The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
The tide rises, the tide falls,The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;Along the sea-sands damp and brownThe traveller hastens toward the town,And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,But the sea in the darkness calls and calls;The little waves, with their soft, white hands,Efface the footprints in the sands,And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stallsStamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;The day returns, but nevermoreReturns the traveller to the shore,And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Words in this poem
- hostler n.
- An innkeeper. See Hosteler. [OE. hosteler, osteler, innkeeper, OF. hostelier, F. hôtelier. See Hostel, and cf. Hospitaler, Hosteler.]
- nevermore adv.
- Never again; at no time hereafter. Testament of Love. Tyndale.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-tide-rises-the-tide-falls.html, id L17809.
Form and metre
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBA, the Limerick. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other limericks, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBA fallsA · callsA · brownB · townB · fallsA
- 2 AABBA wallsA · callsA · handsB · sandsB · fallsA
- 3 AABBA stallsA · callsA · nevermoreB · shoreB · fallsA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The tide rises, the tide falls, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; | 9 | ·/·/˘·/˘· |
| Along the sea-sands damp and brown | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The traveller hastens toward the town, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| And the tide rises, the tide falls. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Darkness settles on roofs and walls, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| But the sea in the darkness calls and calls; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The little waves, with their soft, white hands, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Efface the footprints in the sands, | 8 | ˘/·/···· |
| And the tide rises, the tide falls. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The day returns, but nevermore | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Returns the traveller to the shore, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And the tide rises, the tide falls. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.