Learn the significance of "Dover Beach" in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Explore the "Dover Beach" poem, and study its impact on the novel's themes and characters. Updated: 11/21/2023
Dover Beach in Fahrenheit 451 | Significance & Poem Analysis
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Mrs. Phelps cry when Montag reads Dover Beach?
Mrs. Phelps cries because she may have been exposed to real emotion and passion for the first time. She does not understand why she reacts the way she does, though.
Why does Montag read Dover Beach?
Montag reads ''Dover Beach'' to show the group of women that maybe there is something to books. The women are not all convinced but allow him to proceed.
How does Dover Beach relate to Fahrenheit 451?
Both ''Dover beach'' and Fahrenheit 451 deal with love and emotion. However, the novel shows a world where love does not quite exist and emotions are surface-level and shallow. The poem shows great emotion simply in the narrator being with his lover.
Fahrenheit 451 is a science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury. The book deals with the themes of knowledge and books and often interjects allusions to various poems and books like the Bible.
The story follows the fireman Guy Montag in a future where books are outlawed, and society's firemen burn books instead of putting out fires. He is married to Mildred, a woman who, like most people of this time, is obsessed with the shallow television shows broadcast to keep the population happy. After his wife almost overdoses on sleeping pills but is rescued by uncaring EMTs, Montag meets a young woman named Clarisse, who has just moved into the neighborhood. Clarisse engaged Montag in meaningful conversation and planted the seeds of doubt in his mind about his profession.
Several days later, Montag gets called to the home of an older woman who has been hoarding books. This woman opts to burn herself alive with her books as Montag and the others watch, but not before Montag steals a Bible. After not seeing Clarisse for a few days, Mildred casually tells him she was hit by a car and killed. The next day, Montag's boss, Beatty, visits him to ask if he is alright. Beatty finds out Montag has hidden a book in the house and subtly threatens him to deal with the matter. After Beatty leaves, however, Montag reveals to Mildred that he has a stash of books he has been accumulating.
Montag and Mildred argue about the books. He goes to see an older man, Faber, who used to be an English professor before the book bans. Faber gives Montag an earpiece to communicate if he so wishes. Arriving back at his house, Montag finds Mildred and her friends watching the parlor wall, the screen which broadcasts shows. After unsuccessfully trying to engage them in conversation, he brings out one of his contraband books and reads the poem ''Dover Beach'' to them. Mildred's friends leave in disgust; on Faber's advice, Montag burns the book. Going to the firehouse, Montag talks with Beatty and finds his boss was once an avid reader. They then get a call to Montag's house, where Mildred and the others have reported the books. Montag and the other firemen burn the books and house down, leaving Mildred traumatized.
When Beatty finds the earpiece, he threatens to go after Faber, but Montag kills Beatty with a flamethrower instead. Montag escapes the other firemen and meets with Faber. Faber tells him to go to the countryside where exiled book-lovers gather. Montag follows his advice and travels through the country, eventually jumping into a river to mask his trail and finally finding the book-lovers.
Montag meets their leader, Granger, who shows that he and the others have each memorized books for a future time when books are not outlawed. That night, Montag and the others watch bombers drop nuclear bombs on the city and destroy it. The exiles survive the bombing and return to the city to help with the rebuilding.
''Dover Beach'' Poem
To connect with others and see if books are worthless, Montag reads the poem ''Dover Beach'' by Matthew Arnold to Mildred and some of her friends.
''Dover Beach'' was published in 1867 but was likely written earlier in 1851. The poem recounts a moment Arnold experienced while on his honeymoon. It features a narrator describing the seaside on a calm night and the sounds of the water crashing into a pebble-encrusted beach. The narrator muses on the experience of nature existing and looks back at everyone who experienced a similar feeling in the past. They end the poem by calling to their lover to exist at that moment without the trappings of human civilization.
The poem ''Dover Beach'' provides a thematic foil to the ideas in Montag's society, and its recitation profoundly impacts the listeners.
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Montag reads the poem to Mildred and her friends after trying to engage in conversation, unsuccessfully. Montag is disgusted by their shallowness and how little they seem to care about anything except their shows; he brings out a book and offers to read some of it to them. At first, Mildred tries to pass it off as a tradition in which firemen are allowed to bring one book home each year so they can see how silly they are in real life.
When Montag reads the poem, however, it has a profound effect on Mrs. Phelps. She cries but does not quite understand why, and the other women try to console her but do not know how to deal with the situation. The narrator implies that Mrs. Phelps is moved to tears by being exposed to real emotion and depth for perhaps the first time in her life.
Mrs. Bowles, however, rages at Montag, yelling: ''I knew it, that's what I wanted to prove! I knew it would happen! I've always said, poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings, poetry and sickness; all that mush! Now I've had it proved to me. You're nasty, Mr. Montag, you're nasty!''
In her mind, Mrs. Phelps' emotional outburst is the evidence she needs to prove that books are dangerous and painful things that should not exist. The evening ends with her and the other women leaving and eventually calling the authorities.
Significance of ''Dover Beach'' in Fahrenheit 451
''Dover Beach'' is a significant poem to use in this novel. The world of Fahrenheit 451 is one where any real depth is gone from human relationships. People like Mildred and her friends prefer the company of fictional families on their screens to interact with family and friends.
The two works show parallels in the themes they tackle:
- Hopelessness: The people in Fahrenheit 451 live under the fear of nuclear war breaking out, which does occur by the end of the novel. However, before this, they are nearly hopeless. There is not much to look forward to as far as entertainment or a future with new things. The only things the people have are consumer products and new shows, all of which are vapid and lack any substance. Without books, they also have no concept of history, as Montag does not even know that firemen once put out fires instead of starting them. The poem offers the narrator and his lover the chance to escape the ''ignorant armies'' of the world by enjoying their shared love.
- True Love: Montag is in a loveless marriage with Mildred. Even when she is in a room with him, Montag feels alone. Nothing is connecting them. On the other hand, the narrator of ''Dover Beach'' is content to exist and be with his love as they watch nature unfolding before them.
- Emotion: Unlike other dystopian works like Brave New World, the society in Fahrenheit 451 does not outlaw emotion. However, people are addicted to consumerism and quick entertainment for short attention spans. They do not understand anything about passion and intimacy if it is not from television or radio. On the other hand, the narrator in Dover Beach finds beauty in the sound of the ocean and the wing, thinking about people thousands of years ago who experienced the same thing. Something as simple as watching the water hit the beach is a deep and emotional moment.
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Fahrenheit 451 is a science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury which shows a world that outlaws books and whose society has become shallow and vapid. Montag, a fireman whose job is to burn books, grows increasingly frustrated with society and how it deals with interpersonal relationships and knowledge. One evening, while his wife Mildred has friends over to watch a show, he takes out a book he stole and reads ''Dover Beach'' to them after becoming disgusted with their conversation. Mildred tries to explain that firemen are allowed to bring one book home a year to make fun of it, but Montag reads the poem out loud.
After reading it, Mrs. Phelps cries uncontrollably at the raw emotion in the text. Mrs. Bowles, on the other hand, yells at Montag and is convinced emotion has harmed Mrs. Phelps. Bradbury included ''Dover Beach'' in the novel to show a parallel between the poem and his fictional society, one which embraces emotion and the other which has lost even its sense of history.
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Additional Info
The Power of Poetry
Through your career as a student, you've probably studied poetry in one of your English classes. You likely read a handful of rhyming poems, maybe a few couplets or silly limericks; perhaps you read a few Shakespearean sonnets, happy haikus, and pleasant pastorals. Some of the poems may have made you laugh or delighted you to say aloud, or outright confused you (some poets are deep!).
Did any of the poems truly move you, or cause an emotional response that you could hardly explain? For example, hysterical tears or searing pain? Overwhelming joy or incandescent elation? Like other works of literature, poems have the power to truly move the reader. Ray Bradbury captures this phenomenon in his novel Fahrenheit 451 as his main character, Guy Montag, shares the poem 'Dover Beach'.
Guy Montag's Dramatic Reading
Guy Montag, a fireman who is responsible for burning books, reveals to his wife Mildred that he has been hoarding books in their home. While Montag grasps for greater meaning from the volumes that surround him, Mildred looks for meaninglessness. Surely there couldn't be anything of merit or sense in a book, after all they're illegal!
After returning from a visit to Professor Faber, a man he knows can be trusted with the secret of the books, Montag is disgusted to find Mildred and two of her friends, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles, engrossed by the television parlor and casually discussing their detachment to their husbands and 'ruinous' children.
In a fit of rage, Montag reveals a book to the horrible women sitting in his home. Faber, aware of the unfolding drama through a microphone in Montag's ear, urges him to stop. Equally, Mildred panics at Montag's rash action. Mildred tries her best to cover for Montag:
'Ladies, once a year, every fireman's allowed to bring one book home, from the old days, to show his family how silly it all was, how nervous that sort of thing can make you, how crazy. Guy's surprise tonight is to read you one sample to show how mixed-up things were, so none of us will ever have to bother our little old heads about that junk again, isn't that right, darling?'
Montag agrees with Mildred for the benefit of Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles, then proceeds to read the poem 'Dover Beach'. The impact of Guy's reading is immediate. Mrs. Phelps bursts into tears, but no one moves to help her. They're simply too shocked by her response. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bowles lashes out at Montag: 'I've always said poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings, poetry and sickness; all that mush! Now I've had it proved to me. You're nasty Mr. Montag, you're nasty!'
Significance of 'Dover Beach'
What could Montag possibly have read to the women that elicited such a dramatic response? The poem Montag selected to read, 'Dover Beach', was written in 1867 by poet Matthew Arnold, and describes Arnold's visit to Dover Beach in Kent, England, with his bride. While the poem does not include any horrifying language, it does express Arnold's disillusion with the world around him. Dover Beach is beautiful at face-value, but beneath the loveliness of the shore, it represents a world characterized by fleeting faith.
Arnold writes, '...for the world, which seems / to lie before us like a land of dreams, / So various, so beautiful, so new, / Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, / Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain...'
Does this description sound familiar at all? Ray Bradbury uses 'Dover Beach' as a parallel to the world depicted in Fahrenheit 451. Society in Fahrenheit 451 is contrived and imaginary. People like Mildred, Mrs. Phelps, and Mrs. Bowles escape reality into the dream world created by their television parlors and the Seashells they stick in their ears to listen to music and news. The world around them appears beautiful, but in reality it's devoid of true joy, of true love.
To Arnold's point, the society in Fahrenheit 451 is also incapable of offering real 'help for pain'. This is evidenced by the abrupt response from Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles. 'Dover Beach' clearly resonated in a way that moved both women, causing them to break from social norms like repressing and escaping real emotions.
Lesson Summary
Poetry can be a powerful literary form that moves people in countless ways. Bradbury reflects this phenomenon in his novel Fahrenheit 451 when Guy Montag reads 'Dover Beach' to his wife and two of her friends. Montag's reading elicits an immediate response from the women. Mrs. Phelps bursts into tears and sobs uncontrollably, while Mrs. Bowles has an emotional outburst toward Montag. The poem, written by Matthew Arnold in 1867, parallels the world described in Fahrenheit 451. Arnold describes his disillusionment with a seemingly beautiful beach, then goes on to describe the lack of joy, love, and 'help for pain' around him.
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