The poem describes feelings of loss, spoken by a man standing on the rocky sea shore.

[3] Tennyson captures his strong emotions in other poems, including Morte D' Arthur, "Tithonus", and "Ulysses".

Like "On a Mourner," written a year before, both poems use a very simple style and describe a scene in minimalistic terms.

This technique is later used in later elegies written by Tennyson, including "Crossing the Bar", "In the Garden at Swainston", and "To the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava".

Almost certainly written during this visit to Mablethorpe [...] knowledge of the biographical background creates a cinematically clear image of the cloaked poet looking resentfully at the cheerful fisherman's child, the equally jovial sailor, and the ships at sea.