He also attributed this action to a future of anarchy. .
In his poem, "Dover Beach," Arnold expresses his own lament of the changing times. In the beginning of this poem, Arnold faces out towards the sea, looking upon the waves. In looking at the sea, he turns his back on civilization, and stares in contemplation at the waves and the horizon. His tone is, at first, full of wonder and optimism. "Glimmering and vast, out on the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night air!" When he turns his gaze to the shores of England, he observes the rolling waves that remind him of something which changes his tone to that of sorrow. "Listen! You hear the grating roar; Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring, The eternal note of sadness in." In his next stanza, the cause for his sorrow becomes apparent. He notes that Sophocles once attributed the ebb and flow of the waves with human misery. This misery is something that Arnold relates to, being a human, and also because he receives sorrow from his feelings towards the changes that are occurring in England during the Victorian Period. In the Third stanza, Arnold associates the Sea of Faith with the decline of religion. "The Sea of Faith, Was once, too, at the full; But now I only hear; Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar." He sees that Religion was once full and whole, but now it slowly recedes like a tide that only ebbs. The cliffs surrounding the Sea of Religion are, "vast edges drear," and its beaches are, "naked shingles of the world." This stanza is definitely influenced by the loss of faith that occurred as a result of the theory of evolution. In the fourth stanza, Arnold pleads with his lover, "let us be true To one another!" Arnold's plead is also his solution to a world of confusion and chaos. While he reflects upon an external world with, "neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain," he believes, or optimistically wishes he could believe, that he can take refuge in an internal peace between him and his lover.
