The Text
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
( Lord Alfred Tennyson )
Introductory notes : Bar is a sort of formation of sand with some height under the water, like small reef, that makes some problem in navigation. It is a hazard to the free movement of the ship. A ship has to face some trouble to cross the sandbar under the water. When the ship can cross the bar, it gets into the open and boundless sea where no inhibition is faced by it. Then it is the sailing in the limitless, sailing in the infinite realm of wave and water.
No, it is not the story of navigation. No sailing vessel is introduced in this poem . The image of the 'sea and ship' is used metaphorically to indicate the life of human beings. Some symbols are freely used to make the comparison clear and prominent.
Subject matter and Metaphor :
The notion/idea that we hold as eternal is that the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Before sun rising Venus is seen distinctly in the sky and it is called the 'Morning Star'. Venus shines brightly in the sky and it is the first star that appears in the sky after the sunset. For this it is called the 'Evening Star'. In the realm of nature the Sun sets in the West , it loses its brightness and the evening star appears. After that the Earth is enveloped with darkness and nothing is seen and recognized in this state of existence. Human life is metaphorically compared with this natural phenomena. 'Sunset' and 'Evening Star' symbolize the old age of human being. The poet says when he is in his old age, he clearly hears the call of someone, the call of the other world, the call of death. He has prepared his mind to start the voyage to the other world. In the expression " I put out to sea" the 'sea' stands for the world of death which may well be called the land of 'Afterlife'. The poet expects that in time of his setting out to the afterlife there will be no "moaning of the bar" i.e. nobody will cry or make any expression of sadness. 'Moaning of the bar' indicates the wail-like sound that arises in the seashore from the crashing waves, blowing wind and inclement weather.
It is full tide now in the sea. No wave is crashing on the shore, no sound is heard and no foam is formed . The tide without any movement seems asleep. The water that has come from the depth of the sea is turning back in its former position. This natural pelagic phenomena may be compared with the facts of human life. When it is full tide, full to the brim, the movement of the water is about to be stopped.The same is the condition of the poet's mind. Hearing the call of death the poet is not, at all , upset. Like the motionless tide poet's mind is full of serenity. Actually, he is not going to any unknown land. His journey is towards the boundless deep , the original home, from where he once came and trod on this mundane plane, this world controlled by the " bourne of time and place ".
In the third stanza the poet has first mentioned the phenomenon of the natural world, the matter of 'twilight' , 'evening bell' and 'dark'. Twilight is the period of the day just after the sunset and before evening. After the setting of the Sun some brightness remains but that does not last long. Evening , the boundary between day and night, proclaims the impending darkness, the dark state of the world, when nothing can be seen. Twilight stands for the old age, the evening bell symbolizes the impending death and the dark is the symbol to the world of death. One question arises here. Is the other world really dark ? The other world is dark to those people who do not know the philosophy of present human life , the life before birth and the life after death. The poet thinks it in other way. To him death is not a matter of panic, it is inspiring , it is a bright plane. For this the poet intends a happy farewell in time of his embarking of the other world. He expects nobody would feel any pang in heart when the poet would breathe his last. The last age of human being is metaphorically compared with the matter of twilight , evening and the dark.
Poet's expectation and that of us is that the flood of death would bear the poet's soul to a far land from the limit of time and place of this material world. The poet is so optimistic that he is sure of the meeting with the 'pilot'. He would see the pilot or God face to face when he would cross the bar denoting the barrier of death. One can touch the realm of afterlife, if one can cross the sand bar i.e. death.
Symbolism in "Crossing the Bar" : Symbol is a word that is derived from the Greek noun 'symbolon' meaning 'mark', 'emblem', 'token' or 'sign' and from the Greek verb 'symballein' that means 'to through together'. However in literature, symbol is an object , big or small, animate or inanimate, that represents something else. A symbol, unlike the allegory, has a real existence.
Sunset, twilight , evening star and dark are four prominent symbols taken from the natural world and all are related to evening.Sunset and twilight stand for the 'old age'. Evening star represents the 'sign of death' and dark is the symbol of 'death'. The sandbar symbolizes 'the fine barrier of death'. Boundless deep is the symbol of the 'other world' and home denotes our original home, the place meant for afterlife. The word farewell indicates the 'time of death' and embark stands for the 'voyage for other world'. Pilot is the most prominent symbol which stands for 'God' himself. All these symbols used by Tennyson jointly help him to convey the spiritual message related to the human life.
