckley(ch.v)
is a psychological
is wellknown.WhatI am suggesting
paradigmfor
this
I
could
it
We
thisVictorian
way: rejectmyactual
put
life-style.
I createtheworld
and
its
forebears
attitudes).
(theeighteenth
century
this
is theimportant
but
and
anew.I thusbecomemyownparent,
point- I becomea parentsuchas a childwouldwish.I denytheadult
the enjoyment
of
but also easiness,indifference,
emotions,
sexuality,
I
of
I
the
am
Instead, work,
enthusiastic,
leisure, tolerance uncertainty.
two.I denytheadult
Andthelaststepscarryoutthefirst
I am earnest.
ofwhatwentbefore.I busymytherejection
and so continue
emotions
selfand so I createtheworldanew.The systemclosesuponitselfand
becomesthestable,thoughuneasy,styleofthelongVictorian
calm.It is
whole
the
because
circle
rests
on
a
a weak
denial
that
leaves
uneasy
at
which
Swinburne
and
Pater
Meredith
and
and
Hardyand
point
will
Wilde
thesystem
and breakit down.
penetrate
Butwhatdoesthissayaboutliterary
muchof
history?
Obviously,
ofVictorian
thecontent
either
the
frantic
affirmations
poetryexpresses
orthecovertdoubtsofVictorian
culture.Thisis thecontent,
however.
as givingriseto formsand modesof
Whataboutdefensesunderstood
"DoverBeach"cuesus tolookforthreedefenses.
First,conexpression?
one
on
a
of
not
as
else.
centrating
thing way
seeingsomething Second,a
totrytokeepthingsfrommingling,
to divideexperience
into
tendency
totalacceptanceor totalrejection,
to avoidcompromise
or theacceptanceofimperfection.
ofan adultworldaccording
Third,there-creation
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to a child'swish forperfection,specifically,
thathis parentsbe sexually
If
our
is
these
mustgiveriseto at least
defenses
correct,
hypothesis
pure.
some of the formsand stylesof Victorianliterature.
And so, it seems to me, theydo. Many criticshave pointedto a
kind of divided allegiance in Victorianpoetry: the poet as a public,
social spokesman,but with a buried self; a pervasive dichotomybetween social and moral subjects and personal ones. In psychoanalytic
terms,we recognizeone of the "Dover Beach" defenses,concentrating
on one thingso as not to see another,or, as E. D. H. Johnsonputs it,
"The expressedcontenthas a dark companion."'5The same defense
showsin the way the Victorianpoet relieson a naturalscene. "Arnold,"
notes Truss,"typicallygraftedan idea to a landscape, and he triedto
make the landscape do his talkingforhim."Trilling'sphrasingis kinder
when he speaks of "Arnold'sbold dramaticway of using greatobjects,
oftengreatgeographicalor topographicalobjects,in relationto which
the subjectivestatesof the poem organizethemselvesand seem themselves to acquire an objectiveactuality."16
The massivelandscape takes
our attentionaway fromthe poet.
Anotherpopular formof the period distancesthe same way: the
dramaticmonologue affirms
an externalrealityat the expense of the
poet'ssubjectivestate (thoughas KristianSmidthas shown,the distancing oftencollapses into an "oblique" or "diagonal" point of view in
which the poet blurs into his spokesman- the denial breaks down).17
Along withthe dramaticmonologue,we findin criticisma tendencyto
look at the eventsdescribedby a workof artratherthanat the workof
art itself,to treatShakespeareancharactersas real people, forexample.
This,too, enables theVictorianto concentrateon one thingas a way of
not seeing somethingelse - his own emotionalreaction.
If "Dover Beach" is quintessentially
Victorian,we shouldbe able
to findin Victorianformsgenerallythe second of its defenses,namely,
dividingthe world intoblack and white,yea and nay. Thus, when the
Victorianstyle began, poetic imageryshiftedaway fromthe growth
and profusionof the Romantics,unitingwith the world,to images of
polarityand tension,dividingoneselffromthe world or dividingthe
world itself,as Arnold does in "Dover Beach" (Johnson,1961, p. 2).
15 E. D. H. Johnson, The Alien Vision of Victorian
Poetry (Princeton, 1952), p. 217.
"
16 Tom J.
Truss, "Arnold's 'Shakespeare,'
Explicator, XIX (1961), 56. Lionel Trilling,
ed., The Portable Matthew Arnold (New York, 1949), p. 39. See also Marshall
McLuhan, "The Aesthetic Moment in Landscape Poetry," in Alan S. Downer, ed.,
English Institute Essays 1951 (New York, 1952), pp. 168-181.
17 KristianSmidt,"Pointof View in VictorianPoetry,"EnglishStudies,XXXVIII
(1957),
1-12.
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26
NormanN. Holland
In thissense,the pervasivedichotomyin Victorianpoetrybetween social and moral subjects and personal ones becomes anotherway of
polarizingthe externalworld createdfromchild-likeoptimismand the
darker,more adult emotionswithin.Arnold,in particular,came increasinglyto feelthata naturalor generallaw proscribedthe expression
- for
ofhis own deep feelings18
"generallaw" we can read thepervasive
defense of the man and his culture.Again, we findVictorianpoetry
of Bentham's
heavilycommittedto poetic diction,a kind of fulfillment
view of the arts.Poetic dictionservesas a way of distinguishing
poetry
fromnormaladult speech, an optimizingof ordinarylanguage, reconstructingit in termsof a wish forperfection-akindof extremelyadult
baby-talk.
We can see both these "Dover Beach" defenses,forexample,in
the pre-Raphaelitestyle.Both the concentrationon visual detail and
the heavy use of emblemand allegoryservethe Victoriandenial much
as Arnold'sviewingoftheseascape does. We look intenselyat one thing,
at one meaningor sight,and so we avoid seeing somethingelse. Heavy
symbolismand allegory;a retreatto Greek,Biblical,medieval,or exotic
legend;theample renderingofvisual details- theseare presentto some
extentin all Victorianpoetry,but these various overstatements
in the
serviceof denial fuse in the pre-Raphaelitestyleto make it, too, quintessentiallyVictorian.
But poetry,of course,was not the greatestformin the period.
The outputmay have been vast, but the quality was sharplylimited,
perhaps because poetryas the expressionof personal feelingsdid not
suit an age dedicated to the denial of certainkey feelings.The "Spasmodic school" suggeststhe troublepoets got into when they tried to
expressfeelingsdirectly,unshieldedby dramaticmonologueor landscape. The novel expressedVictorianneeds better,notably,the wish to
concentrateon one thingas a way of not seeinganother.Justas, on the
stage, theatrical spectacle and declamatoryacting shiftedattention
away fromthe lack of realisticemotionin the characters,so the great
shiftofthe Englishnovel fromthe eighteenthcenturyto the nineteenth
is a growingattentionto the largersocial environment
the
surrounding
centralcharacters.At the same time,the usual Victoriannovel offered
its readers adult emotionsover-simplified
and desexualized. The Victoriannovel,likeVictoriancommerce,soughtto orderthecomplexadult
world by the wishes of a child. As JosephSchumpeterhas shown,in
Victoriancommerce,the industrialistbecame paternalistic,a father;
18 John M. Wallace,
"Landscape and 'The General Law': The Poetry of Matthew
Arnold," Boston University Studies in English, V (1961), 9-10o6.
VICTORIAN
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BEACH
The
the colonial took on the burdens of his 'little brown brother."19
larger political and economic world was to be organized in termsof
And so the novelistby the formof his novel often
familyresponsibility.
- Bleak House is the obvious and best example- that the
suggested
was simplyto re-createthe
cure forthe ills of the adult environment
child
in
the
world
at
world
of
a
large.
family
The Victoriannovelpolarizedtheworldintoa largeenvironment
and a familyof centralcharacters,just as Victoriandramapolarized its
world into elaborate visual spectacle and a star or two. Yet the novel
thrivedwhilethedramadeclined.I thinkwe can understandthe decline
of the drama as a case in which a genre found itselfcaught between
twoVictorianmodesofdefense.On theone hand,thereis theavoidance
of one thingby lookingat another,givingrise to the interestin visual
spectacle and declamatoryactingas ways notto see the centralcharacterstoo realistically.On the otherhand,therewas the wish to see adult
emotionsthrougha child's eyes. Thus, Hazlitt could say of Joanna
Baillie,"She treatshergrownmen as littlegirlstreattheirdolls."We can
accept what E. M. Forstercalls "flat"charactersin fiction;we can acforthe novelistcan adjust the whole world of the
cept sentimentality,
novel to fithis myth,in this case, the re-creationthroughdenial of a
worldto fita child'swishes.But sentimentalism
is harderto accept when
physicallysetbeforeus on a stagethatso insistson physicalrealitiesand
visual exactnessas the Victoriantheatredid, indeed as thatwhole age
thatinventedphotographydid.
I have not yet mentionedthe greatestof all genresin the Victorianperiod: nonsense,which was the most admirablysuited to the
Victoriandefensivestrategy.Lear and Carrolloffereda reassuringform
of humor,one thatdid not "treatevil lightly,"one thatwas not "levity,
and idle babble and play-acting"(to give Carlyle'slist of
insincerity,
sins). Rather,Lear and Carroll did the trulyVictorianthingdirectly:
they explicitlyre-createdthe world of an adult throughthe eyes of a
child.
So far,our hypothesisholds. "Dover Beach" cued us to look in
Victoriancultureand Victorianliterarymodes fora patternof defense:
19 Imperialismand Social Classes, trans.Heinz Norden,ed. Paul M. Sweezy (New York,
1951),
pp. 153-159,
169-170,
190-205,
and 220-221.
Schumpeter's neo-Marxist
analysisof the necessityfora familyto do somethingde novo to breakthe class barrier
fromthe quite alien point
and his conceptof "patrimonialization"
strikingly
confirm,
of view of economics,the psychoanalytichypothesisI am advancingabout Victorian
England.
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NormanN. Holland
28
an adultworldaccording
to whata child
theuse ofdenialto re-create
dramatic
wishesadultswouldbe.20Allegory,
poeticdiction,
monologue,
and spectaclein drama,noninfiction
sentimentality
landscapepoetry,
literature
we havelooked
andstylesofVictorian
sense- all theseforms
will
ourhypothesis.
Whetherthehypothesis
at so fartendto confirm
have
have
would
to
time
tell.
one
will
standfurther
Obviously,
testing,
worksto proveor disproveit
many,manymoreanalysesof literary
themethodological
Themoregeneralpoint,though,
one,stands.
finally.
at
a
the
historian
can
offer
hypothesis, least,and
literary
Psychoanalysis
formsact analoofthewayliterary
perhapsevena fullunderstanding
needsof a culture.
gouslyto defensesto meetthepsychological
For
can add something
else: sympathy.
I thinkpsychoanalysis
he
as
in
Arnold
writes
"Dover
Beach"
though actuallyexpected
example,
theworldto supplyjoy,love,light,certitude,
peace,helpforpain,and
I- a creatureof the twentiethcentury- am puzzled. My world has
thecoldwar- frankly,
WorldWarII, Auschwitz,
beenthedepression,
I
from
I expectnothing
sense,though,
myworldbuttrouble.In another
can thinkback,experience
back,to a timewhenmyworldwas smaller
in New
and consistedof a motherand a fatherin a smallapartment
and
York.Thenwas a timewhenI, likeArnold,couldexpect
getdespitewhatbatterings
joy,love,light,helpforpain.And,therefore,
thatsenseof basic trustmayhave taken,I can enterand experience
Arnold'squitealienkindofworld.I can loveArnold's
poem.
is not
can bringto literary
whatpsychoanalysis
In short,
history
can
also
It
forms.
the
of
uses
about
bring
literary
onlyhypotheses
an abilityto call back to lifein ourselvesthe feelingsof
sympathy,
sendstheliterandageslonggone.The messagepsychoanalysis
writers
tothis:ifyouwishtowritetheliterary
comesdownsimply
aryhistorian
do
of
Victorian
England, not simplyseek the Victorian(like
history
Carroll'ssnark)withforksand hope or namesand datesback there.
in yourself.
LookfortheVictorian
Institute
Massachusetts
ofTechnology
20 Obviously,throughout
this essay, I have been using the term"Victorian"in a broad,
attributive
way,as if I were to look at a houseor an attitudeor a poem and say,"That's
quite Victorian."The defensivepattern,then,explicatesthe word. Equally obviously,
though,thereare manyparticularVictorianisms:highand low, early,middle,and late,
and so on. One could refinethe techniquedevelopedin thisessay by sketchingout the
kind of thingdenotedby the more specificterm"high Victorian"and then tryingto
analyze thatkind of thingas analogousto psychologicaldefenses.If this essay is correct,each specificVictorianismshould turnout to be a narrowerformof the general
patternof impulseand defensehere suggested.
VICTORIAN
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