“Lies” and “Dover Beach”The poem “Lies” by Martha Collins that plays so well with the word “lie” in the first six lines of this poem . “Lies” is a fantastic piece that includes a strong mix of language and imagery. With its choice of language, “Lies” has many of its own different meanings that caused me so much confusion when I first read this poem. Collins uses the single word “lie” which seems crucial to the overall effect and theme of the poem. This mess of words helps us highlight how one word (lie) can be manipulated and twisted into so many different meanings in one poem. It implies that there are too many secrets in our lives. In this poem, I can feel its grace and athleticism. All these phrases used by Collins make me think of the multiple meanings of lie in each line. In the second line of the poem “but it's a lie for her to say she fucked him…” (lines 2-3) shows the question about the confusion behind the affairs. This makes me think that if there is so much confusion and questions, then why do people want to be in a relationship. Furthermore, the question “if we don't know, are we lying if we say?” imposes a moral dilemma on readers. The different phrases Collins uses in this poem such as "keep a low profile", (line 1) "she should lie, but it's a lie...", (line 2) "she wouldn't lie long enough..." , (line 4) “A good acting is not a song,” (line 5) “a good lie is something else,” (line 6) “she lay down…”, (line 10) and “If we must lie, we say don't lie. (line 14) I think all these phrases are important to the poem because the word "lie" plays such a significant role in this poem it matters what it means or in what tense it is used to explain something that is inferior to something else. All... at the center of the card ...... the struggles between human beings are highlighted in this poem "And we are here as if on a dark plain swept by confused alarms of struggle and flight, where ignorant armies clash by night" (lines 35-37). The speaker of this poem tells us that we should not expect life to be filled with “in reality neither joy, nor love, nor light” (line 33 ). He wants to shake us and tell us that, in the world we live in now, there is no certainty, no "help for the pain" (line 34). Every day we face difficult things in our lives such as pain, fear, suffering and loss. Arnold uses imagery to describe the flow of the tide and compares it to how sad life truly is. Arnold sympathizes with the loss of hope in reality. In a different sense, the calm and naturalistic description of a nocturnal beach whose appearance contrasts with the sad, hopeless, "retreating" and "tremulous" reality"..’