The poem contains four stanzas that generally alternate between long and short lines.in imitation of the tide. Tennyson is believed to have written the poem while on the sea, crossing the Solent from Aldworth to Farringford on the Isle of Wight, or crossing the sandbar at Salcombe. He said the words “came in a moment.” Shortly before he died, Tennyson told his son Hallam to “put ‘Crossing the Bar’ at the end of all editions of my poems”.

Read by Duncan McGibbon, Poetry Group Convenor for the Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution.

Music: “Once again” by bensound.com