The Secret of the Sea
Ah! what pleasant visions haunt meAs I gaze upon the sea!All the old romantic legends,All my dreams, come back to me.
Sails of silk and ropes of sandal,Such as gleam in ancient lore;And the singing of the sailors,And the answer from the shore!
Most of all, the Spanish balladHaunts me oft, and tarries long,Of the noble Count ArnaldosAnd the sailor's mystic song.
Like the long waves on a sea-beach,Where the sand as silver shines,With a soft, monotonous cadence,Flow its unrhymed lyric lines:--
Telling how the Count Arnaldos,With his hawk upon his hand,Saw a fair and stately galley,Steering onward to the land;--
How he heard the ancient helmsmanChant a song so wild and clear,That the sailing sea-bird slowlyPoised upon the mast to hear,
Till his soul was full of longing,And he cried, with impulse strong,--"Helmsman! for the love of heaven,Teach me, too, that wondrous song!"
"Wouldst thou,"--so the helmsman answered,"Learn the secret of the sea?Only those who brave its dangersComprehend its mystery!"
In each sail that skims the horizon,In each landward-blowing breeze,I behold that stately galley,Hear those mournful melodies;
Till my soul is full of longingFor the secret of the sea,And the heart of the great oceanSends a thrilling pulse through me.
Words in this poem
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- landward adv.
- Toward the land.
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Secret of the Sea 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 Secret of the Sea, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-secret-of-the-sea.html, id L17561.
Form and metre
The Secret of the Sea is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 19 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 AA-A meA · seaA · legends · meA
- 2 -A-A sandal · loreA · sailors · shoreA
- 3 -A-A ballad · longA · arnaldos · songA
- 4 -A-A beach · shinesA · cadence · linesA
- 5 -A-A arnaldos · handA · galley · landA
- 6 -A-A helmsman · clearA · slowly · hearA
- 7 AA-A longingA · strongA · heaven · songA
- 9 -A-A horizon · breezeA · galley · melodiesA
- 10 -A-A longing · seaA · ocean · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| As I gaze upon the sea! | 7 | ······· |
| All the old romantic legends, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| All my dreams, come back to me. | 7 | ······· |
| Sails of silk and ropes of sandal, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Such as gleam in ancient lore; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the singing of the sailors, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And the answer from the shore! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Most of all, the Spanish ballad | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Haunts me oft, and tarries long, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Of the noble Count Arnaldos | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| And the sailor's mystic song. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Like the long waves on a sea-beach, | 8 | ········ |
| Where the sand as silver shines, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With a soft, monotonous cadence, | 9 | ···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Flow its unrhymed lyric lines:-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Telling how the Count Arnaldos, | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| With his hawk upon his hand, | 7 | ······· |
| Saw a fair and stately galley, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Steering onward to the land;-- | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| How he heard the ancient helmsman | 8 | ····/˘/· |
| Chant a song so wild and clear, | 7 | ······· |
| That the sailing sea-bird slowly | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Poised upon the mast to hear, | 7 | ······· |
| Till his soul was full of longing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And he cried, with impulse strong,-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "Helmsman! for the love of heaven, | 8 | /·····/˘ |
| Teach me, too, that wondrous song!" | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "Wouldst thou,"--so the helmsman answered, | 9 | ····/·/˘˘ |
| "Learn the secret of the sea? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Only those who brave its dangers | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Comprehend its mystery!" | 7 | ·˘/·/˘˘ |
| In each sail that skims the horizon, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| In each landward-blowing breeze, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| I behold that stately galley, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Hear those mournful melodies; | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Till my soul is full of longing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| For the secret of the sea, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the heart of the great ocean | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Sends a thrilling pulse through me. | 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.