Below is the last stanza of a poem, "Dover Beach," written in 1876 by Matthew Arnold.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! For 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;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Which one of the following statements best characterizes Arnold's view of the world?
A. The world is just a dream.
B. The world is not a beautiful place.
C. The world is made for lovers.
D. The world is a confusing and hostile place.
To determine the best statement that characterizes Arnold's view of the world based on the given poem, we need to carefully analyze the last stanza. In the poem, the speaker addresses the persona "love" and emphasizes the importance of being true to one another in a world that appears to be filled with uncertainty and despair. The phrase "which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams" suggests that the world may initially appear beautiful and full of possibilities. However, the following lines reveal the speaker's belief that the world lacks joy, love, light, certainty, peace, and help for pain. Instead, it is characterized by confusion, struggle, and darkness.
Therefore, the statement that best characterizes Arnold's view of the world based on the last stanza of the poem would be:
D. The world is a confusing and hostile place.