World Poetry Day

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National Memorial Arboretum

Many of the memorials at the Arboretum incorporate poems or extracts of poems in their design and often the symbolism behind the memorial lies in the verses used.



‘Crossing the bar’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was written in 1889 about his impending death and can be found on the edging strip around the Royal Naval Association Memorial.

A bar is a sandbank, sometimes found near a harbour entrance in shallow water. In the Navy, the phrase ‘crossing the bar’ is sometimes used as a metaphor to describe the death of a sailor.

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Crossing the Bar
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

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.