THE TIDE RISES THE TIDE FALLS (Questions & Answers)

 

1.        What time of the day is it in each stanza?

Ans: In the first stanza, the time is dusk because it is signified by the word “twilight”. In the second stanza, it is night as “Darkness settles”, and in the third stanza, as clearly mentioned by the poet, it is morning.

2.                Where is the traveler going?

Ans: The traveler is going towards a nearby town.

3.                Which verb describes the traveller’s movement; what idea does it create?

Ans: The word “hastens” describes the traveller’s movement. It indicates that the traveller is in a hurry.

4.                What human attributes does the sea have, and what does it do with them?

Ans: The human attributes that the sea possesses is that it is gentle, kind, well and soft— almost like a loving mother.

5.                Which part of the poem seemed old fashioned to you?

Ans: The poet’s mention of the “hostler” seems to be old fashioned. This is because a "hostler" is a person who works at an inn and looks after the horses of the people staying at the inn

6.                The emergence of the morning, the horses’ stamping and neighing in their stalls, and the hostler’s calling symbolizes the start of a working day.

7.                In the poem, The tide rises, The tide falls, Henry Longfellow is talking about the ocean and a traveller that is making his way to town. The poem represent life because no matter what happens, the tide will always rise and fall, washing away whatever was left behind. When he says the traveler never returns to the shore, he is saying that we shouldn't hold on to things that are going to bring us down. The central theme of this poem is to just keep moving on because life is like the ocean, moving on. As time maintains its journey from morning to night and then again morning, similarly the tides of the sea, too, must maintain its pace with the time.

RTC:

B. 1. a. The curlew and the traveller.

b.  The curlew is calling and the traveller is hastening to the town.

c.   All living things die one day.

d.   The poet uses the words sea sands instead of beach to create a subdued tone where the tide washes away the footprints of the traveller on the sand.

 

2. a. The day or morning returns to the shore.

b. No one will ever know that the traveller was there because the tide would have washed away his footprints.

c. The traveller has probably died.

 

 

Summary

In the poem, The tide rises, The tide falls, Henry Longfellow is talking about the ocean and a traveller that is making his way to town. The poem represent life because no matter what happens, the tide will always rise and fall, washing away whatever was left behind.  When he says the traveler never returns to the shore, he is saying that we shouldn't hold on to things that are going to bring us down. The central theme of this poem is to just  keep moving on because life is like the ocean, moving on. As time maintains its journey from morning to night and then again morning, similarly the tides of the sea, too, must maintain its pace with the time.