The Romantic Period displays the uses of metaphors in many of the poems that were written during the time. This time period went from 1800 to 1850. The Fireside Poets were quite popular during this time. These poets were the first to rival any British poets with their use of scholar and their flexibility in their writings. There were five Fireside Poets: James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and John Greenleaf Whittier. In this case, “The First Snowfall” by James Russell Lowell, “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and “A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow discuss different perspectives on death as a common theme.
In “The First Snowfall,” snow represents getting over the death of his daughter. Lowell expresses his yearning for his dead daughter. He expresses this feeling when he says, “And she…could not know / That my kiss was given to her sister, / Folded close under deepening snow” (Lowell 38-40). Lowell is saying that his kiss to his living daughter was truly for his daughter that passed away. He eventually starts to move on from the tragic death of his daughter. An example of this is when he says:
I remembered the gradual patience
That fell from that cloud like snow,
Flake by flake, healing and hiding
The scar that renewed our woe. (Lowell 29-32)
He is saying that, slowly, he began to feel whole again. Lowell uses his other daughter that is still alive to get over the death of his daughter. He shows this craft when he says, “Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her” (Lowell 37). He uses his daughter to comfort him and remind him that he still has something to live for. Lowell uses the metaphor of snow to represent his daughter’s death.
Longfellow says in “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls,” that people live and die and it is a never ending cycle. He says that everybody is just another person on this Earth and each person will disappear eventually. He exhibits this when he says, “The little waves, with their soft, white hands. / Efface the footprints in the sands” (Longfellow 8-9). Longfellow is saying that each person’s existence is erased when he/she dies. Longfellow says that the days may go on but a person’s life will end. He shows this thought when he says:
The morning breaks: the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls:
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore. (Longfellow 11-14)
He is saying that life goes on for other people day after day, even when someone has died. Longfellow says that life goes on no matter what and that it is a never ending cycle. He displays this when he says, “And the tide rises, the tide falls” (Longfellow 15). He says this quote four different times in his poem to show that birth and death are a continuous cycle. The cycle of life is never ending and people will always be forgotten.
In “A Psalm of Life,” Longfellow says that everybody is going to die eventually so they should make the most of life while they are still alive. He says that people cannot be idle and unproductive. Longfellow exhibits this when he says, “Be not like dumb, driven cattle! / Be a hero in the strife” (Longfellow 19-20). He is saying that a person should not be frivolous, but be someone who could be an idol to a small child. Longfellow says that people should not live in the past for the rest of their lives. He demonstrates this when he says, “Trust no future, howe’er pleasant!/ Let the dead Past bury its dead!/ Act, - act in the living present” (Longfellow 21-23). He is saying that a person should live their life in the moment and live it for themselves and not other people. Longfellow says that people should not be useless and trivial in their affairs. He exhibits this when he says:
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait. (Longfellow 33-36)
Longfellow is saying that people should be ready for anything that is thrown their way and take it in stride. “A Psalm of Life” is a metaphor expressing the thought that people should live their lives while they still have them.

In conclusion, all of these poems deliberate different aspects of death as a prevailing theme. “The First Snowfall” talks about how the death of a loved one can be shielded and moved past. “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” is a poem that talks about how people live and die and the cycle of life goes on. “A Psalm of Life” tells a person to live their life to the fullest because they are going to die someday. There are many different viewpoints on death that have been discussed throughout history.