The Sound of the Sea
At midnight, the speaker hears the rising tide sweep along pebbly beaches, its sound resembling a waterfall or winds in woods. The speaker compares this rush to inward inspirations understood as divine intimations of things beyond reason or control.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Nature Poetry, Meditative Poetry · 152 words
First lines
The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep, / And round the pebbly beaches far and wide / I heard the first wave of the rising tide / Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep; / A voice out of the silence of the deep, / A sound mysteriously multiplied / As of a cataract from the mountain's side, / Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep. / So comes to us at times, from the unknown / And inaccessible solitudes of being, / The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul; / And inspirations, that we deem our own, / Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing / Of things beyond our reason or control.
What this Textopian page supports
The Sound of the Sea is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Sonnet, Nature Poetry, Meditative Poetry
- Length: 152 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Sound of the Sea by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines turn from the sound of the rising tide to a comparison with inward inspiration after the eighth line.
- Nature Poetry — The speaker describes waves sweeping pebbly beaches and compares their sound to a mountain waterfall and winds over woods.
- Meditative Poetry — The closing six lines reflect on inspirations whose origins and intimations exceed human reason or control.
Tags
sea · rising tide · midnight · inspiration · human reason · sonnet