Never More, Sailor
Never more, Sailor,Shalt thou beTossed on the wind-ridden,Restless sea.Its tides may labour;All the worldShake 'neath that weightOf waters hurled:But its whole shockCan only stirThy dust to a quietEven quieter.Thou mock'd'st at landWho now art comeTo such a smallAnd shallow home;Yet bore the seaFull many a careFor bones that onceA sailor's were.And though the grave'sDeep soundlessnessThy once sea-deafenedEar distress,No robin everOn the deepHopped with his songTo haunt thy sleep.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- quieter n.
- One who, or that which, quiets.
- hopped p. a.
- Impregnated with hops.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Never More, Sailor is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Listeners and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22569; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter de la Mare, Never More, Sailor, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/never-more-sailor.html, id L17094.
Form and metre
Never More, Sailor is 28 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.3 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 64% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-BCB-DC--E-EA--D-F-F-G-G sailor · beA · ridden · seaA · labour · worldB · weightC · hurledB · shock · stirD · quietC · quieter · land · comeE · small · homeE · seaA · care · once · wereD · grave's · soundlessnessF · deafened · distressF · ever · deepG · song · sleepG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Never more, Sailor, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Shalt thou be | 3 | ··· |
| Tossed on the wind-ridden, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Restless sea. | 3 | /˘· |
| Its tides may labour; | 5 | ···/· |
| All the world | 3 | ··· |
| Shake 'neath that weight | 4 | ···· |
| Of waters hurled: | 5 | ·/˘·˘ |
| But its whole shock | 4 | ···· |
| Can only stir | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Thy dust to a quiet | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Even quieter. | 5 | /˘/˘˘ |
| Thou mock'd'st at land | 4 | ···· |
| Who now art come | 4 | ···· |
| To such a small | 4 | ···· |
| And shallow home; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Yet bore the sea | 4 | ···· |
| Full many a care | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| For bones that once | 4 | ···· |
| A sailor's were. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And though the grave's | 4 | ···· |
| Deep soundlessness | 4 | ···· |
| Thy once sea-deafened | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Ear distress, | 3 | ·˘/ |
| No robin ever | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| On the deep | 3 | ··· |
| Hopped with his song | 5 | ·˘··· |
| To haunt thy sleep. | 4 | ···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.