The Tide Rises Tide Falls

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The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a significant figure in the literature life of nineteenth-century America. Born in Portland, Maine in 1807, he became a national figure by the 1850s, and a world-famous author by the time of his death in 1882. Longfellow was known for his poetry, although "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls", is not one of his most famous works. Longfellow took events and lessons from his life and adapted them into his writing. During his lifetime, he witnessed the death of two of his wives, which may have inspired this poem. "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" presents the ups and downs of life through the first, second, and third stanzas. The poem begins with the title, "The tide rises, and the tide falls". This is the speaker's way of setting the scene. In the second line of the poem he tells us that the "twilight darkens," and that the "curlew calls." A curlew is a type of bird which is calling as the evening gets darker. Given our setting thus far we may guess that the poem about the end of something. Although it is not clear yet, this could be a poem about death. The rising tide could be a metaphor for our journey through life. In the current scene, there is a traveler walking along the shore or "sea-sands".…show more content…
With the given information so far (twilight, a tide rising and falling, etc.), we are led to ask, is he near the end of his life? We still do not know as the speaker tells us for the second time that "the tide rises, and the tide falls." The speaker appears to be giving us a more elegant version of "life goes on," or "we are born, we live, and we die," almost as if the rise and fall of the tide are just a metaphor for life itself. So far the poem is all about going away and returning, or rising and falling. The speaker continues to talk about the sunset. Darkness is arriving and the waves are the "effacing" or washing away the travelers
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