The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The famous poem The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Genres: Poetry

1 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 23, 1879

About the author

An extremely popular American poet in his own lifetime, Longfellow's best-known works include The Song of Hiawatha (1855), a translation of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, done in 1864-67, Paul Revere's Ride and Evangeline. He's one of the New England poets now typically referred to as the Fireside Poets.

Longfellow graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, and after studying in Europe for several years subsequently became Bowdoin's professor of modern languages and librarian. After further study in Europe, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to become professor of modern languages at Harvard in 1836. Meanwhile, Mary Potter Longfellow, his first wife, had died in 1835, following a miscarriage.

His first published collections of poetry were Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). In 1854, he retired from teaching to focus on his writing. His second wife, Frances Appleton Longfellow, died in 1861 of burns sustained when her dress caught fire. After her death, for some time Longfellow had difficulty writing original poetry, and focused on translations from foreign languages.

Longfellow wrote lyric poetry noted for its musicality, and often presented stories of mythology and legend. He frequently imitated European poetic styles (and his work was popular in Europe in his day, as well as in the U.S.). As a Romantic poet, he seeks primarily to express and to evoke emotion in his poetry.

Reviews

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you had told me that a poet could create a poem that mimicked the rising and falling of the ocean tide, I would not have believed you. Truly, this shows what a master of literature Longfellow was.

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though dismal at its core in regards to the fleeting and nonexistent legacy we as humans leave behind, The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls displays a lulling, rhythmic quality to it akin to the cadence of the ocean tide, rising and falling. It portrays the human life as finite—our legacies and our mark on time eventually being washed away by the waves—in comparison to the infinite, consistent cycle of nature. For nature carries on, indifferent to the outcomes of humanity.

[vin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a calm poem, I would honestly read way more pages of this. It's just a life that's around the tide, and how it's just repeating while the world around is changing. But also how it's always going to be there, while the people, animals are temporary. Wonderful poem.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
"The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,"