Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Inspirational PoemsThe 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 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
This quiet poem shows time continuing after human life disappears. The tide repeats, morning returns, but the traveler does not.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Time passing: The repeated tide marks the ongoing rhythm of time.
- Mortality: The traveler’s absence suggests death or permanent departure.
- Memory fading: Waves erase footprints from the sand.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is calm, haunting, and elegiac.
Craft Literary Devices
- Repetition: The refrain mirrors the steady movement of time.
- Symbolism: Footprints represent human presence and memory.
- Personification: The waves have soft white hands that erase traces.
Crossing 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 though 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 imagines death as a final sea crossing beyond the limits of time and place. The poem is calm rather than fearful.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Time and death: The sunset, twilight, and final voyage suggest the end of earthly time.
- Peace: The speaker asks for no mourning or sadness.
- Faith: The Pilot represents spiritual guidance beyond death.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is peaceful, reverent, and accepting.
Craft Literary Devices
- Extended metaphor: Death is a sea voyage across a bar.
- Symbolism: Sunset and evening bell mark life’s closing hour.
- Imagery: The tide, sea, and darkness soften the idea of departure.
Tears, Idle Tears
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.
Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.
Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.
Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more.
Overview Short Summary
This poem is a classic meditation on memory and time passing. The speaker cannot fully explain the tears caused by thoughts of vanished days.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Lost time: The repeated phrase ‘days that are no more’ centers the poem on the past.
- Memory: Past moments feel fresh, sad, dear, and unreachable.
- Regret: The final stanza links memory with love and loss.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is nostalgic, sorrowful, and deeply lyrical.
Craft Literary Devices
- Repetition: The refrain returns like memory itself.
- Simile: Past days are compared to light, birdsong, kisses, and death-in-life.
- Paradox: The past is both fresh and gone, dear and painful.
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –
Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –
Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –
Overview Short Summary
Dickinson turns death into a carriage ride through the stages of life and beyond ordinary time.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Time and eternity: Centuries feel shorter than a day after death.
- Life stages: The school, grain, and setting sun suggest youth, maturity, and decline.
- Death: Death is calm, courteous, and unavoidable.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is eerie, calm, and quietly mysterious.
Craft Literary Devices
- Personification: Death appears as a courteous carriage driver.
- Symbolism: The setting sun marks life’s end.
- Paradox: Centuries become shorter than a single day.
I Heard a Fly Buzz — When I Died
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –
The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –
I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –
With Blue – uncertain – stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see –
Overview Short Summary
The poem captures the last moment of life not through grandeur, but through a small, unsettling fly that interrupts the expected solemnity of death.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Final moments: The poem focuses on the instant when time runs out.
- Uncertainty: The fly’s stumbling buzz disrupts clear spiritual expectation.
- Mortality: Light fails as perception ends.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is tense, strange, and stark.
Craft Literary Devices
- Imagery: Stillness, storm, blue buzz, and failing windows create a vivid deathbed scene.
- Symbolism: The fly may suggest decay, interruption, or earthly reality.
- Dashes: Dickinson’s pauses imitate suspense and broken perception.
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