First Sight of the Sea
I do remember how, when very young,I saw the great sea first, and heard its swellAs I drew nearer, caught within the spellOf its vast size and its mysterious tongue.How the floor trembled, and the dark boat swungWith a man in it, and a great wave fellWithin a stone's cast! Words may never tellThe passion of the moment, when I flungAll childish records by, and felt ariseA thing that died no more! An awful powerI claimed with trembling hands and eager eyes,Mine, mine for ever, an immortal dower.--The noise of waters soundeth to this hourWhen I look seaward through the quiet skies.
Words in this poem
- seaward a.
- Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
First Sight of the Sea is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, First Sight of the Sea, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/first-sight-of-the-sea.html, id L22463.
Form and metre
First Sight of the Sea is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBACDC-DC youngA · swellB · spellB · tongueA · swungA · fellB · tellB · flungA · ariseC · powerD · eyesC · dower · hourD · skiesC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I do remember how, when very young, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| I saw the great sea first, and heard its swell | 10 | ·········· |
| As I drew nearer, caught within the spell | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of its vast size and its mysterious tongue. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| How the floor trembled, and the dark boat swung | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With a man in it, and a great wave fell | 10 | ·········· |
| Within a stone's cast! Words may never tell | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The passion of the moment, when I flung | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| All childish records by, and felt arise | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| A thing that died no more! An awful power | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| I claimed with trembling hands and eager eyes, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Mine, mine for ever, an immortal dower.-- | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The noise of waters soundeth to this hour | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| When I look seaward through the quiet skies. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
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.