Practical Criticism: Tennyson’s ‘Crossing the Bar’
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
In this close reading, undergraduate Claire Wilkinson looks at a poem where Tennyson seems to be contemplating his own death. The poem contains moments of certainty and uncertainty, and the interplay between these things is vital to its effect.
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. (1889)
In 'Crossing the Bar', Tennyson is speaking about his own impending death. Within the poem, the image of the sea is used to represent the 'barrier' between life and death. The construction of this metaphor centres on the image of 'crossing the bar'; a 'bar' is physically a bar of sand in shallow water. The 'bar' which Tennyson must cross, however, can only be crossed in one direction. This is made explicit in a couple of ways by the poet.
Firstly, we should consider the wider imagery of the poem. The poem opens with the phrase 'Sunset and evening star', immediately placing the reader in a setting at the end of the day. The metaphor can be extended to represent a late stage in the poet's life. This reading is supported by the opening of the third stanza: 'Twilight and evening bell, / And after that the dark!' Time is progressing as the poem develops, and after each reference to physical time, Tennyson makes a personal reference to his future:
'And may there be no moaning of the bar, / When I put out to sea'
'And may there be no sadness of farewell, / When I embark'
The clear reference to Tennyson's 'moving on' enables us to interpret the image of evening as representing old age. The notion of passing time, evident in the physical darkening of the sky from 'sunset' to 'twilight' to 'dark' is echoed in the rhythm of the poem. Clearly, the poem speaks about the sea, about a tide which 'turns again home'. The tide, we are reminded, has done this before; its rhythm will not be interrupted by the death of the poet. The lengths of the lines alternate between 10, six and four syllables with no fixed rotation:
10 But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
6 Too full for sound and foam,
10 When that which drew from out the boundless deep
4 Turns again home.
The differing lengths of lines evoke the movement of a tide washing upon a beach, something which we all recognise to be cyclic.
Secondly, in considering how the poet has constructed the 'bar' between life and death, we must look at the specifics of his language. The poet is certain of his destination:
'When I put out to sea'
'When I embark'
'When I have crossed the bar'
The repetition of when makes it clear to the reader that the event the poet is discussing is firmly placed in the future; it will happen, but hasn't happened yet. We can contrast this to the use of indefinite phrases in the poem:
'And may there be no moaning of the bar'
'And may there be no sadness of farewell'
'I hope to see my Pilot face to face'
Tennyson makes a clear distinction between events which he knows will happen, and events which he hopes will happen. He cannot assure that there will be 'no sadness of farewell', so he cannot solidify the matter within the poem itself.
The final stanza of the poem is particularly interesting, and deserves some consideration within itself:
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.
There are three aspects of this final stanza that are immediately striking; the capitalisations of 'Time', 'Place' and ''. We capitalise proper nouns, such as names and locations, suggesting that Tennyson sees 'Time and Place' as a specific location, such as 'London', and 'his Pilot' as a personal figure. This adds to the element of certainty in the poem: Tennyson has in mind a location in which he will end, and though he can only 'hope' to see his 'Pilot', he has an image he aspires to meet with.
To leave this piece on an interesting note: who or what could possibly be Tennyson's 'Pilot'? (If you have an answer to this question, or another thought about the poem you'd like to share, please leave a comment below.)
Further Reading
Claire Wilkinson has written an article on Tennyson and Religion for the Cambridge Authors site; it touches on this poem as part of its broader analysis of Tennyson's ideas about God. Click here to read the article, or use the menu to the left.
Further Thinking
How (if at all) might the following facts affect the way you read the poem? First: it was written three years before Tennyson died, when the poet was 80. Second: the story goes that he wrote it in twenty minutes on the Isle of Wight ferry. Third: he asked future editors to place it last in collections of his work. Perhaps the poem stands on its own, connecting with readers' lives rather than with the past; but perhaps we need to recognise how it came out of Tennyson's life before we can really understand it.
What do the poems rhymes add to its effect?