The Sea-Child
Into the world you sent her, mother,Fashioned her body of coral and foam,Combed a wave in her hair’s warm smother,And drove her away from home.
In the dark of the night she crept to the townAnd under a doorway she laid her down,The little blue child in the foam-fringed gown.
And never a sister and never a brotherTo hear her call, to answer her cry.Her face shone out from her hair’s warm smotherLike a moonkin up in the sky.
She sold her corals; she sold her foam;Her rainbow heart like a singing shellBroke in her body: she crept back home.
Peace, go back to the world, my daughter,Daughter, go back to the darkling land;There is nothing here but sad sea water,And a handful of sifting sand.
Words in this poem
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- doorway n.
- The passage of a door; entrance way into a house or a room.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- handful n.
- As much as the hand will grasp or contain. [AS. handfull.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sea-Child 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, The Sea-Child, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/the-sea-child.html, id L27586.
Form and metre
The Sea-Child is 18 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%).
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 ABAB motherA · foamB · smotherA · homeB
- 2 AAA townA · downA · gownA
- 3 ABAB brotherA · cryB · smotherA · skyB
- 4 A-A foamA · shell · homeA
- 5 ABAB daughterA · landB · waterA · sandB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Into the world you sent her, mother, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Fashioned her body of coral and foam, | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Combed a wave in her hair’s warm smother, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And drove her away from home. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| In the dark of the night she crept to the town | 11 | ··········· |
| And under a doorway she laid her down, | 10 | ····/····· |
| The little blue child in the foam-fringed gown. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And never a sister and never a brother | 10 | ·/·/˘·/·/˘ |
| To hear her call, to answer her cry. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Her face shone out from her hair’s warm smother | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Like a moonkin up in the sky. | 8 | ········ |
| She sold her corals; she sold her foam; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Her rainbow heart like a singing shell | 9 | ·/····/˘· |
| Broke in her body: she crept back home. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Peace, go back to the world, my daughter, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Daughter, go back to the darkling land; | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| There is nothing here but sad sea water, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| And a handful of sifting sand. | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
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.