An Old Song Re-Sung
I saw a ship a-sailing, a-sailing, a-sailing,With emeralds and rubies and sapphires in her hold;And a bosun in a blue coat bawling at the railing,Piping through a silver call that had a chain of gold;The summer wind was failing and the tall ship rolled.
I saw a ship a-steering, a-steering, a-steering,With roses in red thread worked upon her sails;With sacks of purple amethysts, the spoils of buccaneering,Skins of musky yellow wine, and silks in bales,Her merry men were cheering, hauling on the brails.
I saw a ship a-sinking, a-sinking, a-sinking,With glittering sea-water splashing on her decks,With seamen in her spirit-room singing songs and drinking,Pulling claret bottles down, and knocking off the necks,The broken glass was chinking as she sank among the wrecks.
Words in this poem
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- claret n.
- The name firat given in England to the red wines of M [OE. claret, clare, clarry, OF. claret, clar, fr. cler, F. clair, clear, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Old Song Re-Sung is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #40717; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Masefield, An Old Song Re-Sung, in The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #40717, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-round-house/an-old-song-re-sung.html, id L24993.
Form and metre
An Old Song Re-Sung is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABB. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 ABABB sailingA · holdB · railingA · goldB · rolledB
- 2 ABABB steeringA · sailsB · buccaneeringA · balesB · brailsB
- 3 ABABB sinkingA · decksB · drinkingA · necksB · wrecksB
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I saw a ship a-sailing, a-sailing, a-sailing, | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| With emeralds and rubies and sapphires in her hold; | 13 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘··· |
| And a bosun in a blue coat bawling at the railing, | 14 | ········/˘··/˘ |
| Piping through a silver call that had a chain of gold; | 13 | /˘··/˘······· |
| The summer wind was failing and the tall ship rolled. | 13 | ·/˘··/˘·····˘ |
| I saw a ship a-steering, a-steering, a-steering, | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| With roses in red thread worked upon her sails; | 12 | ·/˘····˘···· |
| With sacks of purple amethysts, the spoils of buccaneering, | 14 | ···/˘/˘····˘/˘ |
| Skins of musky yellow wine, and silks in bales, | 11 | ··/˘/˘····· |
| Her merry men were cheering, hauling on the brails. | 12 | ·/˘··/˘/˘··· |
| I saw a ship a-sinking, a-sinking, a-sinking, | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| With glittering sea-water splashing on her decks, | 12 | ·/˘˘·/˘/˘··· |
| With seamen in her spirit-room singing songs and drinking, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Pulling claret bottles down, and knocking off the necks, | 13 | /˘/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| The broken glass was chinking as she sank among the wrecks. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘······· |
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.