The tide rises, the tide falls - Poem Analysis

Do you believe your actions have a big effect on the world at large? What will happen in your future if it does not? This poem by Henry Longfellow addresses that subject, examining the influence of human life on the planet. Based on the title, "The tide rises, the tide falls," I believed the poem to be about ocean waves rising and falling, akin to life's ups and downs or happy and sad situations. Henry Longfellow employs imagery, pathetic fallacy, and literary devices to convey his message of human mortality and the idea that the worth of humanity in this world is vastly overestimated.

First, I'll describe the poem to help you understand it better: The tide rises and falls, the twilight grows darker, and a seabird sings. A traveler rushes down the damp, dark sand in the direction of a nearby town. The tide goes in and out. The town's structures are enveloped in darkness. At the night, the sea noises persist. Small waves softly arrive on the coast, wiping away the imprints left in the sand by their gentle foam. The tide comes and goes.  

Longfellow's poem "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" belongs in the collection Ultima Thule (1880), which he released two years before his death and whose title suggests he intended it to be his final work. Longfellow may have rightly felt he'd left an impression on the world as he neared death. However, "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" seemed to indicate a dread that his impact would melt away; any human existence pales in comparison to the vastnes of the world. Longfellow's public image is an interesting contrast to the poem's depiction of human existence as ultimately small and transient. Longfellow was undoubtedly the most well-known American poet of the twentieth century. He was the most well-known member of a literary movement known as the Fireside Poets.

The path of a traveler is a symbol of the journey of life, and the footprints of a traveler are the marks that life leaves behind. Because the poem provides very little information about the traveler's background, personality, and goals, the reader is strongly encouraged to understand that the traveler's role is generic and metaphorical, so that you can connect with this mysterious traveler on a deeper philosophical level. This traveler "hurries" along the coast in the same way that individuals rush through life; or are hurried by dooming darkness of death. The sea's washing of the traveler's footsteps is a metaphor for how the environment erases any impression individuals make on it.

The poem employs darkness and light to represent death and life; twilight indicates that death is near. The return of the day without the traveler means that nature will continue after death, while the descending of night denotes that the traveler has died. Twilight also alluded to the person's adventures, mystery, scariness, and changing character. The traveler transitions from one state of being to another as the day turns to night. The arrival of darkness over the town signifies the end of their voyage and, figuratively, life. Because you can't see in the dark, darkness is associated with death and mystery. The dawn indicates that life continues, recreating itself despite an individual's death. Morning may not have come for the traveler, but it has come for other humans and animals, and the world as a whole.

"The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" juxtaposes the traveler's rapid voyage with the natural world's infinite, unending cycles. In the poem, nature appears to consume or eliminate the characteristics of a person's life and death. The poem, therefore, depicts human existence as inconsequential in comparison to the natural world, which continues to function normally despite the traveler's absence. Whatever the traveler accomplishes, the sea is always there in the poem, rising and sinking. The traveler does not affect the sea. The sea erases any trace of the traveler's passage: the waves "efface," or erase, "the [traveler's] footsteps in the dunes." The poem claims that human life is a one-way trip from birth to death, a journey that has no purpose in the face of nature's absoluteness. Where humans are pressured for time, it appears that nature has unlimited time.

It's morning. Horses stamp their feet and neigh in a town stable while the stableman cries out. The sun rises again, but the traveler never returns to the beach. The tide comes and goes. The poem's speaker is anonymous and does not reference a particular demographic. Their point of view is wide and objective, much like a fictional "third-person limited" narrator. Their few turns of phrase are repeats (namely the refrain within every stanza or "the sea, the sea" in line 7) that add to the poem's powerful, soothing rhythm, similar to that of an old song or nursery rhyme. These selections are in keeping with the poem's broad, fable-like plot and its aloof, objective approach to life and death.

Pathetic fallacy appears multiple times throughout the poem. "Darkness settles on roofs and walls," for example (line 6). The darkness is unable to physically move and sit on roofs and buildings, which is why it has human-like characteristics. To create the tone, the writer used the terms 'darkness' and 'settles.' It has a spooky and somewhat frightening feel to it because it is dark, practically pitch black, and all you can hear is the pounding waves. Another example may be seen in the poem's eighth and ninth lines, when "the little waves, with their soft, white hands, efface the footprints on the sands."The writer describes the 'hands' of the waves, which have human characteristics, are smooth and white, and come to wipe the traveler's footsteps, creating the illusion of removing them.

Alliteration is one of the most prominent literary devices that re-occurs throughout the poem. Take notice of the numerous (t) sounds in words like "tide," "Twilight," "toward," and "town" during the first stanza. The poem's repeated rhythm is aided by the reliance on this crisp, swift sound. The constant repetition of the same sound mirrors the tide pattern being represented. Curlew calls, for example, have a harsh (c) sound that conjures the bird's loud cry, yet "waves, with [...] white hands" has a smooth, soft (w) sound that portrays the tenderness with which the waves wipe the traveler's tracks. The muted (f) sounds in "efface" and "footprints" have a positive impact. The line "the steeds in their stalls/Stamp" uses alliteration to emphasize the animals' forceful stomping. In the rhythm of the poem, all these syllables are typically emphasized. Overall, the poem's high alliteration generates enhanced language as well as a constant feeling of rhythm and motion.

After reading it, I understand why the poem's title is "The tide rises, the tide falls." It's a clever title about moving on regardless of what happened. The poem depicts a strange "traveler" rushing along a beach as the sunsets. The rising tide wipes the traveler's footsteps from the beach as night falls, and the world continues, as usual, the next morning, but the traveler never reappears. The poem's short, unsettling story represents a transition from life to death, maybe alluding to Longfellow's own early demise.