Seashore
I heard or seemed to hear the chiding SeaSay, Pilgrim, why so late and slow to come?Am I not always here, thy summer home?Is not my voice thy music, morn and eve?My breath thy healthful climate in the heats,My touch thy antidote, my bay thy bath?Was ever building like my terraces?Was ever couch magnificent as mine?Lie on the warm rock-ledges, and there learnA little hut suffices like a town.I make your sculptured architecture vain,Vain beside mine. I drive my wedges home,And carve the coastwise mountain into caves.Lo! here is Rome and Nineveh and Thebes,Karnak and Pyramid and Giant's StairsHalf piled or prostrate; and my newest slabOlder than all thy race.
Behold the Sea,The opaline, the plentiful and strong,Yet beautiful as is the rose in June,Fresh as the trickling rainbow of July;Sea full of food, the nourisher of kinds,Purger of earth, and medicine of men;Creating a sweet climate by my breath,Washing out harms and griefs from memory,And, in my mathematic ebb and flow,Giving a hint of that which changes not.Rich are the sea-gods:--who gives gifts but they?They grope the sea for pearls, but more than pearls:They pluck Force thence, and give it to the wise.For every wave is wealth to Daedalus,Wealth to the cunning artist who can workThis matchless strength. Where shall he find, O waves!A load your Atlas shoulders cannot lift?
I with my hammer pounding evermoreThe rocky coast, smite Andes into dust,Strewing my bed, and, in another age,Rebuild a continent of better men.Then I unbar the doors: my paths lead outThe exodus of nations: I disperseMen to all shores that front the hoary main.
I too have arts and sorceries;Illusion dwells forever with the wave.I know what spells are laid. Leave me to dealWith credulous and imaginative man;For, though he scoop my water in his palm,A few rods off he deems it gems and clouds.Planting strange fruits and sunshine on the shore,I make some coast alluring, some lone isle,To distant men, who must go there, or die.
Words in this poem 18
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- coastwise adv.
- By way of, or along, the coast.
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- opaline a.
- Of, pertaining to, or like, opal in appearance; having changeable colors like those of the opal. [Cf. F. opalin.]
- nourisher n.
- One who, or that which, nourishes.
- purger n.
- One who, or that which, purges or cleanses; especially, a cathartic medicine.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- artist n.
- One who practices some mechanic art or craft; an artisan. [F. artiste, LL. artista, fr. L. ars. See Art, n., and cf. Artiste.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- strewing n.
- The act of scattering or spreading.
- rebuild v. t.
- To build again, as something which has been demolished; to construct anew; as, to rebuild a house, a wall, a wharf, or a city.
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- unbar v. t.
- To remove a bar or bars from; to unbolt; to open; as, to unbar a gate. Heber. [1st pref. un- + bar.]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Seashore is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Seashore, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/seashore.html, id L07466.
Form and metre
Seashore is 50 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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 -AA--------A----- sea · comeA · homeA · eve · heats · bath · terraces · mine · learn · town · vain · homeA · caves · thebes · stairs · slab · race
- 2 A--A------------- seaA · strong · june · julyA · kinds · men · breath · memory · flow · not · they · pearls · wise · daedalus · work · waves · lift
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I heard or seemed to hear the chiding Sea | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Say, Pilgrim, why so late and slow to come? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Am I not always here, thy summer home? | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Is not my voice thy music, morn and eve? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My breath thy healthful climate in the heats, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| My touch thy antidote, my bay thy bath? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Was ever building like my terraces? | 9 | ·//˘··/˘˘ |
| Was ever couch magnificent as mine? | 8 | ·/·˘/˘·· |
| Lie on the warm rock-ledges, and there learn | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A little hut suffices like a town. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| I make your sculptured architecture vain, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘· |
| Vain beside mine. I drive my wedges home, | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| And carve the coastwise mountain into caves. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Lo! here is Rome and Nineveh and Thebes, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Karnak and Pyramid and Giant's Stairs | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Half piled or prostrate; and my newest slab | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Older than all thy race. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Behold the Sea, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| The opaline, the plentiful and strong, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| Yet beautiful as is the rose in June, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Fresh as the trickling rainbow of July; | 10 | ···/˘/···/ |
| Sea full of food, the nourisher of kinds, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Purger of earth, and medicine of men; | 9 | /˘···/˘·· |
| Creating a sweet climate by my breath, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Washing out harms and griefs from memory, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| And, in my mathematic ebb and flow, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Giving a hint of that which changes not. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Rich are the sea-gods:--who gives gifts but they? | 10 | ·········· |
| They grope the sea for pearls, but more than pearls: | 10 | ·········· |
| They pluck Force thence, and give it to the wise. | 10 | ·········· |
| For every wave is wealth to Daedalus, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Wealth to the cunning artist who can work | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| This matchless strength. Where shall he find, O waves! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A load your Atlas shoulders cannot lift? | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| I with my hammer pounding evermore | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| The rocky coast, smite Andes into dust, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Strewing my bed, and, in another age, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| Rebuild a continent of better men. | 9 | ˘/·/˘·/˘· |
| Then I unbar the doors: my paths lead out | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| The exodus of nations: I disperse | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Men to all shores that front the hoary main. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I too have arts and sorceries; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Illusion dwells forever with the wave. | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| I know what spells are laid. Leave me to deal | 10 | ·········· |
| With credulous and imaginative man; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| For, though he scoop my water in his palm, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A few rods off he deems it gems and clouds. | 10 | ·········· |
| Planting strange fruits and sunshine on the shore, | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| I make some coast alluring, some lone isle, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| To distant men, who must go there, or die. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
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.