JE31 Comparing Poems

In “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”, Longfellow didn't name the traveler to generalize the idea to the society. Contradictorily, “The Cross of Snow” is specifically about the death of Longfellow’s wife. He used different perspectives in these two poems. “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” is a general idea about death and “The Cross of Snow” is more personal. It is hard to use a general perspective to look at a personal event because people have emotions. Longfellow wrote “The Cross of Snow” to express his feeling and lament for the tragedy, not to publish it as one of his collections. I think these two different kinds of perspectives can be held simultaneously. Grieving for someone close to you is inevitable. However, one would not grieve for other unrelated people in this world.

            When I was younger, I thought death is a horrible point of life. It feels like everything you have done is going to be nothing. This idea didn't change until my grandmother passed away. I remember the day I had lunch with was the last day I talked to her. She was sent to the hospital few hours later. After the surgery, I thought she would be conscious and be able to talk to us. But I was wrong. Indeed, five days later, I got the message about this tragedy. I was shocked when I heard the news. However, I didn't feel extremely sad when I went to my grandparent’s house. In my heart, I feel like she never really left. I have a feeling that she is still around us in different kinds of forms. I do miss her, but I only think of it as she has gone on a long journey to another place. Since then, death wasn't that a big deal for me. It is just some point that one must go through.