In the early half of the 19^th century, the Church of England was the authoritative voice on scientific matters. However, discoveries and books such as Charles Darwin’s, On the Origins of Species, resulted in a burgeoning divide between theology and science. For many Victorians this challenged their faith as these new scientific discoveries conflicted with the authority and dogma of the church. Many of the literary works of the second half of the 19^th century deal with the relationship of theology and nature, including Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach.”

The opening stanza in “Dover Beach” describes a calm sea and includes a beautiful description of the sound of waves crashing upon the shore. In the following two stanzas it transitions to describing “The Sea of Faith,” which, according to the narrator, was once “at the full” but is now “melancholy” and “retreating.” The parallels between the descriptions of a literal sea and a depleting Sea of Faith challenge the idea of nature as demonstrative of God’s love and existence.

The final stanza furthers this notion when the narrator incites his love to be true to him because

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

With this description the narrator suggests that the natural world offers no joy, love, or help from pain. This is indicative of a shifting view of nature and its relationship to theology. Where nature use to be seen as a source of faith and evidence of God’s existence, the contemporaneous scientific discoveries caused nature to become a source of doubt. This is demonstrated by Arnold’s description of the retreating Sea of Faith. It is also interesting that the narrator states that nature hath no light. Obviously, there is such a thing as natural light. Therefore, perhaps Arnold is drawing upon the scriptural declaration that Christ is the light of the world. In that sense, the narrator is again suggesting that the natural world does not testify of Christ. Therefore, not only does “Dover Beach” demonstrate the burgeoning divide between science and religion it displays the difficultly of dealing with that knowledge that many Victorians were forced to face.