Crossing the Bar,
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson [1809-1892]
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 crossed the bar.
***
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson [1809-1892]
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 crossed the bar.
***
I love Tennyson. Although something of an agnostic, he was a really good person, and wrote flawless poetry, more intricate and skillful than others of his time except, perhaps, Robert Browning. His long poem Maud is a bone-chilling tale, and the source of the verse lines,
I hate the dreadful hollow
behind the little wood;
Its lips in the field above
are dabbled with blood-red heath,
The red-ribb'd hedges drip
with a silent horror of blood,
And Echo there, whatever
is ask'd her, answers "Death."
*
And near the beginning of Maud:
...
...
There has fallen a splendid tear
From the passion flower at the gate:
She is coming, my dove, my dear,
She is coming, my life, my fate. . .
*
Tennyson was descended in the paternal line from King Edward III of England. That made him one of the "last Plantagenets."
4 comments:
I've never read any of his writing. And, out of my shame for that fact, I will not make a joke about how I thought it was Daniel Boone who crossed the bar!
Was it a bar or a bat I saw?
The "bar" is the sand bar that the receding tide leaves near the shore. In the poem it represents death, or the barrier between life and death.
In wishing for no "moaning of the bar," the poet wants so full a tide that the vessel doesn't scrape against the sand bar but sails over it without a sound.
It may have been Gladly, the cross-eyed bar.
I love that symbolism - Paradise is, well, Paradise - but there has to be a reason that we fear death, even if it's only because life is as precious as it is hard. I guess we all wish for an easy path from one place to another!
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