Poem Crossing the Bar
Paraphrasing
First stanza:
“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
The poem begins with the speaker describing the atmosphere. He says is sunset and
the evening star can be seen in the sky. Someone is calling the speaker. It is clear,
unmistakable call. It is the call of death. The speaker believes that his death is close.
Here the poet uses his famous metaphor of ‘Crossing the bar, describing death as an
act of passing beyond life. The word “’bar’ here means a sandbar. The poet wishes his
death to be without pain and without mourning.
Second stanza:
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
The poet AIfred, Lord Tennyson wishes that when he ‘put(s) out to sea’, that is when he
dies, 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, smooth and quick, making no
fuss. In the subsequent lines, The speaker, considering himself like the water, says that
he is returning where he came from. The boundless deep’ here apparently stands for the
sea, and in an allegorical sense to the place the poet believes he will go to after his
death.
Third Stanza:
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
In the third stanza the poet again resorts to describing the atmosphere to convey his
inner feelings. It is twilight. The sun has already gone down the horizon and dusk is
settling. The speaker can hear the evening bell tolling. It is the indication that night is
approaching. Then after a while it gets dark. Just as the day has ended, his life too is
about to end. The speaker expresses his hope that there will be no ‘sadness of farewell
upon his death. Lord Tennyson writes ‘When I embark’ to convey the idea of the
speaker’s death.
Fourth stanza:
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.
In this final stanza of the poem, the speaker has shown a positive attitude towards
death. He has accepted his reality – inevitability of death. He says that he will be beyond
the boundaries of time and place and the flood of death will carry him far away. This is
going beyond the reach of this world. The speaker also hopes to see his pilot face to
face when he will have crossed the bar. Here, the word pilot is a direct reference to God.
Poet is hoping to meet God in the afterlife.
