Symbol Analysis
Ah, the waves. Poets love to write about 'em; people love to read about 'em. They're really the perfect metaphor for the movements of life, all of its ebbs and flows, tides in, tides out, life, death, life, death. The beach is the scene of this whole poem, but the speaker actually poses something a little contradictory; he says he'll be able to stop this cycle of the waves. Instead of being destroyed by the waves, his beloved will rise above them and live on forever.
- Lines 1-4: The speaker writes his gal's name in the sand, and the waves wash it away. Then, the whole process repeats. The waves are relentless. There's no stopping the waves. (Unless you're the speaker, that is. Then you can stop the destructive ways with your poetry—you know, metaphorically.)