By the Seaside : Twilight
By the Seaside : Twilight - meaning Summary
Seaside Anxiety at Twilight
Longfellow’s short lyric sets a twilight seaside scene where a child watches a mother’s shadow as wind and white-capped waves roar. The poem contrasts the wild external sea with the warm cottage light, but the ocean’s voice and the night wind seem to press on the mother’s heart. The child’s curious gaze and the mother’s paling cheek suggest anxiety about someone absent at sea and the emotional reach of the elements.
Read Complete AnalysesThe twilight is sad and cloudy, The wind blows wild and free, And like the wings of sea-birds Flash the white caps of the sea. But in the fisherman's cottage There shines a ruddier light, And a little face at the window Peers out into the night. Close, close it is pressed to the window, As if those childish eyes Were looking into the darkness, To see some form arise. And a woman's waving shadow Is passing to and fro, Now rising to the ceiling, Now bowing and bending low. What tale do the roaring ocean, And the night-wind, bleak and wild, As they beat at the crazy casement, Tell to that little child? And why do the roaring ocean, And the night-wind, wild and bleak, As they beat at the heart of the mother, Drive the color from her cheek?
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