Question

What mood does this stanza from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” evoke in the reader

Answer 1

Darkness settles on roofs and walls, But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls; The little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sands, And the tide rises the tide falls.

The lines follow directly from the evening twilight of the first stanza to the darkness. Actually, it is a cycle of the day and night. Indeed, the third stanza continues with the dawn. The author uses personification with darkness calling and with the soft, white hands of the waves. Darkness is also a metaphor for death. The effacement of the footprints has the same meaning, as well. But the author doesn't finish the poem here. It is a metaphor to say the tide rises, the tide falls which means the life continues. Therefore, the sense is not dark and gloomy, actually. It is peaceful. Considering the poem continues after that the lines evoke peaceful sense of completion.

Answer 2

here is the full stanza for this question:
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls:
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The mood that this stanza evokes in the reader would be: a growing sense of anxiety
at first glance, we may not see the sense of anxiety from this stanza. But if we look closely, the author Describe the situation on the sea when the night fall, which could be very dangerous for anyone on it.