does anyone remember

that weird "Crossing Over" show that used to be on TV? where some guy could "contact" dead people. weird. anyway... on to relevant things:

"Crossing the Bar" is about death. of course. but, it doesn't make death the bad guy or anything. in fact, the speaker doesn't even want people sad when he's gone: "and may there be no sadness of farewell/When I embark". Throughout the poem, the speaker makes it pretty clear that he's come to terms with death. he's not afraid of it. he knows it's inevitable, so he's accepting of it. he's got no resignations about life, so he's good to go whenever. the whole image of a sandbar is really interesting to me too. I see it as three very distinct phases: before the bar is where the waves are crashing and things are tumultuous. that part represents life. the sandbar is the "crossing over" point, the "one clear call" that takes him from life to the third phase: the afterlife where it's calm and tranquil. it's the place where he "hope[s] to see [his] Pilot face to face". where he aspires to see God and meet him personally.

this hope is a looking to the future sort of hope whereas in "The Oxen", the hope is more nostalgic and looking backward.

I remember when I used to really be into nostalgia...

"The Oxen" presents an interesting instance. especially for someone who is religious, namely Christian, and celebrates Christmas. in the first two stanzas, we read about a group of small children gathered around what I presume to be a manger scene of some sort. whatever the elder told them they believed. in their childish innocence, there was no reason to doubt what this older, presumably wiser man said: "nor did it occur to one of us there/to doubt". and rightly so. as children, we're taught to listen and learn. it isn't until we mature and age that we begin to question and doubt what we're told. while none of this maturing stage is shown in the any of the four stanzas, the last two reflect on the naïve nature of the speaker's (and everyone's) childhood, but with a nostalgic overtone. he says that if he were in that position again and told that at that very moment "they are all on their knees", that he hopes he could believe it might actually be so.

this hope is a nostalgic, longing-for-innocence-again sort of hope.
the whole tone of the poem sets this nostalgic tone.