- What is the poem about?
- Have you found any symbols in the poem? It yes, what are those?
- What do the symbols ‘sunset and evening’ and ‘clear call’ mean in the poem?
- Do you think symbol helps the poet express his ideas in better way? If yes, explain with an example.
1. What is the poem about?
The poem “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, is about the poets ideas about the journey from life to death. The poem reflects the inevitable death of human being. He also expresses his hopes for a peaceful and scerene passes to the next world. He also used the symbol the sea, the sunset, and the evening star which conveys the poets thought and ideas about the end of the life and the journey to the next world.
2. Have you found any symbols in the poem? If yes what are those?
Yes, I have found several symbols in the poem. Those are:
- Sunset and evening star
- Crossing the bar
- Clear call
- Sea foam and flood
- Twilight and evening bell
- Darkness
- Pilot
3. What do the symbols ‘sunset and evening’ and ‘clear call’ mean in the poem?
Here in this poem, ‘sunset and evening’ symbolize represent the end of life. The sunset represent the ending of the poet’s earthly journey, on the other hand the evening represents the later parts of life means ending part of life.
4. Do you think symbol helps the poet express his ideas in a better way? If yes, explain with an example.
Yes, I think the symbols play a vital role for expressing ideas and thus help the poet in this poem to express his feeling about life and the journey to the afterlife. Alfred Lord Tennyson uses different symbols to add depth and emotional resonance. The very title of the poem is a symbol. ‘Crossing the bar’ symbolizes the transition from life to death. Tennyson uses a good metaphor “Crossing the bar” to express his idea about the journey from earthly life to life after death. Here, ‘bar’ means the border of the life and the death.
In fine, we can say that the use of different symbols helps the poet to express his ideas effectively.