Dover Beach

"The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a girdle furled"


I think this poem is all bout the loss of faith and trying to get it back. The simile above is comparing how faith used to be present in the world to the folds of a girdle furled. I didn't know what girdle or furled was but I looked them up and a girdle is a light corset and furled is rolled tightly. I think this means that faith used to be extremely present in the world and was held tightly and regarded as important by people. However, now faith is lost. The speaker says "I only hear its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, retreating to the breath of the night-wind". The departing diction of "withdrawing" and "retreating" show how the faith of the people is slowly declining. I feel like the speaker may be addressing a group or people or making a speech of some kind. The last three lines of the poem talk about the "struggle and flight where innocent armies clash by night". I think the speaker is using the armies as a metaphor for what will happen to the people the speaker is addressing if they don't regain their faith. Another simile is used to compare the world to a "land of dreams". It's like the people have these big dreams and they look promising, but they can't fulfill them because of their lack of faith.