THE TIDE RISES, THE TIDE FALLS

PowerPoint by: Adam Insley

Poem by: Walt Whitman 1807-1882

Date: 10-26-15

Class: English-5th period

STRUCTURERHYME SCHEME

• 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

A

B

BA

AA

C

C

A

A

AD

DA

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.

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 1807-1882.

• 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.

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…”

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.

IMAGERY

• 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.

IMAGERY

• Another example of imagery

• “The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls Stamp and neigh,”

POETIC/LITERARY TERMSThere 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.

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

REPETITION

• “And the tide rises, the tide falls.”

• “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.

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.

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.

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

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.

WEBSITES/SOURCES• https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/3edap7/best_girl_contest_222_round_4_bracket_b/• http://www.biography.com/people/henry-wadsworth-longfellow-9385673 • https://thecopia.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/happy-birthday-henry-wadsworth-longfellow-biog

raphy-and-hiawatha-poem/

• http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/173917 • http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/174747 • https://nationalrealtyinvestmentadvisors.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/how-to-buy-a-shore-hous

e-now/

• http://craigonthewater.tumblr.com/ • https://www.haikudeck.com/american-lit--

the-tide-rises-the-tide-fall-education-presentation-dWvTwiyR60• http://www.dioenglish.com/wiki/index.php?edition-view-3621-2 • http://ahorseforelinor.com/2015/08/02/good-morning-everybody/ • http://genius.com/2614972 • http://www.littlepeppe.com/FJ-TA-World-War-One-authors.html • https://www.pinterest.com/pin/522276888009422126/ • http://wallpaperswide.com/lightning_mcqueen_cars_movie-wallpapers.html • https://

www.windowssearch-exp.com/images/search?q=Wallpapers+Horses+in+Fog&FORM=RESTAB • http://moontides-mxtodis123.blogspot.com/2010/10/tide-rises-tide-falls.html • http://www.hwlongfellow.org/life_overview.shtml • https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/henry-wadsworth-longfellow