Cliffs of Dover

"The sea is calm tonight, The tide is full, the moon lies fair"-- Dover Beach, Matthew Arnold

This first line shows the mood of most of the poem: calm and soothing. The whole first stanza is dedicated to placing the reader in a relaxing setting. It tells of the moon in the sky, the ocean waves crashing against the pebbles, everything a person needs to kick back. The narrator appears to be addressing faith, making it an apostrophe, but I could be off on that. The "Sea of Faith was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled." Faith used to be prevalent on earth, but the author is lamenting that it has since begun to die away. I believe the author is trying to get back his faith and make it new, so he can enjoy things like the cliffs of Dover once again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55nAwmVLQSk this is the song Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson too!