Sea-Gloom
The sea-gulls restless gleam and glance,The mad white coursers cleave the lengthOf ocean as they rear and pranceAnd toss their manes in stormy strength.
The day is ending. Raindrops chokeThe sunset furnaces. The gloomBrings the great steamboat spitting smoke,And beating down its long black plume.
And I, more wan than heaven wide,For land of soot and fog am bound,For land of smoke and suicide--And right good weather have I found!
How eagerly I now would pierceThe gulf that groweth wild and hoar!The vessel rocks. The waves are fierce.The salt wind freshens more and more.
Ah! bitter is my soul's unrest.The very ocean sighing heavesIn pity its unhopeful breast,Like some good friend that knows and grieves.
Let be--lost love's despair supreme!Let be--illusions fair that roseAnd fell from pedestals of dream!One leap! The dark wet ridges close.
Away! ye sufferings gone by,That evermore returning brood,And press the wounds that sleeping lie,To make them weep afresh their blood.
Away! regret, whose crimson heartHath seven swords. Yea, One, maybe,Doth know the anguish and the smart--Mother of Seven Sorrows, She!
Each ghostly grief sinks down the vast,And struggles with the waves that throbTo close about it, and at lastDrown it forever with a sob.
Soul's ballast, treasures of life's hand,Sink! and we'll wreck together down.Pale on the pillow of the sandI'll rest me well at evening brown.
But, now, a woman, as I gaze,Sits in the bridge's darker nook,A woman, who doth sweetly raiseHer eyes to mine in one long look.
'T is Sympathy with outstretched arms,Who smileth to me through the grayOf dusk with all her thousand charms.Hail, azure eyes! Green sea, away!
The sea-gulls restless gleam and glance.The mad white coursers cleave the lengthOf Ocean as they rear and pranceAnd toss their manes in stormy strength.
Words in this poem
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- afresh adv.
- Anew; again; once more; newly. [Pref. a- + fresh.]
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- nook n.
- A narrow place formed by an angle in bodies or between bodies; a corner; a recess; a secluded retreat. [OE. nok; cf. Gael. & Ir. niuc.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sea-Gloom is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, the Agnes Lee translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Théophile Gautier, Sea-Gloom, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/sea-gloom.html, id L27003.
Form and metre
Sea-Gloom is 52 lines in 13 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 glanceA · lengthB · pranceA · strengthB
- 2 ABAB chokeA · gloomB · smokeA · plumeB
- 3 ABAB wideA · boundB · suicideA · foundB
- 4 ABAB pierceA · hoarB · fierceA · moreB
- 5 ABAB unrestA · heavesB · breastA · grievesB
- 6 ABAB supremeA · roseB · dreamA · closeB
- 7 ABAB byA · broodB · lieA · bloodB
- 8 ABAB heartA · maybeB · smartA · sheB
- 9 ABAB vastA · throbB · lastA · sobB
- 10 ABAB handA · downB · sandA · brownB
- 11 ABAB gazeA · nookB · raiseA · lookB
- 12 ABAB armsA · grayB · charmsA · awayB
- 13 ABAB glanceA · lengthB · pranceA · strengthB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The sea-gulls restless gleam and glance, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The mad white coursers cleave the length | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of ocean as they rear and prance | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And toss their manes in stormy strength. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The day is ending. Raindrops choke | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| The sunset furnaces. The gloom | 8 | ·/·/˘˘·· |
| Brings the great steamboat spitting smoke, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And beating down its long black plume. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And I, more wan than heaven wide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For land of soot and fog am bound, | 8 | ········ |
| For land of smoke and suicide-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And right good weather have I found! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How eagerly I now would pierce | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The gulf that groweth wild and hoar! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The vessel rocks. The waves are fierce. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The salt wind freshens more and more. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ah! bitter is my soul's unrest. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The very ocean sighing heaves | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| In pity its unhopeful breast, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Like some good friend that knows and grieves. | 8 | ········ |
| Let be--lost love's despair supreme! | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Let be--illusions fair that rose | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And fell from pedestals of dream! | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| One leap! The dark wet ridges close. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Away! ye sufferings gone by, | 8 | ˘/·/˘˘·· |
| That evermore returning brood, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And press the wounds that sleeping lie, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To make them weep afresh their blood. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Away! regret, whose crimson heart | 8 | ˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Hath seven swords. Yea, One, maybe, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Doth know the anguish and the smart-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Mother of Seven Sorrows, She! | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Each ghostly grief sinks down the vast, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And struggles with the waves that throb | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To close about it, and at last | 8 | ········ |
| Drown it forever with a sob. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Soul's ballast, treasures of life's hand, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Sink! and we'll wreck together down. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Pale on the pillow of the sand | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I'll rest me well at evening brown. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But, now, a woman, as I gaze, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sits in the bridge's darker nook, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| A woman, who doth sweetly raise | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Her eyes to mine in one long look. | 8 | ········ |
| 'T is Sympathy with outstretched arms, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Who smileth to me through the gray | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of dusk with all her thousand charms. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Hail, azure eyes! Green sea, away! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The sea-gulls restless gleam and glance. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The mad white coursers cleave the length | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of Ocean as they rear and prance | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And toss their manes in stormy strength. | 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.