Loss of Faith

Dover Beach has been one of my favorite poems for years, which is saying something because I really hate poetry. I remember the first time I read it I was supposed to be doing an analysis on the symbolism in the poetry, and for the first time I really got into it. My favorite part of the poem is this stanza:

"The Sea of Faith

Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore

Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.

But now I only hear

Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,

Retreating, to the breath

Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear

And naked shingles of the world"

I love this section because I feel that it really embodies the over feeling of the poem. Here, Arnold is comparing his faith, which he was once confident in, to the crashing and receding waves of an ocean. The same way that a huge powerful wave breaks and is eventually pulled back by the tide, so has Arnold's faith receded, even though it was once very strong. Arnold feels as though the rug has been pulled out from under him. He was once very blissful and happy in his cacoon of faith, but now it's been torn away and he sees the "naked" world for what it really is.

I can really relate to the idea of the poem; that one can live in blissful ignorance thinking everything you beleive is fine and will always be that way, only to realise that things aren't really the way you thought it was. That you were lead to beleive a lie or were tricked. I can see this idea reflected in a lot of different ways, from no longer beleiving in a religion that you once had complete faith in, to being cheated on by a lover, or finding out that someone has broken into your home while you were a school. There's a feeling of betrayel and a broken sense of security that comes after all of those events, and I think that's what the poem was getting at.

PS. I don't know what went wrong there with the indentation. I can't figure out how to fix it