The Tides by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The speaker sees a shore exposed by the ebbing tide, then hears the ocean rush back onto the land. Thought, feeling, desire, and joy, believed lost forever, return in a surge of delight and youthful strength.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry · 168 words
First lines
I saw the long line of the vacant shore, / The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand, / And the brown rocks left bare on every hand, / As if the ebbing tide would flow no more. / Then heard I, more distinctly than before, / The ocean breathe and its great breast expand, / And hurrying came on the defenceless land / The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar. / All thought and feeling and desire, I said, / Love, laughter, and the exultant joy of song / Have ebbed from me forever! Suddenly o'er me / They swept again from their deep ocean bed, / And in a tumult of delight, and strong / As youth, and beautiful as youth, upbore me.
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines turn from the ebbing and returning ocean to the speaker's renewed feelings.
- Lyric Poetry — A first-person speaker describes the sudden return of love, laughter, desire, and joy in song.
- Nature Poetry — Seaweed, shells, exposed rocks, and the incoming tide provide the concrete setting for the speaker's emotional renewal.
Tags
tides · seashore · emotional renewal · joy · sonnet
What this Textopian page supports
The Tides 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, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 168 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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