"Crossing the Bar"

This poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is all about how the speaker wants to die when his time comes. The speaker uses the metaphor of seeing death as a journey or a voyage out to sea. The author makes the attitude of the speaker toward death known through the metaphor of the journey, which extends throughout the entire poem. The speaker realizes that each person is given a certain amount of time on earth, and he or she believes that God knows when time is up. The second line states "and one clear call for me", and this line implies that the speaker will understand when it is his or her time and will accept it. In the second stanza, the speaker wants the tide that he takes to "seem asleep" with "no sound and foam". From these lines, the speaker in the poem clearly wants to die a peaceful and calm death. In the third stanza, the speaker describes how he wants others to react after he passes away. He doesn't want "sadness of farewell" when he takes his journey, so he wants people to celebrate his life and look at the positive. The last stanza of the poem incorporates the faith of the speaker. When the speaker says that he or she hopes to "see his Pilot face to face", the reader can infer that this is an symbol for God, especially since the word "Pilot" is capitalized. The meaning and connotation of the word "Pilot" is also significant. When people think of a pilot, they usually think of someone that they trust to guide them and lead them to a final point or destination. The speaker definitely believes in everlasting life or life after death as well as reuniting with God in peace and happiness.