...mood. Matthew Arnold, with true interpretative power, likened the faith of the time to an ebbing tide: "The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and...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...

...flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. 20 ts have [100 none. The hoarse sea moans bodeful, swinging low and heavy against these whinstone bays; the furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, 25 Retreating, to the breath Of...

...mysteries, myths, and doctrines of religion. More poetically, in "Dover Beach," the persona discovers that: 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 . . . Florence Nightingale calls...

...Arnold was lamenting in 'Dover Beach' the impoverishment of life brought about by the loss of faith: 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 melancholoy, long withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the...

...cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow...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...

...brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, 20 Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of...folds of a bright girdle furl'd. But now I only hear 25 Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down to the...

...— by which they meant faith (Loyette, 1994, p. 30).6 In 1867 Matthew Arnold wrote in "Dover Beach," 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 Manet's two paintings of Christ in the 1860s do not even make an attempt...

...deserves, for which I am grateful. Washington, DC January 1997 Preface Encounters with a Declining Power 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...

...certainties, "Dover Beach" presents as its central metaphor the medieval "Sea of Faith," which was once "at the full, and round earth's shore / Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd," a reference to the widespread Victorian belief that spiritual life in pre-Reformation Europe was harmonious....

...face of Darwinian science, philosophical rationalism, and a disturbing sense of rapid social change: The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round...like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd. But now l only hear lts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down...