Sea
The Sea called—I lay on the rocks and said:“I am come.”She mocked and showed her teeth,Stretching out her long green arms.“Go away!” she thundered.“Then tell me what I am to do,” I begged.“If I leave you, you will not be silent,But cry my name in the citiesAnd wistfully entreat me in the plains and forests;All else I forsake to come to you—what must I do?”“Never have I uttered your name,” snarled the Sea.“There is no more of me in your bodyThan the little salt tears you are frightened of shedding.What can you know of my love on your brown rock pillow....Come closer.”
Words in this poem
- entreat v. t.
- To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use. [OE. entreten to treat, request, OF. entraiter to treat of; pref. en- (L. in) + traitier to treat. See Treat.]
- 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
Sea is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59276; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Katherine Mansfield, Sea, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/sea.html, id L27590.
Form and metre
Sea is 15 lines in a single stanza.
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 A---A---------- saidA · come · teeth · arms · thunderedA · begged · silent · cities · forests · do · sea · body · shedding · pillow · closer
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Sea called—I lay on the rocks and said: | 10 | ·········· |
| “I am come.” | 3 | ··· |
| She mocked and showed her teeth, | 6 | ······ |
| Stretching out her long green arms. | 7 | /˘····· |
| “Go away!” she thundered. | 6 | ·˘/·/˘ |
| “Then tell me what I am to do,” I begged. | 10 | ·········· |
| “If I leave you, you will not be silent, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| But cry my name in the cities | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And wistfully entreat me in the plains and forests; | 12 | ·/˘˘/·····/˘ |
| All else I forsake to come to you—what must I do?” | 13 | ···˘/········ |
| “Never have I uttered your name,” snarled the Sea. | 11 | /··/˘··/˘·· |
| “There is no more of me in your body | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Than the little salt tears you are frightened of shedding. | 13 | ··/˘····/˘·/˘ |
| What can you know of my love on your brown rock pillow.... | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| Come closer.” | 3 | ·/˘ |
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.