Sea Song
Against the planks of the cabin side,(So slight a thing between them and me,)The great waves thundered and throbbed and sighed,The great green waves of the Indian sea!
Your face was white as the foam is white,Your hair was curled as the waves are curled,I would we had steamed and reached that nightThe sea's last edge, the end of the world.
The wind blew in through the open port,So freshly joyous and salt and free,Your hair it lifted, your lips it sought,And then swept back to the open sea.
The engines throbbed with their constant beat;Your heart was nearer, and all I heard;Your lips were salt, but I found them sweet,While, acquiescent, you spoke no word.
So straight you lay in your narrow berth,Rocked by the waves; and you seemed to beEssence of all that is sweet on earth,Of all that is sad and strange at sea.
And you were white as the foam is white,Your hair was curled as the waves are curled.Ah! had we but sailed and reached that night,The sea's last edge, the end of the world!
Words in this poem
- acquiescent a.
- Resting satisfied or submissive; disposed tacitly to submit; assentive; as, an acquiescent policy. [L. acquiescens, -; p. pr.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- berth v. t.
- To give an anchorage to, or a place to lie at; to place in a berth; as, she was berthed stem to stern with the Adelaide.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sea Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from India's Love Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #8197; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Laurence Hope, Sea Song, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/sea-song.html, id L22621.
Form and metre
Sea Song is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
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 sideA · meB · sighedA · seaB
- 2 ABAB whiteA · curledB · nightA · worldB
- 3 -A-A port · freeA · sought · seaA
- 4 ABAB beatA · heardB · sweetA · wordB
- 5 ABAB berthA · beB · earthA · seaB
- 6 ABAB whiteA · curledB · nightA · worldB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Against the planks of the cabin side, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| (So slight a thing between them and me,) | 9 | ········· |
| The great waves thundered and throbbed and sighed, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The great green waves of the Indian sea! | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Your face was white as the foam is white, | 9 | ········· |
| Your hair was curled as the waves are curled, | 9 | ········· |
| I would we had steamed and reached that night | 9 | ········· |
| The sea's last edge, the end of the world. | 9 | ········· |
| The wind blew in through the open port, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| So freshly joyous and salt and free, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Your hair it lifted, your lips it sought, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And then swept back to the open sea. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The engines throbbed with their constant beat; | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Your heart was nearer, and all I heard; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Your lips were salt, but I found them sweet, | 9 | ········· |
| While, acquiescent, you spoke no word. | 8 | ········ |
| So straight you lay in your narrow berth, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Rocked by the waves; and you seemed to be | 9 | ········· |
| Essence of all that is sweet on earth, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Of all that is sad and strange at sea. | 9 | ········· |
| And you were white as the foam is white, | 9 | ········· |
| Your hair was curled as the waves are curled. | 9 | ········· |
| Ah! had we but sailed and reached that night, | 9 | ········· |
| The sea's last edge, the end of the world! | 9 | ········· |
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.