Instructor's Name: Dr.

Enjy Kamal

Course name and number: Literature II

Date of submission: 27-12-2021

Group Members:

 Menna Allah Mohamed Mousa: 20193025

 Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Mokadem: 20186042

 Mariam Nabil 20196269

 Merna Gamal 20195446

 Nagham Mostafa: 20194557

 Nada Ashraf Abdallah: 20197044

 Warda Mohamed: 20190131

 Merna Adel: 20195774

 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 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.

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 Crossing the Bar

"Crossing the Bar" is a poem by the British Victorian poet Alfred, Lord
Tennyson. The poem, written in 1889, is a metaphorical meditation on death,
which sees the speaker comparing dying or a certain way of dying to gently
crossing the sandbar between a coastal area and the wider sea/ocean. In essence,
it is a poem that argues that death is in fact a kind of comfort, a point of view
based on the speaker's religious faith in the afterlife. Accordingly, the speaker
wants to die quietly and gently, without fear, reassured by the knowledge that
what comes next is a meeting with God. "Crossing the Bar" was written shortly
before Tennyson's death and the poem that Tennyson wanted to place at the end
of all future collections and editions of his poetry. The analysis of the poem will
show how background information, analysis line by line, themes, figures of
speech and literary devices are considered very important.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was born in 1809 in England. He was an English

poet and often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in
poetry. Tennyson was the fourth of 12 children. His father was a rector. Alfred,
Lord Tennyson, was the leading poet of the Victorian Age in England and by
the mid-19th century had come to occupy a position similar to that of Alexander
Pope in the 18th. Alfred, Lord Tennyson died in 1892.

In the first stanza, we can see the evening star in the sky. We can hear
something which is calling the speaker. The call is very clear. It is the call of
death, as the speaker believes he is about to die. The speaker uses “evening star”
and “sunset” as symbols for death and the end of the day. Just as the day is
about to end, his life is also about to come to an end. The speaker wants to die
without pain. As for theme, the speaker is discussing his death event. He doesn’t
fear it as it is our inevitable end. So, every human must be prepared for our next

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eternal world. We shouldn’t be sad about our leaving. Instead we should accept
it. The rhyme scheme of the first stanza is ABAB. As for literary devices, there
is alliteration in line 1: “S,” “s” in (sunset, star), line 2: “c,” “c” in (clear, call)
and line 3: “m,” “m” in (May, Morning). Also, there is assonance in line 2:
“ea,” “e” in (clear, me) and line 3: “o,” “o” in (put, out). According to figures of
speech, there is personification in “And may there be no moaning of the bar”.
The speaker gives the human characteristics of moaning, crying and explaining
out their emotion to the bar.

In the second stanza, the speaker is discussing his death event. In fact, he
wants his death to be “smooth” like a calm sea wave, which is “too full for
sound and foam”. The speaker hopes that his death will be silent simply because
he considers himself like the water as he believes that he is returning where he
came from. ‘The boundless deep” here refers to the sea. The speaker believes
that he will go to after his death. The rhyme scheme of the second stanza is
ABAB. As for literary devices, there is an alliteration in (such, seem/ full, for,
foam/ drew, deep/ when, which). According to figures of speech, there is simile
in “But such a tide as moving seems asleep” as the poet says that the tide is
moving as quite as a sleep. Also, there is Personification in “seems asleep”. The
poet personified the tide as a sleep person and that is not acceptable. In fact, the
tide cannot sleep.

In the third stanza, the events are taking place at “twilight”. This place
helps to describe the scene and soundings in order to clarify the poet's feeling.
The “twilight” symbolizes the close of the poet's death time. In addition, how it
is close especially when the poet hears the evening bell. The auditory image of
“evening bell” insures the “imminent” of the poet's death. Furthermore, the poet
indicates that the evening would get “darker” which symbolizes death. As it is
clear, the poet choices the “twilight” as a visual image to describe his end of his
life. The poet’s life is about to end just like the day has ended. There is another
theme beside the theme of death which is hope. The speaker he also expresses
his hope that there will be no “sadness of farewell” after his death. Moreover,
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the use of verb “embarks” shows that the poet does not consider death as the
end. In fact, he considers his death as a new start for another journey. The
speaker believes that he does not need people, who will leave after his death.
The rhyme scheme of the third stanza is ABAB. As for literary devices, there is
alliteration in line 2 (That, The). Also, there is assonance in line 2 (And, after).
According to figures of speech, there are three symbolism. Twilight and
evening bell symbolize the ending of the speaker’s life, while dark symbolize
death.

In the last stanza, the speaker says that there is a place beyond our time
and life, and he hopes to go there after death. In fact, he does not fear death as it
our “inevitable” end. This shows that the speaker beliefs about after life. In the
final two lines, we get that the speaker wants to see his pilot face to face when
he cross the bar. Taking into consideration, the word” Pilot” actually refers to
Allah. The phrase “Crossing the bar” means crossing from life to death, and
accepting the finality of death. We should not be sad about our leaving this
unfair world. Instead we should accept it and hopping to meet God after life.
The rhyme scheme of the last stanza is ABAB. As for figure of speech, there are
two metaphor. The first metaphor is “I hope to see the pilot face to face” in
which the speaker compared God as a pilot who controlled their journey, while
the second one “Crossed the bar” is a metaphor of death.

In conclusion, “Crossing the Bar” means navigating a difficult spot. The

poem portrays the life voyage we all must take, hoping that we all will find
acceptance on crossing the bar of life. “Death is never an end, rather a new
beginning, making the journey of life one complete cycle” (Beamingnotes),
June 13, 2017. So, every human must be prepared for our next eternal world.
We shouldn’t be sad about our leaving. Instead we should accept it.

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 Works cited

- Howard, James. "Crossing the Bar". LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 8 May 2019.
Web. 25 Dec 2021. (By Menna)

- Robson, William Wallace. "Alfred, Lord Tennyson". Encyclopedia Britannica,

2 Oct. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Lord-Tennyson.
Accessed 25 December 2021. (By Menna)

- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Crossing the Bar". Encyclopedia

Britannica, 4 Aug. 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Crossing-the-Bar-
poem-by-Tennyson. Accessed 21 December 2021 (BY Ahmed)

- Machale, Sugat. “Crossing the Bar Summary” in Englicist, July 24, 2017,
https://englicist.com/topics/crossing-the-bar (By Mariam)

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 - Machale, Sugat "Crossing the Bar Summary" in Englicist, July 24,
2017, https://englicist.com/topics/crossing-the-bar (By Merna Gamal and Nagham)

- Machale, Sugat "Crossing the Bar Summary" in Englicist, July 24,

2017, https://englicist.com/topics/crossing-the-bar (By Nada and Warda)

-LiteraryDevices Editors. “Metaphor” LiteraryDevices.net. 2013, Nov 4, 2014,

https://literarydevices.net/crossing-the-bar/#google_vignette (By Nada and Warda)