This famous poem is much discussed and written about. See Owen Sheers' episode of his 'Poet's Guide To Britain' for a lovely analysis and background on Arnold's life.
Also, see this analysis of the rhythm of the poem from Thomas Carper and Derek Attridge's 'Meter and Meaning - An Introduction To Rhythm in Poetry':
'The first of the four sections of Matthew Arnold's 'Dover Beach':
Iambic lines of varied lengths, with rhyme (all perfect, or full, rhymes - like "night-light" - except for the "fair-air-roar" grouping, with "roar" being an imperfect, or half, rhyme).
The first three sentences, in which the speaker surveys the spectacle of the English Channel at night and invites his companion to join him, consist of a three-beat line followed by a four-beat line and then four five-beat lines. They are all iambic, and (after the very simple first line) use many of the usual rhythmic figures: B O B ("moon lies fair"), -o- B o^ B ("on the French coast"; "is the night-air"), B -o- B*, both initial ("Gleams and is gone"; "Glimmering and vast"; "Come to the window") and medial ("out in the tran-"). The way the lines gradually increase in length, and then settle down into iambic pertameter verse, imply a certain stability of mood, although the use of rhythmic figures contributes to the intensity of the feelings conveyed. But the following line, in which "Only" signifies a shift in the speaker's mood, introduces an uncertainty into the meter: does it have four or five beats? Either way, it cannot be performed as a line of regular meter; we have to mold the words to suit our choice. The subsequent lines are quite clearly iambic, but the shifting between four and five beats and the continuting use of rhythmic figures contributes a sense of unease as "the eternal note of sadness" is brought in.'
*Here, the main beat is written as 'B' and the off-beats as '-o-'.
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