"the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast,..."See in text(Dover Beach)
The “cliffs of England” referred to here are the White Cliffs of Dover, the eight-mile stretch of coastline along the English channel near Dover. The cliffs bear a crisp white color due to their calcium carbonate, or chalk, composition. This accounts for the speaker’s description of the cliffs as “glimmering and vast.”
As the title indicates, the poem is set at Dover, a town on the southern coast of England. Dover is situated on the English channel, a narrow body of water that separates England and France. Directly across the channel from Dover lies the French town of Calais. As Arnold’s speaker suggests, the French coast near Calais, which is less than thirty miles away, is visible from Dover.
