GENESIS

REVERIE

A COLLECTION OF POEMS

Crossing the Bar

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)

About the Poem /Theme

'Crossing the Bor' was written in 1889, three years before Lord Tennyson died. He was 81 years old and had fallen
seriou sly ill. It is an elegy focusing on t he trans ience of life and the final deat h. The poet is speaking of his own impending
death which is inevitable.
In the poem, the poet propagates the idea on 'Life after Death' as it happens to be the biblical faith . Through the
po~m p~e~ has tri~d to make the readers understand how he f1 mly believes,in the theory of rebirth and how the soul,
. ,,ih
whrch rs rnvrnable and immortal, passes away from one life to anotHer the hope of meeting 'The Eternal Father'. The poem
tries to epitomise the journey of the 'soul' from this mortal body to the world of etern ity and in it he tries to establish that
death is only a passage to the world of divine, 'going back to his original home' from where he hac\._come.
Thus, the poem reinforces our fa ith. At the end of the journey each soul meets God face to face. Every religion
advocates that it is God who, like a 'pilot' of a ship, guides us through life and death.

Death and Acceptance

Death and acceptance of it are the major them es considered in the poem . lord Tennyson talks of his looming death .
However, the tone of the poem is not sad and melancholic. The entire poem focuses on death which is inescapable and hence
should not be dreaded. For the poet, dying implies 'crossing the bar' and coming face to face with God. The poet is merely
wondering about his death. He does not fear death. It seems that he has accepted his fate. He says that we must not fear
deat h as it is an ultimate real ity. It is the only truth of life. Every human has to cross over to the next world . Therefore, we
must not be sad about our departure and accept it unflinchingly. At the end of the poem, the speaker hopes to meet the pilot.
Th is implies that the speaker is happily accepting death because he is eager to meet the pilot. By pilot, the speaker means
God .

Courage
The poem delivers a message of courage and manly honour. The poem implies that a man should be honourable and
dauntless in order to face the various ups and down s in his life. The poem encourages us to bravely accept death as it is
inevitable and the ultimate reality.

Afterlife
- - - T h e poet talks about the concept of lif e after death in the poem. He implies that after death, he will cross over to the
next world and meet the pilot. The location and nature of the place is not explicitly explained, however, according to Christian
belief, it can be assumed that he is referring to heaven .

Time
The poet through various examples wants the reader t o understand that time is an important factor in life. There is
a specific t ime for birth and a certain time for death. Similarly, when the time for death approaches, we must make peace with
the fact that our time has come. The poem also implies that every happening in our life is governed by time. Therefore, we
must understand that if we are dealing with bad times now, our good times will eventually come.

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 GENESIS

REVERIE

A COLLECTION OF POEMS

The poet talks about old age through his references for sunset and evening. Mostly people die because of old age.
However, the positive aspect of old age is that it brings wisdom. People become wise enough to accept the reality of death.
They believe that death is the beginning of another life. The notion of twilight in the poem denotes rebirth.

The Home
The poem specifies that the true home for a soul is not in this world but the otherworld. Therefore, an individual
must accept his death in order to reach his true home or destination.

Title

'Crossing the Bar' was written by Lord Tennyson while on a(fefry to the 1/e of Wight. Hence, there are many nautical
terms such as bar, sea, foam, pilot, bell and flood used in the poem t~ r ~fer death and journey towards death.
The 'bar'here is a sandbar- those bars of sand at the mouths of harbours and rivers.1ttey make a boundary of sorts,
protecting the harbour from rocky waves, and keeping folks from setting sail on th e open sea with t oo much ease.
To leave the harbour behind and sail out on the open ocean-to cross the bar-is Ten nyson's metaphorical way of
talking about death. Death is merely the crossing of another type of boundary or barrier (the 'bat. between life and death,
real life and the afterlife). When somebody dies, they leave the safe harbour of life and enter th e vast unknown of the afterlife,
whatever that may be.
The great unknown that is death is a lot like the ocean. Th e ocean is massive, huge, so big that it is sometimes
impossible to comprehend. So is death. It's a huge part of everyone's life-the end of everyone's journey, the ultimate reality.
Yet somehow, we don't know anything about it. The only difference here is that, when w e cross literal sandbars, we can always
turn right back around and head back to harbour. But in life, once w e cross that bar, there's no going back.
Hence, the title 'Crossing the Bar' is an appropriate title.

Central Idea
Ten nyson uses many nautical terms such as bar, sea, foam, pilot, bell and flood to refer death and journey towards
death. An example of this is the 'boundless deep' w ith an ambiguous meaning of death, deep sleep and the sea. The extended
metaphor of sea voyage along with t he difficulties faced during the journey and at the end the pleasure of reaching home, all
points towa rds th e cen tral idea of one's journey towards approaching death during the old age and the happiness in finally
meeting one's Lord.
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 com plete cycle. The urge to reach the land beyond time and place makes one forgo the worldly aspects of
life and accept the inevitable death.

its is a poem that expresses sandeness esp for someone who has died
1. The poem is an elegy.

2. It is written in free verse in four stanzas which each contain four lines. It contains a strict ABAB rhyming pattern .
4 line quatrain resembling last line is euphimism for death
3. The poet has used the following Figures of Speech:

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 GENESIS

REVERIE

A COLLECTION OF POEMS

Alliteration

'Sunset and evening star'

'clear call '
'May and 'moaning'
Too full for sound and foam'

Metaphor

'Crossing the Bar' - This is a metaphor for the act of dying or transiting to the next world.
'Sunset and evening star' - This is a metaphor for the end of life.
'clear call'- This is a metaphor for the call of death. It is the belief of t he,spea~er that his old age and critical illness
is a reminder that his death is soon approaching. <:)
'sea' - This is a metaphor for the afterlife, which is deep ana mysterious.
'the bar' - A sandbar is a kind of barrier between the river water ani:! the sea. The sand bar is considered to
represent the barrier between life and death.
'the boundless deep' - The deep ocean represents the deep sleep - death,
'evening bell' - This represents the death knell, which announces the arrival of deatt'i.
'Pilot' -This is a metaphor for God who, like a 'pilot' of a ship, guides us th rough life and death .

Personification

'And may there be no moaning of the bar' - The 'bar' is given hu man emotion of 'moaning'.
'such tide as moving seems asleep' -The 'tide' has been given a hum an quality of being asleep.

The poet uses certa in phrases to create visua l and auditory images in the mind of the reader.
'Sunset and Evening star' create a visual of dusk.
'no moaning of the bar' creates an auditory image.
'But such a tide as moving seems asleep' creates a serene and calm visual. The reader is able to feel peace and
tranqui llity.
'evening bell' creates an auditory image in our minds. It seems like a warning bell.
'bar' creates a visual of a barrier.

Enjambment

Enjambment occurs when a verse does not end and continues in the next line without any break.
For instance,
"I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar."

Euphemism blunt statement is made poliety

'And one clear cal/for me!'

'When I put out to sea.'
'When I embark.'

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 GENESIS

REVERIE

A COLLECTION OF POEMS

'When I have crost the bar.'

Such mild words and expressions are used in the poem to refer to death.

Symbolism

In your book.

Paraphrase

Stanza 1
Hesperus(Planet venus)
The poet paints a brief picture of the evening around him . The su n has set and the evening star has appeared in the
sky. He is waiting for a clear signal to sail away from the harbour. He prays that the t ide In the se.r should not ebb when he
starts his voyage.
The poet has grown old and he is nearing his death. He is waiting for the clear call of death when his soul will set out on
the journey of Immortality. But the poet wishes that when leaves this world of cares and worries for another world, there should be no
moaning and wailing.
Stanza 2

The poet wants a tide which is in flow and which seems to be resting. Basically, he wants a full tide that is not
foaming
accompanied by the noise and by the violent movement of th e waves . He will wait for th e time when the initial tide has spent
itself and when the intensity of the tide has become uniform and even . That is w hen he will set sail on his return journey.
The poet has grown very old and has just recovered from a serious illness (rheumatism). Hence, he feels that his soul is fluttering to be free from his mortal
body and depart on its journey towards eternity. He wishes to die calmly and peacefully without suffering the usual pain and agony that accompanies death.
He also wishes for a smooth journey from this world to the next world which is the real home for the soul and from where it comes to this world for a short
Stanza 3 stay and to where it returns after death. The soul is being compared to a ship, the ocean of eternity.

The poet once again paints a pen-picture of th e evening. He says that sunset is followed by twilight. The evening bell
rings to call people to the evening p rayers {vespers). And then after twilight comes the dark night when he will embark on his
voyage. He says that he does not want anyone to feel sad at the time of his departure.
The poet is already old and he wishes that when he dies and his soul sets sail for another world, there should be no moaning, wailing and crying. He
wants to die cheerfully and does not want people to moan his death. The poet wants death not to be considered and something cruel but it should be
taking as a gateway through which a man passes into a higher existence. Therefore death should be welcomed cheerfully.
Stanza 4

The poet is confident that once he crosses the sandbar that separates the harbour and the sea, his voyage would lead
him far beyond the realm s of 'Time and Pl ace'. Once there, he will come face to face with the 'Pilot'.
The poet says that he will surely step out of his earthly life which is governed by time and place, into an infinite world where he will see the
divine sprit or God (Pilot) which has always guided his ship(soul) through life and will guide his ship through death and he expects to see God
in heaven after departing from this earthly world and crossing its boundary that is the sand bar.

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