"Crossing the Bar"

“Crossing the Bar” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson utilizes a great deal of personification and symbolism in order to convey its themes of the continual, persistent journey of life and the peaceful conclusion death brings. To begin with, Lord Tennyson personifies the evening and twilight by saying, “sunset and evening star” and “twilight and evening bell” (Tennyson, 886). This ties in to the poem’s symbolism, for the constant progression from day to dusk to evening to twilight represents how each person gradually yet perpetually progresses through the stages of their life. As the poem unwinds, oncoming of the night is revealed as well. This reinforces the idea that the pace of life is unyielding, and death is always approaching. Symbolism can also be seen in the tide described by Lord Tennyson. Tennyson describes the tide as being “too full for sound and foam” (Tennyson, 886). I believe that the bountiful tide which has swollen so tremendously that it cannot even support sound or foam represents the fact that life can sometimes become overflowing with an abundance of activities and blessings. However, just as the ship turns again home atop of the smooth and graceful tide, so must one’s life eventually begin to regress somewhat. Just as tides ebb and flow, lives progress through stages which follow a pattern very similar to ebbing and flowing. Therefore, through his detailed descriptions of nature, Lord Tennyson symbolizes life itself.

                Lord Tennyson certainly seems to treat death as though it were a peaceful and pleasant end to a beautiful journey rather than as a gruesome entity to be feared. Rather than personifying death as a decomposed body as it is in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Tennyson portrays death as a mere crossing of the bar, a ship’s return home. Rather than express fear or anxiety about the eventual end of his life, Tennyson expresses a desire for his crossing of the bar to be without moaning or the sadness of farewells with loved ones. Rather, he seems perfectly content to greet death as the appropriate conclusion to the adventure of his life, as long as he is able to me the “pilot” or God, when this death comes. In comparison to other poems in the unit, “Crossing the Bar” describes death in a much more favorable light.