The Green Grass of Dover Beach

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Recommended: The failure of American dream

America has always been a land of great beauty and ambitious dreams. The most prominent dream of all is the American Dream: nice house, loving family, steady job. However, this vision is becoming less of a reality, and more of what it’s called, a dream, in this modern era. Through two different forms of art, poetry and music, two people describe their longing for a bit of the old world in this new one. “Dover Beach” is a poem in which Matthew Arnold laments the harsh realism that grips the world, wishing against all hope for romantic beauty to enthrall the world again. In the song, “Where the Green Grass Grows,” artist Tim McGraw expresses his longing for a peaceful, pastoral future, all the while describing his dissatisfaction of working in an increasingly gritty urban setting. The exploration of the effects contemporary society imposes on the beautiful, romantic dreams of the past are the centerpieces of the two different forms of art.
The encroaching of cold, hard reality upon peaceful dreams is the cause of anguish for many people. Again and again, throughout history, there is ...

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