1. The tide rises, the tide falls
PowerPoint by: Adam Insley
Poem by: Walt Whitman
Date:
Class: English-5th period

3. Structure Rhyme schemeA
Longfellow wrote this poem with 15 lines and 3 stanzas.
It is a ballad because it tells a story.
The organization of the poem is consistent through all three stanzas. A B B A A A C C A A A D D A

4. The speaker The speaker in the poem is a traveler and he is on a shore
He then goes into a town. Then overnight his footprints are washed away by the tide.
When it becomes morning the traveler returns to the shore.

5. Biographical Information
Some of Longfellow’s poems had figurative meaning about death.
Longfellow’s wife’s death inspired the making of this poem.
He lived from
He was an American poet and educator.
He was born in Portland, Maine.
He was a traveler and romantic which can explain why he dedicated this poem to his wife.

6. Imagery
An example of imagery in “the tide rises, the tide falls” is…
“The little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sands…”

7. “Darkness settles on roofs and walls,”
Imagery
Another example of imagery in this poem is…
“Darkness settles on roofs and walls,”
In this imagery it is trying to get you to picture the sky going dark and it becoming nighttime.

8. Imagery “The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;”
There is yet another example of imagery in this poem.
“The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;”
In this line of imagery Longfellow describes in depth it turning night and a curlew (type of bird) calling and making noises.

9. Imagery
Another example of imagery
“The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls Stamp and neigh,”

10. Poetic/literary terms
There is a lot of personification in this poem as well.
“The little waves, with their soft, white hands”
This line is personifying waves with soft, white hands.
“But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;”
This line is personifying the darkness calling.
“Darkness settles on roofs and walls,”
This line is personifying darkness settling on roofs and walls which can not happen.
Personification: To give a non living object living/human characteristics.

11. Poetic/Literary terms
Alliteration
“The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls Stamp and neigh,”
“the steeds in their stalls stamp…”
Alliteration: when the same letter or sound is repeated in a phrase of a poem

12. Repetition “And the tide rises, the tide falls.”
These two lines are repeated a total of four times throughout the poem.
Repetition: the repeating of a phrase in a poem several times.

13. Literal meaning The literal meaning of this poem is about a traveler
Also that the footprints that he leaves behind are washed away by the tide.
The traveler goes to town and it starts to become dark.
The traveler then returns back to the shore.

14. Figurative meaning
Since Longfellow experienced a lot of death in his life time (wife died; went into suicidal depression)
The poem is about the circle of life
The beach is your midlife and early life
The town is the end of your life
The waves effacing the footprints is representing where you’ve been and your accomplishments
The tide is representing time and how your accomplishments over time will disappear.

15. Author’s Purpose
The author’s purpose was to express his feelings about death and life.
Also to show his grief after his wife had died.
As well as educating us with a lesson about life going in a full circle

16. Theme
The theme is about the circle of life and that he keeps repeating “the tide rises, the tide falls”
He says the tide rises but the tide also falls in other words it “dies”
So the theme is life goes around and there will be ups and downs.

17. websites/sources