Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
Crossing the Bar
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1889
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.
Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Crossing the Bar” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — quilloak.com/poems/crossing-the-bar
Quick facts
- Poem
- Crossing the Bar
- Poet
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Published
- 1889
- Length
- 17 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Elegy
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Peace
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 17 lines · 6 stanzas of 1–4 lines
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809–1892
- Source record
- WikisourceCrossing the Bar by alfred-lord-tennyson, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1889
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 05487c6ba3b21460…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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