"Dover Beach" is a poem about the instability of life. It speaks of loss of faith and trust. Montag had previously read it to his wife. When he brought the book out in the open in front of Mildred's friends she tried to excuse his having a book. She told the ladies that once a year the firemen were allowed t bring a book home to share with their families and remind them how silly the words were. Mildred took the book and said, "Here read this one. No, I take it back, Here's that real funny one you read out loud today. Ladies, you wonn't understand a word. It goes umpty-tumpty-ump. go ahead, Guy, that page, dear." So he read part of "Dover Beach" to the ladies. He read,
"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."
They had been talking about the coming war and the ladies were making light of it. Montag had been trying previously to get his wife to understand the poem so all this collided and the same poem was read to the ladies. Montag was frustrated and angry. Faber kept telling him not to do it, but he could not stop himself.
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