Dover Bitch vs. Dover Beach...yes it's an english essay

It seems too obvious a notion that “The Dover Bitch” by Anthony Hecht served the purpose of mocking the idea inspired in “Dover Beach” written by Matthew Arnold. But that's exactly as it appears. Dover Beach serves to present the idea that in the midst of societal downfalls, religious contradictions, and world hypocrisy, all that we have to hold onto and have faith in is humanity’s love or lover’s love. Hecht, as do I, seems to believe otherwise – that a lover isn’t always faithful especially in the neediest of times. And of course, as we see throughout “The Dover Bitch,” that is exactly the course of events. Hecht illustrates this through a series of comical and mildly satirical lines throughout his poem.

Now, Dover Beach presents the story of a man and his lover, possibly a wife or girlfriend, who reside in location somewhere along Dover Beach between England and France. The two countries appear to be in the midst of war. And while the sight of the Dover waves at first appear comforting, the speaker soon takes on an epiphanic tone. He realizes that while the sight may be beautiful, not everything that glitters is gold. In fact, aforementioned, England and France are two nations engaged in war. The speaker then takes into account feigns of a different sea he also once perceived a beautiful truth – that of religion. The “Sea of Faith,” as he called it, once “lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled,” implying that religion was fitted to propriety and present in abundance in society. But now religion has left her faithful humanity to rot. And now all that man has to believe in is itself. It is this factor that leads the speaker to believe that humanity can have faith only in itself. And this is also the point that Arnold wants to get across.

But Hecht assumes a different perspective – that even man cannot be our idol of faith. In “The Dover Bitch” Hecht says that while Matthew Arnold (as he refers to the speaker of Dover Beach) is lamenting to his lover, she is preoccupied with the audacity of Arnold’s designating her as a “sort of mournful cosmic last resort.” She considers intimacy with Arnold in her thoughts and is jealous the French living in luxury just miles away. The audience can assume that Hecht gave the poem the title “Dover Bitch” as the woman pays little attention to the Arnold’s lament. It seems, to, that Hecht, or the speaker in Hecht’s poem, is “the other man”; perhaps he is engaged in an affair with the woman. He claims to know her and their story at Dover Beach. He says that “[they] have a drink and [he] give[s] her a good time, and perhaps it’s a year before [he will] see her again, but there she is.” He says that he would sometimes present her with perfume of the French variety. The idea plays into the satire of the poem and helps bring the point across.

The speaker of Arnold’s poem is naïve to the fact that his lover is unfaithful, a sort of twisted irony. He entreats that she be true to him in all things. Ironically, she is not. He seems to feel that genuine love must be the only bondage for the two and with this idea he had lost faith in all but humanity. This is where the speaker of Hecht’s poem comes in to testify the contrary. Although brimming with mocking hilarity, “The Dover Bitch” offers a serious truth. In a time of a low morale and pessimistic outlook, we might cling to an idea that is in truth a lie. And with humanity as our last resort for faithfulness, something must be very wrong.