Death of an Old Seaman
We buried him high on a windy hill,But his soul went out to sea.I know, for I heard, when all was still,His sea-soul say to me:
Put no tombstone at my head,For here I do not make my bed.Strew no flowers on my grave,I’ve gone back to the wind and wave.Do not, do not weep for me,For I am happy with my sea.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- tombstone n.
- A stone erected over a grave, to preserve the memory of the deceased.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Death of an Old Seaman is in the public domain. This text is taken from The weary blues, Project Gutenberg ebook #74745; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Langston Hughes, Death of an Old Seaman, in The Weary Blues (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #74745, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hughes-weary-blues/death-of-an-old-seaman.html, id L01533.
Form and metre
Death of an Old Seaman is 10 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables.
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 hillA · seaB · stillA · meB
- 2 AABBCC headA · bedA · graveB · waveB · meC · seaC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We buried him high on a windy hill, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But his soul went out to sea. | 7 | ······· |
| I know, for I heard, when all was still, | 9 | ········· |
| His sea-soul say to me: | 6 | ······ |
| Put no tombstone at my head, | 7 | ··/···· |
| For here I do not make my bed. | 8 | ········ |
| Strew no flowers on my grave, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I’ve gone back to the wind and wave. | 8 | ········ |
| Do not, do not weep for me, | 7 | ······· |
| For I am happy with my 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.