How does the setting of “the colomber” by dino buzzati impact the theme of the work?

In this excerpt from "dover beach" by matthew arnold, which two lines or sets of lines suggest that the speaker has undergone a 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 melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, retreating, to the breath of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear and naked shingles of the world. ah, love, let us be true to one another! for the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new, hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor for pain; and we are here as on a darkling plain swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, where ignorant armies clash by night.

Isaw my future flash before me and it did not take me anytime to slow down. i need to replace the words "it did".

Buck did not cry out. he did not check himself, but drove in upon spitz, shoulder to shoulder, so hard that he missed the throat. they rolled over and over in the powdery snow. spitz gained his feet almost as though he had not been overthrown, slashing buck down the shoulder and leaping clear. twice his teeth clipped together, like the steel jaws of a trap, as he backed away for better footing, with lean and lifting lips that writhed and snarled. read this passage. explain what the conflict shows about buck and spitz.