The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1. Literary Terms

1.1. Personification

1.1.1. A figure of speech in which an animal, an object, a force, or an idea is given human characterisics.

1.1.2. "The little waves, with their soft, white hands,Efface the footprints in the sands," (ll.8-9)

1.2. Rhythm

1.2.1. The pattern of beats created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables, especially in poetry.

1.2.2. AABBA

1.3. Theme

1.3.1. The central message of a work of literature that readers can apply to life.

1.3.2. Life keeps continuing even after people die.

2. Romantic Characteristics

2.1. Interest in the common man and childhood

2.1.1. "The day returns, but nevermore Returns the traveler to the shore," (ll.13-14)

2.1.1.1. The common man is not important in nature, and the world will continue even after someone dies.

2.2. Strong senses, emotions, and feelings

2.2.1. "The little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sands," (ll.8-9)

2.2.1.1. It's terrifiying to know that soft, white hands can wash everything left by the old and wise away in an instant.

2.3. Awe of nature

2.3.1. "The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;" (l.2)

2.3.1.1. The poem is sett in nature and describes how it looks like; the reader gets a picture

2.4. Celebration of the individual

2.4.1. No example

2.4.1.1. There is no example because the poem shows the unimportance of the individual

3. Author Background

3.1. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a poet for people as well as a popular man who always seemed to please his readers. He wrote poems on wide varieties of subjects coming with an enthusiastic optimism, in which won him a huge, devoted audience. His most popular works include Evangeline, The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Paul Revere's Ride, which brought alive stories from the past. He was also a professor in European languages and literature at both Bowdoin and Harvard Colleges. Longfellow was known as an extraordinary public success, in addition to his good looks and sense of humor. He has been married twice, whom both wives have died, and from his grief he translated, "The Divine Comedy." At the age of seventy five people celebrated his birthday like a national holiday, and when he died statues were built in his honor.

4. Summary

4.1. -Time passes by.

4.2. -Nature has been around longer than humans, and people tend to enter this world and leave their marks upon it.

4.3. -Nature washes these marks away.

4.4. -Darkness settles in the town, the sea washes away the marks that the traveler has left behind.

4.5. -A new morning comes and the horses excitedly wake up because it's a new day, yet the traveler never returns.