No pain can compare to the feeling obtained after witnessing the death of a loved one. This grief easily infects artist’s works. The sorrow of death has infected many famous works such as Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” or Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee.” No writer however, has been more impacted than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He was greatly affected by the deaths of his two wives which are clearly shown in his works. Henry Longfellow shows through his marriages, “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”, and “The Cross of Snow, that grief is never ending even if you have accepted the death of a loved one. In Longfellow’s life he had a deep understanding of the beauty of love and happiness which
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In his poem, Longfellow shows a contrasting “twilight decend[ing]” (Poetry for Students) and “breaking of dawn” (Poetry for Students) that is endless like the continuous burden of grief. The twenty-four-hour cycle stays unaffected by death for it will always bring darkness with the light. The “twilight darken[ing]” (2) uses “darkness” (6) to dominate the mood “lend[ing] the poem… a sense of hopelessness” (Poetry for Student). The twilight is personified “as a physical object… cling[ing] to walls” (Poetry for Students) that is always present like the never perishing grief. The tide in “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls,” represents a never ending cycle that “continues to rise, [and] continues to fall” (Gale Online Encyclopedia). This continuous cycle eventually washes away the foot prints of the traveler as if he “had never appeared” (Gale Online Encyclopedia) showing the dark truth that “nature is indifferent to his fate” (Gale Online Encyclopedia). Even though the person in the poem presumably died, the tide washes away the last part of him showing that nature doesn’t change for man or feelings. Through twilight and the tide, Longfellow shows that his grief is continuous and unaffected for it is always present in the never ending …show more content…
In this poem, a man is restless as he pictures a “face of one long dead” (2). Since the poem was “a sonnet tribute” (Williams) to Fanny Appleton eighteen years after her death, many people believe that the man is Longfellow. He describes her having a “halo of pure light” (4) implying an angelic appearance after her passing showing his grieving and yearning to see her again. Longfellow also presents the literal image of snow formed like a cross on the side of a “mountain” (9) that is “sun-defying” (10). This cross is constant and never changing no matter the season. He explains that the cross resembles the one he wears on his heart, signifying the ceaseless feeling of grief he will forever and always have with him. Using his dead wife’s image and the cross of snow, Longfellow describes the permanent pain he felt after Fanny’s death that always stayed with him throughout his life.
Grief was never ending for Longfellow even though his writing alludes to the fact that he accepted it. Through the love of his marriages, “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”, and “The Cross of Snow”, he makes it clear in his writing that the deaths of his wives affected him deeply. Partially blaming himself, he was never able to fully heal. Longfellow shows through his writing that he always had a burden in his heart and the grief never left
In his poem, Longfellow shows a contrasting “twilight decend[ing]” (Poetry for Students) and “breaking of dawn” (Poetry for Students) that is endless like the continuous burden of grief. The twenty-four-hour cycle stays unaffected by death for it will always bring darkness with the light. The “twilight darken[ing]” (2) uses “darkness” (6) to dominate the mood “lend[ing] the poem… a sense of hopelessness” (Poetry for Student). The twilight is personified “as a physical object… cling[ing] to walls” (Poetry for Students) that is always present like the never perishing grief. The tide in “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls,” represents a never ending cycle that “continues to rise, [and] continues to fall” (Gale Online Encyclopedia). This continuous cycle eventually washes away the foot prints of the traveler as if he “had never appeared” (Gale Online Encyclopedia) showing the dark truth that “nature is indifferent to his fate” (Gale Online Encyclopedia). Even though the person in the poem presumably died, the tide washes away the last part of him showing that nature doesn’t change for man or feelings. Through twilight and the tide, Longfellow shows that his grief is continuous and unaffected for it is always present in the never ending …show more content…
In this poem, a man is restless as he pictures a “face of one long dead” (2). Since the poem was “a sonnet tribute” (Williams) to Fanny Appleton eighteen years after her death, many people believe that the man is Longfellow. He describes her having a “halo of pure light” (4) implying an angelic appearance after her passing showing his grieving and yearning to see her again. Longfellow also presents the literal image of snow formed like a cross on the side of a “mountain” (9) that is “sun-defying” (10). This cross is constant and never changing no matter the season. He explains that the cross resembles the one he wears on his heart, signifying the ceaseless feeling of grief he will forever and always have with him. Using his dead wife’s image and the cross of snow, Longfellow describes the permanent pain he felt after Fanny’s death that always stayed with him throughout his life.
Grief was never ending for Longfellow even though his writing alludes to the fact that he accepted it. Through the love of his marriages, “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”, and “The Cross of Snow”, he makes it clear in his writing that the deaths of his wives affected him deeply. Partially blaming himself, he was never able to fully heal. Longfellow shows through his writing that he always had a burden in his heart and the grief never left