101 Poems, Number 34

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

34: “Dover Beach,” 1867, by Matthew Arnold (1822–88)

“Where ignorant armies clash by night”—

These words I read in college first—

In college where I saw the light

But didn’t always follow. Thirst

For other drinks than poetry

Would sometimes (often?) supersede,

And so I sometimes found that I

Did what I want, not what I need.

These lines are in a different voice

Than I was listening to. It seemed

That I would need to make a choice:

To learn these words that somehow beamed

At me from days and years long gone—

Or sink into a pit, a slough,

A kind of modern Babylon.

I chose the words, and now I know

That life among them is one way

That I’ve found heaven here on earth.

Yes, words have proved to me each day

There is not just a single birth.

Link to poem.