Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Inspirational PoemsCrossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
Overview Short Summary
Tennyson’s poem is a peaceful farewell poem. It turns departure into a sea journey and asks that there be no sadness of farewell when the speaker goes.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Acceptance: The speaker accepts the final journey calmly.
- Goodbye and letting go: The poem asks for farewell without sadness.
- Peace: The tide moves as if asleep, without sound or foam.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is serene, dignified, and trusting. The mood is peaceful because the journey is imagined without panic.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Sunset, evening star, bar, sea, tide, bell, dark, flood, and Pilot create a spiritual image of release.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem’s soft music makes departure feel calm rather than frightening.
The Tide Rises, the 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.
Overview Short Summary
Longfellow’s poem is about life moving on after someone leaves. It fits poems about moving forward because the tide erases footprints and the day returns, even though the traveller does not.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Letting go of the past: The footprints are erased by the waves.
- Life goes on: Morning returns though the traveller does not.
- Acceptance: The repeated tide suggests natural continuation.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is quiet, fatalistic, and calm. The mood is soft but final.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Tide, twilight, curlew, sea-sands, footprints, waves, morning, and shore symbolize passing and release.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The repeated refrain makes change feel natural and inevitable.
The Arrow and the Song
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
Overview Short Summary
Longfellow’s poem is about releasing something without knowing where it will land. It fits letting-go and moving-forward keywords because the arrow and song leave the speaker’s control.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Letting go of control: The speaker cannot follow the arrow or song.
- Trust: What is released may return in an unexpected form.
- Connection: The song is found later in a friend’s heart.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is simple, hopeful, and reflective. The mood is gentle because release leads to connection rather than loss.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Arrow, air, flight, song, oak, and friend’s heart symbolize things released and rediscovered.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The parallel first two stanzas make the final discovery satisfying.
Love's Secret
Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.
I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart;
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears,
Ah! she did depart.
Soon after she was gone from me,
A traveller came by,
Silently, invisibly:
He took her with a sigh.
Overview Short Summary
Blake’s poem is about love spoken and then lost. It fits poems about letting go of love because the beloved departs and is taken away, leaving the speaker with the consequence of disclosure.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Loss of love: The beloved leaves after the speaker tells his heart.
- Silent feeling: The poem contrasts secret love with spoken love.
- Letting go: The ending shows the beloved gone beyond the speaker’s control.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is mysterious, fearful, and sad. The mood is delicate because love moves like an invisible wind.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Wind, silence, trembling, cold fear, traveller, and sigh symbolize love’s hidden movement and disappearance.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem’s short form makes the loss feel sudden.
One Word Is Too Often Profaned
One word is too often profaned
For me to profane it,
One feeling too falsely disdain’d
For thee to disdain it;
One hope is too like despair
For prudence to smother,
And pity from thee more dear
Than that from another.
I can give not what men call love;
But wilt thou accept not
The worship the heart lifts above
And the Heavens reject not,—
The desire of the moth for the star,
Of the night for the morrow,
The devotion to something afar
From the sphere of our sorrow?
Overview Short Summary
Shelley’s poem is about a love that cannot be held in ordinary terms. It fits letting-go poems because the speaker does not demand possession; he offers devotion to something afar.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Unpossessive love: The speaker cannot give what men call love.
- Longing: The moth and star image shows desire for what cannot be reached.
- Acceptance: The poem turns impossible love into distant devotion.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is delicate, reverent, and yearning. The mood is wistful because the desired thing remains afar.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Moth, star, night, morrow, heaven, and sorrow symbolize unreachable love and spiritual longing.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem’s graceful contrasts show love as both desire and renunciation.
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