Tide Rises, Tide Falls by H.W Longfellow: Detailed Analysis

Tide rises, tide falls by HW longfellow cover image

Death has always intrigued writers and poets, along with philosophers because of its finality of it. No one knows what happens after a person dies, but the dramatic arrival and the permanent departure of death along with the soul have made it one of the most sought-after topics in poetry and philosophy. Tide Rises, Tide Falls is one of those poems that deal with the idea of death, and this one is special. 

Tide Rises, Tide Falls was published in the year 1880 in the collection called “Ultima Thule”, which translates roughly to the ultimate North of the word literally, and death figuratively. It is worth noting that Longfellow published a poem about death, in a collection that indicated it was his last work, and then died 2 years after it was published. 

So there are a lot of things that we’ll get to see about the poet’s own life, his views, and what he felt about his journey on this blue sphere in space. Let’s take a look at the poem and then the summary and analysis. 

Tide Rises, Tide Falls

The tide rises, the tide falls, 
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; 
Along the sea-sands damp and brown 
The traveller hastens toward the town, 
      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

Darkness settles on roofs and walls, 
But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls; 
The little waves, with their soft, white hands, 
Efface the footprints in the sands, 
      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls 
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; 
The day returns, but nevermore 
Returns the traveller to the shore, 
      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 
- H.W. Longfellow

Summary and Meaning

From the imagery, metaphors, and theme of the poem, it is clear that Tide Rises, Tide Falls is talking about finality, about the last moments, but on a much shorter scale. Instead of showing death as something that comes after a lifetime, here death is shown as the end of a normal day, something that comes with dusk.

There are two major components in the poem that you need to know to understand it properly. First is the sailor, of whom we know very little. The second is death or dusk that’s used here as death. Everything that surrounds both these components will explain the poem. 

Why is there a repetition of the sentence “Tide rises, Tide falls”? The rising and falling of tides are used as a clock, to show the passing of time. Tide rises in the night falls in the day, and as it does, time passes. Longfellow uses simple imagery to deliver complex and impactful meaning.

The poem begins with the coming of dusk. As time passes, the twilight becomes dark, and the night settles in. It seems that everything is rushing back home, from all the animals, birds, and even humans. A traveler also rushes back into the town as it gets dark by walking over the sand. 

The night comes and covers everything in darkness. The tide rises, and the day ends. The next morning, when the tide falls, and everything and everyone prepares for another day, Longfellow says that while the day has returned, the traveler shall never return to the sea, for his journey is over. The traveler has died a peaceful death. 

The poem starts with dusk, with evening settling in, and then the night comes. But with darkness and the rise of the tide, comes death. When the darkness recedes, and the tide falls, it does not go away, but it also takes the traveler away. The poem also shows the terrifying nature of death. It comes with every dusk and can take anyone as it recedes on daybreak. 

Analysis of the Poem

The tide rises, the tide falls, 

The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; 

Along the sea-sands damp and brown 

The traveller hastens toward the town, 

      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

The poem is made of three stanzas, and each stanza can be represented by the three phases of the day. The first stanza represents dusk. It is when the tide starts to rise, and the darkness starts to settle. The twilight gets dense, the birds are calling and rushing back home. 

Darkness settles on roofs and walls, 

But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls; 

The little waves, with their soft, white hands, 

Efface the footprints in the sands, 

      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

In the second stanza, the poet talks about darkness everywhere. The darkness is on the roof and walls, which suggests that time is moving. The poet indicates an eerie image of the sea calling out in the dark, not literally but the sound of the sea waves splashing on the shore is the calling of the sea. But who is it calling? 

Waves are personified to have “soft white hands” which erase the footprints of the traveler from the sand. And the refrain echoes again. The foam of the sea erases the footprints of any person who walks along the shore.

The traveler who once walked the shore is not there anymore, and any clue he left behind of his presence was erased by nature. Nature is presented to be something so powerful that it engulfs the marks of any individual’s existence.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls

Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;

The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveller to the shore,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

In the last stanza, the poet changes the setting of the poem and brings in the light of the morning. The darkness which represented death is no more there and people return to their normal lives.

The horse in the poem symbolizes the freedom of the traveler, wherever he went. Everyone returns to their daily routine, but the traveler does not return to the shore. He is not captivated in this world anymore, he is set free.

While everything goes back to the way it was before the night, there is only a slight change. A person who lived, who had a life with joys and sorrows is no more. He has died, and his journey is over. 

The last stanza also shows a very depressing and powerful message. The mysterious traveler who died had no impact on the world. The tide is rising, and the tide is falling as if there was no change. But a person died, and he is not there anymore. 

The world will continue after we are gone. Our life is only important to us. But when one zooms out and looks at the world, there’s hardly an inch that changes if anyone dies. The world moves, and the tide rises and falls. 

Literary Devices

The literary devices used in the poem “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” include:

Personification – The “sea” in the poem is personified to have “soft, white hands”, “calling out in the darkness” and “effacing the footprints”. These qualities are not possessed by it but it is given such qualities by the poet.

Alliteration – Alliteration makes the images of the poem striking for the readers. For example:

The tide rises, the tide falls,

The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;

The little waves, with their soft, white hands,

Caesura – Here are the examples of caesura in the poem:

Along the sea-sands damp and brown

The little waves, with their soft, white hands,

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls

Repetition – The poet has repeated several words, phrases, and lines in the poem. For example: “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”, “Darkness”, “ the sea”, “calls”, and “returns”. 

Antithesis – Antithesis is a literary device in which two exact opposite or contrasting ideas are presented in a parallel grammatical structure. For example:

 And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveller to the shore,

      And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Metaphor – The title of the poem, “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” is an extended metaphor for life and death. The “Twilight” in the poem is a metaphor for darkness, the “darkness” is a metaphor for death, “horse” is a metaphor for freedom, the “sea” is a metaphor for the passage of life.

Allusion – The poet uses allusion to imply the death of the traveler in the last stanza. For example:

but nevermore

Returns the traveller to the shore,

Themes

The themes of the poem “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” are the mystery of death, and the natural world. Throughout the poem, death is presented to be something mysterious, because the cause of the traveler’s death is left unrevealed.

Moreover, the identity of the traveler, his intentions, the town, and the sea shore are all left unnamed and unidentified. This implies that the poet wanted to create a mysterious setting for the poem for the finality of death.

The poem suggests that life is short and that death is a mystery to people. The traveler’s journey can be read as the passage of life, and we do not know where the traveler is going, suggesting that we do not know what happens to people after they die.

Only nature was able to encounter his presence, what if no one saw him? Therefore, to keep his death a mystery even nature played the role of erasing his footprints.

The “Twilight” in the poem suggests the late stage of the traveler’s life and when the darkness finally sets in there is death. The poet does not mention what happens to the traveler, rather we follow what happens the next day in the same landscape. The erasure of footprints from the sand represents the finality of death. 

Nature in the poem is presented to be vast and powerful to engulf the specifics of an individual’s life and death. Nature was constantly present throughout the poem, it was constant just like the rising and falling of tides.

We realize that nature is not affected by the traveler’s death, even though it was the only one to encounter it. Human life is a journey from life to death and this journey is little in the face of nature.

Conclusion

After reading the poem “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”, we realize that death is a mystery, we do not know when someone is going to die or how someone is going to die, or what happens to people after they die.

All we know is that death can happen at any moment, and death is something inevitable. Nature is presented to play a role in our death as well, it seems to erase our footprints, implying that death is final and one can never return from it.

It is believed that when we die, a ship sails us to heaven. Maybe that is the reason the traveler was near the sea waiting for the ship to arrive, and as soon as the traveler boarded the ship, darkness was everywhere.

The tide continued to rise and fall, and people returned to their daily activities, but no one knows what happened to the traveler. The mystery prevails throughout the poem. Maybe the traveler reached the pinnacle of life, i.e., death.

“For life and death are one, even as the river and sea are one” by Kahlil Gibran. What does this mean to you? It suggests that death is not the opposite of life, rather death can be considered a part of life.

When we die, we are only remembered by the people we knew, people who loved us, but what about the rest of the world? The rest of the world moves on, the sun rises and sets, the tide rises and falls, the moon gleams and life goes on.

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