Longfellow's The Tide Falls

During his life, Longfellow was a well-known and famous poet. He received degrees from Cambridge and Oxford and was often visited by renowned figures from both America and Europe. He was so popular that his birthday was celebrated by many Americans (Allaback) and after his death he even had a bust of himself “placed in Westminster Abbey with the greatest English poets” ('Footprints on the sands of time'). After his death, his work began to be viewed as unimpressive. A big reason for this change of attitude was because many of his works were seen as too sentimental and didactic (Allaback). Longfellow attempted to teach didactic lessons to his readers through his poems, causing them to be a debated topic by critics in both positive and negative ways. Longfellow’s work “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” is one example of his many didactic poems. This poem is about a person who travels along a seashore at sunset. During the night the traveler’s footprints are removed from the sand by waves. The next day begins and people are working, but the traveler is nowhere in sight. A close analysis of the poem will reveal Longfellow’s message. The second line of the first stanza says “The twilight darkens, the curlew calls” (2) which simply shows that the day has ended and
The rest of this stanza relates to the depressing feeling of the day. The next stanza goes on to say “My life is cold, and dark, and dreary” (6). A person’s life is now being compared to the day. This person remembers the past and has lost hope for the future. Their life is dark and dreary. Finally, this person’s sadness is addressed and is told “Behind the clouds is the sun still shining, Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall” (12-14). These three lines in the final stanza means people will have days where nothing will go well for them, but happier days with better outcomes will eventually