The Ships of Grief
On seas where every pilot failsA thousand thousand ships to-dayRide with a moaning in their sails,Through winds grey and waters grey.
They are the ships of grief. They goAs fleets are derelict and driven,Estranged from every port they know,Scarce asking fortitude of heaven.
No, do not hail them. Let them rideLonely as they would lonely be ...There is an hour will prove the tide,There is a sun will strike the sea.
Words in this poem
- derelict a.
- Given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; left and abandoned; as, derelict lands. [L. derelictus, p. p. of derelinquere to forsake wholly, to abandon; de- + relinquere to leave. See Relinquish.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- fortitude n.
- Power to resist attack; strength; firmness. [L. fortitudo, fr. fortis strong. See Fort.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ships of Grief is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, The Ships of Grief, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/the-ships-of-grief.html, id L23119.
Form and metre
The Ships of Grief is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABAB failsA · dayB · sailsA · greyB
- 2 A-A- goA · driven · knowA · heaven
- 3 ABAB rideA · beB · tideA · seaB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| On seas where every pilot fails | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| A thousand thousand ships to-day | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Ride with a moaning in their sails, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through winds grey and waters grey. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| They are the ships of grief. They go | 8 | ········ |
| As fleets are derelict and driven, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Estranged from every port they know, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Scarce asking fortitude of heaven. | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| No, do not hail them. Let them ride | 8 | ········ |
| Lonely as they would lonely be ... | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| There is an hour will prove the tide, | 8 | ···/···· |
| There is a sun will strike the sea. | 8 | ········ |
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.