The Sea of Galilee
PETER.Never was such a marvellous draught of fishesHeard of in Galilee! The market-placesBoth of Bethsaida and CapernaumAre full of them! Yet we had toiled all nightAnd taken nothing, when the Master said:Launch out into the deep, and cast your nets;And doing this, we caught such multitudes,Our nets like spiders' webs were snapped asunder,And with the draught we filled two ships so fullThat they began to sink. Then I knelt downAmazed, and said: O Lord, depart from me,I am a sinful man. And he made answer:Simon, fear not; henceforth thou shalt catch men!What was the meaning of those words?
ANDREW.I know not.But here is Philip, come from Nazareth.He hath been with the Master. Tell us, Philip,What tidings dost thou bring?
PHILIP.Most wonderful!As we drew near to Nain, out of the gateUpon a bier was carried the dead bodyOf a young man, his mother's only son,And she a widow, who with lamentationBewailed her loss, and the much people with her;And when the Master saw her he was filledWith pity; and he said to her: Weep notAnd came and touched the bier, and they that bare itStood still; and then he said: Young man, arise!And he that had been dead sat up, and soonBegan to speak; and he delivered himUnto his mother. And there came a fearOn all the people, and they glorifiedThe Lord, and said, rejoicing: A great ProphetIs risen up among us! and the LordHath visited his people!
PETER.A great Prophet?Ay, greater than a Prophet: greater evenThan John the Baptist!
PHILIP.Yet the NazarenesRejected him.
PETER.The Nazarenes are dogs!As natural brute beasts, they growl at thingsThey do not understand; and they shall perish,Utterly perish in their own corruption.The Nazarenes are dogs!
PHILIP.They drave him forthOut of their Synagogue, out of their city,And would have cast him down a precipice,But, passing through the midst of them, he vanishedOut of their hands.
PETER.Wells are they without water,Clouds carried with a tempest, unto whomThe mist of darkness is reserved forever.
PHILIP.Behold, he cometh. There is one man with himI am amazed to see!
ANDREW.What man is that?
PHILIP.Judas Iscariot; he that cometh last,Girt with a leathern apron. No one knowethHis history; but the rumor of him isHe had an unclean spirit in his youth.It hath not left him yet.
CHRISTUS, passing.Come unto me,All ye that labor and are heavy laden,And I will give you rest! Come unto me,And take my yoke upon you and learn of me,For I am meek, and I am lowly in heart,And ye shall all find rest unto your souls!
PHILIP.Oh, there is something in that voice that reachesThe innermost recesses of my spirit!I feel that it might say unto the blind:Receive your sight! and straightway they would see!I feel that it might say unto the dead,Arise! and they would hear it and obey!Behold, he beckons to us!
CHRISTUS to PETER and ANDREW.Follow me!
PETER.Master, I will leave all and follow thee.
Words in this poem
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- 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,]
- drave
- , old imp. of Drive.
- synagogue n.
- A congregation or assembly of Jews met for the purpose of worship, or the performance of religious rites. [F., from L. synagoga, Gr. Syn-, and Agent.]
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- leathern a.
- Made of leather; consisting of. leather; as, a leathern purse.
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sea of Galilee is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Sea of Galilee, in Christus: A Mystery (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-christus/the-sea-of-galilee.html, id L19165.
Form and metre
The Sea of Galilee is 91 lines in 15 stanzas.
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.
- 6 -A---A peter · dogsA · things · perish · corruption · dogsA
- 11 --A-A- philip · last · knowethA · is · youthA · yet
- 12 -A-AA-- passing · meA · laden · meA · meA · heart · souls
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| PETER. | 2 | /˘ |
| Never was such a marvellous draught of fishes | 11 | /········/˘ |
| Heard of in Galilee! The market-places | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Both of Bethsaida and Capernaum | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Are full of them! Yet we had toiled all night | 10 | ·········· |
| And taken nothing, when the Master said: | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Launch out into the deep, and cast your nets; | 10 | ·········· |
| And doing this, we caught such multitudes, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Our nets like spiders' webs were snapped asunder, | 11 | /··/˘···˘/˘ |
| And with the draught we filled two ships so full | 10 | ·········· |
| That they began to sink. Then I knelt down | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Amazed, and said: O Lord, depart from me, | 10 | ˘/····˘/·· |
| I am a sinful man. And he made answer: | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Simon, fear not; henceforth thou shalt catch men! | 10 | /˘··//···· |
| What was the meaning of those words? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ANDREW. | 2 | /˘ |
| I know not. | 3 | ··· |
| But here is Philip, come from Nazareth. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| He hath been with the Master. Tell us, Philip, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| What tidings dost thou bring? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| PHILIP. | 2 | /˘ |
| Most wonderful! | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| As we drew near to Nain, out of the gate | 10 | ·········· |
| Upon a bier was carried the dead body | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Of a young man, his mother's only son, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And she a widow, who with lamentation | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Bewailed her loss, and the much people with her; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And when the Master saw her he was filled | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With pity; and he said to her: Weep not | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And came and touched the bier, and they that bare it | 11 | ··········· |
| Stood still; and then he said: Young man, arise! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And he that had been dead sat up, and soon | 10 | ·········· |
| Began to speak; and he delivered him | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| Unto his mother. And there came a fear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| On all the people, and they glorified | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The Lord, and said, rejoicing: A great Prophet | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| Is risen up among us! and the Lord | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Hath visited his people! | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| PETER. | 2 | /˘ |
| A great Prophet? | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Ay, greater than a Prophet: greater even | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Than John the Baptist! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| PHILIP. | 2 | /˘ |
| Yet the Nazarenes | 5 | ····· |
| Rejected him. | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| PETER. | 2 | /˘ |
| The Nazarenes are dogs! | 6 | ······ |
| As natural brute beasts, they growl at things | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| They do not understand; and they shall perish, | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Utterly perish in their own corruption. | 11 | /˘˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| The Nazarenes are dogs! | 6 | ······ |
| PHILIP. | 2 | /˘ |
| They drave him forth | 4 | ···· |
| Out of their Synagogue, out of their city, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And would have cast him down a precipice, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| But, passing through the midst of them, he vanished | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Out of their hands. | 4 | ···· |
| PETER. | 2 | /˘ |
| Wells are they without water, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Clouds carried with a tempest, unto whom | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The mist of darkness is reserved forever. | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| PHILIP. | 2 | /˘ |
| Behold, he cometh. There is one man with him | 11 | ˘/·/˘······ |
| I am amazed to see! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| ANDREW. | 2 | /˘ |
| What man is that? | 4 | ···· |
| PHILIP. | 2 | /˘ |
| Judas Iscariot; he that cometh last, | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Girt with a leathern apron. No one knoweth | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| His history; but the rumor of him is | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| He had an unclean spirit in his youth. | 10 | ···˘//˘··· |
| It hath not left him yet. | 6 | ······ |
| CHRISTUS, passing. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Come unto me, | 4 | ···· |
| All ye that labor and are heavy laden, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And I will give you rest! Come unto me, | 10 | ·········· |
| And take my yoke upon you and learn of me, | 11 | ··········· |
| For I am meek, and I am lowly in heart, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And ye shall all find rest unto your souls! | 10 | ·········· |
| PHILIP. | 2 | /˘ |
| Oh, there is something in that voice that reaches | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| The innermost recesses of my spirit! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘··/˘ |
| I feel that it might say unto the blind: | 10 | ·········· |
| Receive your sight! and straightway they would see! | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| I feel that it might say unto the dead, | 10 | ·········· |
| Arise! and they would hear it and obey! | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Behold, he beckons to us! | 7 | ˘/·/˘·· |
| CHRISTUS to PETER and ANDREW. | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Follow me! | 3 | /˘· |
| PETER. | 2 | /˘ |
| Master, I will leave all and follow thee. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
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