"Crossing the Bar" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“Crossing the Bar,” a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, creates two sets of figures within the poem. The first of these is “sunset and evening star,” and the second set is “twilight and evening bell.” Both of these sets are used to portray approaching death. The idea of the poem is crossing into another world after death, which is exemplified through Tennyson’s use of sea and sailor imagery. In the first set, the precise moment of death occurs when Tennyson states, “When I put out to sea,” (Tennyson, 886). Through this phrase, the author successfully portrays embarking on a journey; going out into the sea.  The moment of death in the second set occurs with the line, “When I embark,” (Tennyson, 886). This statement quite clearly explains the journey after life into another world. When one “embarks” from earth, their soul has moved on to another place, which Tennyson portrays through his poem. The narrator of the poem expresses a desire to see his pilot, and the capitalization of the word pilot and the prior knowledge that the poem involves death suggests that the Pilot is synonymous to God. Through these sets, Tennyson effectively portrays the journey to life after death.