STANZA SUMMARY

Stanza one

‘Sunset and evening star’ informs the reader that the poetic personae has come of age and is close to death. ‘Sunset’ and ‘evening’ depicts the end of the day, but is poetically deployed in the poem to mean the end of one’s life. This death call he accepts as his, and he demands that no one should cry over his death:

 “And may there be no moaning of the bar

 When I put out to sea”

Let me try to explain these lines. When a ship leaves the shore, it creates a tidal wave that pushes water to hit the bar – a pile of sand at the seashore – and this resultantly creates a sound. The sound, metaphorically refers to the cry we offer when people take off to the life beyond (ship takes to the sea) and we are hit by the grief (tidal water) of his/her death.

Stanza two

Here, the poetic personae assumes a reflective state on the nature of the tide as it returns back into the sea. The aquatic image that this stanza creates can be metaphorically related to the event of death. Death snaps quickly as the tide moves to hit the sandbar, and when the tide returns to the see, it does that slowly:

“But such a tide as moving seems asleep”

The same way, the grief over death takes time to fizzle away from our hearts, mind and memory.

Stanza three

In this stanza, the poetic personae once again begins with a phenomenon that symbolizes the beginning of an end:

“Twilight and evening bell”

Twilight is the time just before it gets completely dark in the evening, while the evening bell could be that of the church often ran around 6:00pm or in some place, the one that signals sleeping time. Whichever one, it symbolizes an end.

And after this end follows the dark which is probably what happens between one’s death and his entrance into heaven or hell, say Judgement. If so, the word ‘dark’ is use to show how tensing and horrible the judgement of one’s death is, just like a graduate in his first job interview in a big company that pays well.

The personae went on to encourage the living not weep after his death:

“And may there be no sadness of farewell”

 Stanza four

In this last stanza the poetic personae highlights that if the flood carried him far, he hopes to see God.

“I hope to see my pilot face to face”

This is virtually every human’s prayer – to see God after death. Tennyson uses “pilot” as a metaphor to refer to God. Ultimately, the poetic personae believes that he will go to heaven, for only in heaven will the dead see God.