To Ocean Hazard: Gipsy
Burning fire, or blowing wind;Starry night, or glowing sun:All these thou dost bring to mind,All these match thee, one by one:Ocean is thy name, most fair!Strangest name, for thee to bear.
Daughter of the sun, and childOf the wind upon the waste;Daughter of the field and wild:Thee, what oceans have embraced?What great waves have cradled thee,That thy name is of the sea?
In thy beauty, the red earth,Full of gold and jewel stone,Flames and burns: thy happy birthMade and marked thee for her own.Winds held triumph in the trees:Thou wast lying on earth's knees.
For thine ancient people keepStill their march from land to land:Ever upon earth they sleep,Woods and fields on either hand.Not upon the barren seaHave thy people dandled thee.
Closer they, than other men,To the heart of earth have come:First the wilderness, and thenField and forest, gave them home:All their days, their hearts, they mustGive to earth: and then their dust.
Was it, that they heard the seaIn the surging pinewood's voice:As they pondered names, for theeFair enough; so made their choice,Hailed thee Ocean, hailed thee queenOver glades of tossing green?
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Ocean Hazard: Gipsy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #66520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lionel Johnson, To Ocean Hazard: Gipsy, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/to-ocean-hazard-gipsy.html, id L12481.
Form and metre
To Ocean Hazard: Gipsy is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCC windA · sunB · mindA · oneB · fairC · bearC
- 2 ABABCC childA · wasteB · wildA · embracedB · theeC · seaC
- 3 ABABCC earthA · stoneB · birthA · ownB · treesC · kneesC
- 4 ABABCC keepA · landB · sleepA · handB · seaC · theeC
- 5 ABABCC menA · comeB · thenA · homeB · mustC · dustC
- 6 ABABCC seaA · voiceB · theeA · choiceB · queenC · greenC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Burning fire, or blowing wind; | 8 | /˘/˘·/˘· |
| Starry night, or glowing sun: | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| All these thou dost bring to mind, | 7 | ······· |
| All these match thee, one by one: | 7 | ······· |
| Ocean is thy name, most fair! | 7 | /˘····· |
| Strangest name, for thee to bear. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Daughter of the sun, and child | 7 | /˘····· |
| Of the wind upon the waste; | 7 | ······· |
| Daughter of the field and wild: | 7 | /˘····· |
| Thee, what oceans have embraced? | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| What great waves have cradled thee, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| That thy name is of the sea? | 7 | ······· |
| In thy beauty, the red earth, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Full of gold and jewel stone, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Flames and burns: thy happy birth | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Made and marked thee for her own. | 8 | ···˘···· |
| Winds held triumph in the trees: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thou wast lying on earth's knees. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For thine ancient people keep | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Still their march from land to land: | 7 | ······· |
| Ever upon earth they sleep, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Woods and fields on either hand. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Not upon the barren sea | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Have thy people dandled thee. | 7 | ··/˘·˘· |
| Closer they, than other men, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| To the heart of earth have come: | 7 | ······· |
| First the wilderness, and then | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Field and forest, gave them home: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| All their days, their hearts, they must | 7 | ······· |
| Give to earth: and then their dust. | 7 | ······· |
| Was it, that they heard the sea | 7 | ······· |
| In the surging pinewood's voice: | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| As they pondered names, for thee | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Fair enough; so made their choice, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Hailed thee Ocean, hailed thee queen | 8 | ·˘·/˘··· |
| Over glades of tossing green? | 7 | ····/˘· |
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.