World Poetry Day

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World Poetry Day – March 21, 2022.

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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.

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.

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My fathers side of the family were Southern Irish, all MN men.

From family memorial cards:

One sad year has passed away
Since our great sorrow fell,
But in our hearts we mourn the loss
Of those we loved so well.
We think of him in silence,
And his name we oft recall:
But there’s nothing left to answer,
But his picture on the wall.

And

Roll on, Roll on, on Western deep,
That loved my lovely boy to sleep.
Were I to know Lough Swilly’s shore
Would be your grave for evermore,
I’d clasp you to my loving heart,
And never would I let you part.

K.

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Royal Museums Greenwich



"Her cutty sark o' Paisley harn,
That while a lassie she had worn,
In longitude tho' sorely scanty,
It was her best, and she was vauntie"

Cutty Sark is named for a witch in a poem by Robert Burns.

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Cutty Sark was placed in Greenwich as a memorial to the Merchant Navy, particularly those who lost their lives in the two world wars. The sacrifice of the Merchant Marine for their country is still little known and the sculptor Maurice Lambert’s memorial to the Merchant Navy, which was restored in 2011, is displayed prominently at Cutty Sark.

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