Okay, so maybe "Life Goes On" would be a better title for "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls," but the tides here are just a stand in for the natural world as we know it. The rising and falling of the tide is the speaker's way of describing the eternal cycles and rhythms of nature—of the rising and setting of the sun, of life and death, etc. While the natural world in this poem comes across almost like a machine (up and down, up and down, rise and fall, rise and fall), it's also kind of a strange force. The sea is almost like a monster, calling in the darkness, and then it uses those seemingly pure white hands to… erase the traveler's footprints, and symbolically his presence in life. This is definitely a natural world that you should be wary of.
Questions About Man and the Natural World
- Does Longfellow seem like a typical nature poet? Why or why not?
- What is the significance of the curlew calling? How about the sea calling? What's that all about?
- Why is there a curlew in this poem anyway? What effect does this bird's appearance have?
- Did you notice that the speaker tells us twice that the sun is rising (morning breaks, day returns)? Is this overkill? What effect does this have?
Chew on This
The use of a refrain in this poem mimics or imitates the cyclical patterns of nature.
Nature is both gentle and kind, but also weirdly violent. Let's not forget that those soft white hands erase all trace of the traveler's memory. Yikes.