A Joyous Afterlife

In Crossing the Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the speaker welcomes death. In both the first and third stanzas, the first two lines indicate a time near the end of the life of the speaker. He knows he will go eventually but he hopes that his death will not cause too much grief and sadness,"And may there be no sadness of farewell When I embark;" (Tennyson, 886). He does not want the end to be rough when he leaves: "And may there be no moaning of the bar When I put out to sea." (Tennyson, 886). He is excited to go out into the boundless deep or the great unknown of the afterlife. He does not know what is out there, but  he knows that his home lies out there somewhere. There is a certain time and place that he will arrive at once he dies. He acknowledges that the afterlife may actually be a far away place. He also hopes to see the Pilot. The Pilot is most likely Jesus because Pilot is capitalized. Furthermore, Christian literature emphasizes the "crossing over" into the after life and crossed is mentioned in the title and the last line of the poem. Specifically, crossed refers to the transition from life to death which is the bar that separates the two. The speaker is eagerly waiting to be taken into heaven with Jesus.