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The tide rises the tide falls questions and answers
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
The tide rise ane the tide falls critical analysis
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As one matures, he or she gains a deeper insight of life. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a prime example for this statement. "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls" was written in Longfellow's old age and contains a more pessimistic, yet more realistic, outlook on life compared to his earlier works. This poem draws an image of the ocean waves, interrupted by a traveler hurrying to town. All footprints left by this traveler are erased by the tides after he or she has left the shore. This poem reveals that time goes on even after we die, and, eventually, erases all memories of us, the passing traveler.
As the tide rises and falls, the traveler, a passerby, "hastens toward the town". There is an oncoming darkness, night, that cloaks the ocean as the waves erase the traveler's footprints. Finally, although night is over, the traveler fails to return. The tide continues to rise and fall. The traveler respresents any one of us, hurrying through life and trying to make our marks on the world. Soon afterwards, we die in hopes of being remembered forever. However, even though life stops for us, tim...
The opening lines of Janie’s story consist of, “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizons…” These words suggest the necessity in life to endeavo...
In Longfellow’s poem, The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls, Longfellow states “The little waves, with their soft white hands, / Efface the footprints in the sands.” By personifying the waves in the ocean, longfellow reveals the truth that all humans eventually die and their mark on the world is erased, like the waves wash away the footprints. In this imaginative way, Longfellow shows how no one lasts forever. Multiple times in other parts of the poem, Longfellow writes “And the tide rises, the tide falls.” Longfellow is expressing that the ocean is continuous, regardless of what happens. After losing his second wife, Longfellow was very depressed, and in this poem he is accepting that life goes on after someone dies. Using his imagination, Longfellow states the truth of the inevitability of death and the fact that life does not stop in the event of
The story describes the protagonist who is coming of age as torn between the two worlds which he loves equally, represented by his mother and his father. He is now mature and is reflecting on his life and the difficulty of his childhood as a fisherman. Despite becoming a university professor and achieving his father’s dream, he feels lonely and regretful since, “No one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters of the pier” (MacLeod 261). Like his father, the narrator thinks about what his life could have been like if he had chosen another path. Now, with the wisdom and experience that comes from aging and the passing of time, he is trying to make sense of his own life and accept that he could not please everyone. The turmoil in his mind makes the narrator say, “I wished that the two things I loved so dearly did not exclude each other in a manner that was so blunt and too clear” (MacLeod 273). Once a decision is made, it is sometimes better to leave the past and focus on the present and future. The memories of the narrator’s family, the boat and the rural community in which he spent the beginning of his life made the narrator the person who he is today, but it is just a part of him, and should not consume his present.
When You are Old, by William Butler Yeats, represents and elderly woman reminiscing of her younger days. A past lover whispers to her as she looks through a photo album. Basically, Yeats is showing that as the woman gets older, she is alone, but she does not have to be lonely. She will always have her memories for companionship.
It is important to consider the meaning of home when analyzing The Seafarer. The narrator of this poem seems to feel a sense of belonging while traveling the sea despite the fact that he is obviously disillusioned with its hardships .The main character undergoes a transformation in what he considers home and this dramatically affects his life and lifestyle. Towards the end of The Seafarer the poet forces us to consider our mortality, and seems to push the notion that life is just a journey and that we will not truly be at home until we are with God.
Overall, dwell on this process of changing throughout the poem, it can be understood that the poet is demonstrating a particular attitude towards life. Everyone declines and dies eventually, but it would be better to embrace an optimistic, opened mind than a pessimistic, giving-up attitude; face the approach of death unflinchingly, calmly.
The theme of Time to Come presents the mystery of life after death and calls attention to how vulnerable it’s victims are. Whitman begins his poem with the strong metaphor “ O, Death! a black and pierceless pall” (1). This bold statement allows the reader quickly realize that the work will somehow be connected to death, but in an insightful manner. The alliteration of “pierceless pall” emphasizes death’s ruthless approach. Whitman then describes death as a “mystery of fate” that " No eye may see, no mind may grasp” (3-4). This points out that death lingers in the future, essentially waiting to seize lives and nobody can know when th...
Unlike writers such as Edgar Allen Poe, Longfellow’s poems were “overly optimistic and sentimental” (Kinsella 256). He stood out amongst any other writer of his time. While most authors wrote dark, gothic works and stories, Longfellow’s were happy, positive and encouraging due to his wonderful childhood. He was inspired by his hometown, Portland, the sea, poets like Sir Walter Scott and Samuel Rogers, literature and music were all inspirations to him (Arvin 8/9). These parts of his childhood along with the new, exciting ideas of Romanticism are what shaped Longfellow’s style of writing. This is what drew in his audience because his poems were relatable and were written from the heart. Even though Longfellow went through some hard times with the loss of two wives and suffering from vertigo and peritonitis, he never allowed these complications affect his writing or his calmness (Kunitz 5). His control over his mind and body helped create some of the most beloved p...
The world is changing and evolving at an astounding rate. Within the last one hundred years, the Western community has seen advances in technology and medicine that has improved the lifestyles and longevity of almost every individual. Within the last two hundred years, we have seen two World Wars, and countless disputes over false borders created by colonialists, slavery, and every horrid form of human suffering imaginable! Human lifestyles and cultures are changing every minute. While our grandparents and ancestors were growing-up, do you think that they ever imagined the world we live in today? What is to come is almost inconceivable to us now. In this world, the only thing we can be sure of is that everything will change. With all of these transformations happening, it is a wonder that a great poet may write words over one hundred years ago, that are still relevant in today’s modern world. It is also remarkable that their written words can tell us more about our present, than they did about our past. Is it just an illusion that our world is evolving, or do these great poets have the power to see into the future? In this brief essay, I will investigate the immortal characteristics of poetry written between 1794 and 1919. And, I will show that these classical poems can actually hold more relevance today, than they did in the year they were written. Along the way, we will pay close attention to the style of the poetry, and the strength of words and symbols used to intensify the poets’ revelations.
Once to be understood as a fellow passenger watching the rest of his companions, the speaker begins to shift into something more abstract. Almost like Emerson’s Transparent Eye-ball, this new voice is not something tangible but, somehow, sees all. (Emerson 217) This eye sees the ferry as less of a transportation from one physical location to the next but, instead, as a more figurative journey. Much like Charon, this crossing ferry takes its patrons from one life to the next. This passing is less of a literal journey, leaving from a life filled with work to a home filled with rest, but a metaphorical passing, leaving this life for another. This ferry exists in a limbo. A place where humanity is neither here nor there but only in between. Yet with ever beat forward, the ferry finds itself closer to its destination. This all-seeing eye that has “consider’d long and seriously of you before you were born” watches from the destination as this one soul made of many, finds its way across the water. (Whitman 88)
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”. Elements of Literature: Fifth Course. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008. 196. Print.
Red tides have made many people sick such as residents and tourists of Florida’s Gulf Coast. The tides also have affected many business owners because many tourists don’t want to come to beach resorts because of Red tides. Red tides are caused by two ways. One of the ways are the algae reproducing and giving an effect of toxic air. Many outbreaks have also occurred because of red tides. Such of these things include poising form fish and shellfish. To stop Red tides, many researchers have done numerous experiments to try to find a way a way to stop Red tides! There are three main solutions to stopping Red tides. If we try to do these solutions red tides will decrease in the amount of times they occur.
Every creation cannot continue, projects stop, and somebody else takes the place, The poet feels as if several works, accomplishments, and traditions can instantaneously vanish. The end is not a prime time to look forward and wait for. The pinnacle already happened in life during the time of accomplishing desires, plans, and goals. The poet fears the worst is yet to come. “It is the finality of it all that seems to bother Updike the most.” (Batchelor 217). Readers perceive a feeling from mr. Updike’s expectations of old age are to get stronger and better, while being able to pass on accomplishments and establish eternal achievement. Expectations are far away and dealing with the end is
In “ A Psalm of Life” he expresses life should not be taken for granted and to live in the moment rather than in the poem “ The Tide Rises, the tide falls” he is accepting death that it will come soon and he will be ready for it.. For example, in the poem “ A Psalm of Life” he says “ Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream!” he begins his poem with complaint that everyone keeps telling him that life has no purpose that it's meaningless and he’s tired of hearing that and he goes ahead and tells us that life has a purpose and that one should do everything possible to live live and enjoy life. In the other hand in the poem “The Tide Rises, the tide falls, he accepts the fact that life comes to an end but no one should force death that it will come when it’s the right time. For example, in the poem “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” he says “Darkness settles on roofs and walls, But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;” meaning that death has it’s own timing that it will come and you will experience darkness when it
The poem The Tide Rises The Tide Falls was made by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem is about a traveler heading to the town and then he suddenly died. This poem describes a seaside scene. The tide rises, and the tide falls. It's twilight, a bird is calling, and a traveler is leaving the shore, heading for a nearby town. Now it's dark, the sea is calling, and the waves erase the traveler's footprints from the shore. Despite this gloomy perspective, the dawn does come again. There are signs of life everywhere. Horses are ready and rearing to go; a hostler is calling out. Sure, the traveler will never return to the shore (because, you know, he's dead), but the tide rises again, and then, well, the tide falls. The theme is giving the message