The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
A traveller hastens toward town along the shore at twilight. Waves erase the footprints during the night; morning brings the hostler’s calls and stirring horses, but the traveller never returns to the shore, while the tide continues to rise and fall.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry · 158 words
First lines
The tide rises, the tide falls, / The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; / Along the sea-sands damp and brown / The traveller hastens toward the town, / And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls, / But the sea in the darkness calls and calls; / The little waves, with their soft, white hands, / Efface the footprints in the sands, / And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls / Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; / The day returns, but nevermore / Returns the traveller to the shore, / And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Three rhymed stanzas repeat the tidal refrain as twilight gives way to darkness and morning.
- Nature Poetry — Tides, a calling curlew, and waves washing away footprints frame the traveller’s departure and lasting absence.
Tags
tides · seashore · footprints · travellers · night and morning · absence
What this Textopian page supports
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 158 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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