“But such a tide as moving seems asleep,/Too full for sound and foam, “

 The entire poem hinges on the interpretation of the meaning of the title “Crossing the Bar”. Literally, the bar refers to the sandbar, which is a ridge of sand built by currents along a shore. Allegorically, the bar represents the boundary between life and death.

“Sunset and evening star,/ And one clear call for me!’’

 The poem is all about crossing this bar between the sea of life and the ocean; and the soul returning to eternity to meet the Maker, i.e., God.

“For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far …”

An allegory is a narrative, which describes one coherent set of circumstances but signifies a second set of meanings. In simple terms, an allegory reveals a hidden meaning. The poem “Crossing the Bar”, at a first glance appears to be an objective poem, which describes a voyage across the sandbar at the harbour’s entrance into the sea. It has a deeper meaning and every aspect of the poem works at two levels, literal and allegorical.

“And there may be no sadness of farewell”

The voyage is a metaphor for the final journey of man. The poem begins with the description of a ship that is about to sail on a long voyage at “Sunset” when the “evening star” is visible in the sky.  The setting of sun is symbolic of the old age of the speaker. Tennyson was eighty years and was recuperating from a serious illness, when he wrote this poem.

“When that which drew from out the boundless deep/ Turns again home.”

The “evening star”, which is a guiding light for the mariners, is symbolic of impending death. The “one clear call” which is the formal announcement before the ship leaves the harbour, is a signal for the speaker that death is nearing. The speaker wants no “moaning of the bar” that no expression of sorrow whence he puts “out of sea”. The bar refers to a ridge of sand built up by currents along the shore. Here the bar is a metaphor for the boundary between life and death.

“I hope to see my Pilot face to face/When I have crost the bar.’’

 It has been personified and given the human quality of moaning. The speaker wishes not to hear the forlorn sound of the waves crashing against a sandbar, when he sets out his journey. It means that the speaker hopes for a gentle crossing out of the harbour, one without turbulence associated with the “moaning of the bar”, i.e., he wants to move gently from life to death , without any fear.

“Twilight  and evening bell/  And after that the dark !

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

      When I embark;”

According to some of the critics the word “crossing” has religious connotations. “Crossing” refers both to “crossing over” into the next world. Some people believe that, the term “Crossing” suggests the “Cross of Jesus”, the transformational event that in Christianity, enables people to be reconciled to God and reach Heaven, which is beyond the Earth’s “Time and Place.” However, despite its strong Christian overtones, “Crossing the Bar’’ has a universal appeal to all people as everyone can relate to the image of the journey of life into death.

“But such a tide as moving seems asleep,/ Too full for sound and foam…”

Thus the poet, comparing his dying to the departure of a ship on a voyage into an unknown sea, feels no fear and no reluctance at the prospect of leaving life. He has completely surrendered his will to the force which will carry him away, he knows that his soul may be taken far from all he has ever known, but is confident that he will, at last, we see the God whose nature he could only infer while on earth.

“And there may no moaning of the bar”—