Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach skillfully uses the sea image to reveal the social condition of the Victorian people on the verge of spiritual collapse.The two opposing sea images at the beginning of the poem are a cont...Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach skillfully uses the sea image to reveal the social condition of the Victorian people on the verge of spiritual collapse.The two opposing sea images at the beginning of the poem are a contrast between illusion and reality,thus triggering the contradiction between the Imaginary and the Real,which becomes an aesthetic symbol throughout the interpretation of the sea image and the writing of human spiritual world.From the time of Sophocles in ancient Greece to the Victorian period,the sea,as a mirror of the Imaginary,became a way for people to reflect on their suffering fate and harsh reality.Meanwhile,the powerful force of the sea drawing back pebbles contains the philosophical meaning of the Real world,which has the mysterious power to swallow everything and is difficult to be captured by the symbol language of the Symbolic society.The impact of the sea on the pebbles shows the contradiction between the Real and the Symbolic.The reinterpretation of the sea image in Dover Beach provides insight into reconciling the spirituality of people in the transition period to highly developed industrialization and modernization.展开更多
文摘Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach skillfully uses the sea image to reveal the social condition of the Victorian people on the verge of spiritual collapse.The two opposing sea images at the beginning of the poem are a contrast between illusion and reality,thus triggering the contradiction between the Imaginary and the Real,which becomes an aesthetic symbol throughout the interpretation of the sea image and the writing of human spiritual world.From the time of Sophocles in ancient Greece to the Victorian period,the sea,as a mirror of the Imaginary,became a way for people to reflect on their suffering fate and harsh reality.Meanwhile,the powerful force of the sea drawing back pebbles contains the philosophical meaning of the Real world,which has the mysterious power to swallow everything and is difficult to be captured by the symbol language of the Symbolic society.The impact of the sea on the pebbles shows the contradiction between the Real and the Symbolic.The reinterpretation of the sea image in Dover Beach provides insight into reconciling the spirituality of people in the transition period to highly developed industrialization and modernization.
