Dover Beach

 "Sophocles long ago

   Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought

   Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow

   Of human misery; we

   Find also in the sound a thought,

   Hearing it by the distant northern sea."

I feel this section of this poem is important because it shows how even a man of great influence and importance was so deeply affected by the clashing sounds of "struggle and flight."  The waves and sounds of Dover Beach bring a daunting feeling to everyone coming into contact with it.  Much like the haunting, confusing and hypnotizing feeling one would feel in a place of confusion and pain.  This part of the poem brings the reader back to ancient Greece.  Sophocles was making an analogy between human unhappiness and the cloudy water.  Arnold brings us to the past and present almost seamlessly by inserting the "We" in the 18th line.  He wanted to let the reader know that this same experience that he was having had been experienced by many others centuries ago.  The conception of time did not have to mean anything, because Dover Beach was still there long before, giving that same exact experience to others.