Read this passage from "Dover Beach. What do the retreating waves symbolize to the speaker? 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.
The danger of the wind
The evils of Empire
The joys of love
The loss of faith