Losing "The Sea 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…” Montag reads to the women in his parlor. None of them like it, but Mrs. Phelps is stricken with such sorrow that she breaks down in tears. Why does she, a grown woman, cry? Bradbury does not explicitly state why, but it can be understood, given the society in which she lives. In this society, fun is the goal of everything. Anything which is unenjoyable is frowned upon and shunned. Bradbury also gives us some insight into Mrs. Phelps’ personal history. She divorced her first husband, but must pretend that divorce is a fun and easy switch to another guy. The second died, but she mustn’t grieve because where grief exists pleasure does not. She and her third husband agree not to truly love each other, and not to cry if he dies in the war. Surely it is impossible to maintain a ‘sea of faith’ amid these circumstances. Surely this woman, with her dozen abortions, has come to the conclusion that the world “hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light”, as Montag read. So this woman weeps for her husbands. She weeps for her children killed in the womb. She weeps for the death of the dreams she never really had to begin with. This poem, though constructed of mere words, was more for Mrs. Phelps; it was the awakening of a long-sleeping grief.