‘Port of Many Ships’
‘It’s a sunny pleasant anchorage, is Kingdom Come,Where crews is always layin’ aft for double-tots o’ rum,’N’ there’s dancin’ ’n’ fiddlin’ of ev’ry kind o’ sort,It’s a fine place for sailor-men is that there port.’N’ I wish--I wish as I was there.
‘The winds is never nothin’ more than jest light airs,’N’ no-one gets belayin’-pinned, ’n’ no-one never swears,Yer free to loaf an’ laze around, yer pipe atween yer lips,Lollin’ on the fo’c’s’le, sonny, lookin’ at the ships.’N’ I wish--I wish as I was there.
‘For ridin’ in the anchorage the ships of all the worldHave got one anchor down ’n’ all sails furled.All the sunken hookers ’n’ the crews as took ’n’ diedThey lays there merry, sonny, swingin’ to the tide.’N’ I wish--I wish as I was there.
‘Drowned old wooden hookers green wi’ drippin’ wrack,Ships as never fetched to port, as never came back,Swingin’ to the blushin’ tide, dippin’ to the swell,’N’ the crews all singin’, sonny, beatin’ on the bell.’N’ I wish--I wish as I was there.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- laze v. i.
- To be lazy or idle. Middleton. [See Lazy.]
- atween adv.
- Between. Spenser. [See Atwain, and cf. Between.]
- wrack n.
- Wreck; ruin; destruction. [OE. wrak wreck. See Wreck.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
‘Port of Many Ships’ is in the public domain. This text is taken from Salt-Water Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #52761; 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, ‘Port of Many Ships’, in Salt-Water Ballads (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52761, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-salt-water/port-of-many-ships.html, id L12657.
Form and metre
‘Port of Many Ships’ is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AABB-- comeA · rumA · sortB · portB · wish · there
- 2 AABB-- airsA · swearsA · lipsB · shipsB · wish · there
- 3 AABB-- worldA · furledA · diedB · tideB · wish · there
- 4 AABB-- wrackA · backA · swellB · bellB · wish · there
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ‘It’s a sunny pleasant anchorage, is Kingdom Come, | 13 | ··/˘/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Where crews is always layin’ aft for double-tots o’ rum, | 13 | ···/····/˘··· |
| ’N’ there’s dancin’ ’n’ fiddlin’ of ev’ry kind o’ sort, | 13 | ··/˘········· |
| It’s a fine place for sailor-men is that there port. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| ’N’ I wish-- | 3 | ··· |
| I wish as I was there. | 6 | ······ |
| ‘The winds is never nothin’ more than jest light airs, | 12 | ···/˘/˘····· |
| ’N’ no-one gets belayin’-pinned, ’n’ no-one never swears, | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| Yer free to loaf an’ laze around, yer pipe atween yer lips, | 14 | ··········˘/·· |
| Lollin’ on the fo’c’s’le, sonny, lookin’ at the ships. | 13 | ······/˘/˘··· |
| ’N’ I wish-- | 3 | ··· |
| I wish as I was there. | 6 | ······ |
| ‘For ridin’ in the anchorage the ships of all the world | 14 | ·····/˘˘······ |
| Have got one anchor down ’n’ all sails furled. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| All the sunken hookers ’n’ the crews as took ’n’ died | 13 | ··/˘/˘······· |
| They lays there merry, sonny, swingin’ to the tide. | 12 | ···/˘/˘····· |
| ’N’ I wish-- | 3 | ··· |
| I wish as I was there. | 6 | ······ |
| ‘Drowned old wooden hookers green wi’ drippin’ wrack, | 11 | ··/˘/˘····· |
| Ships as never fetched to port, as never came back, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Swingin’ to the blushin’ tide, dippin’ to the swell, | 12 | ············ |
| ’N’ the crews all singin’, sonny, beatin’ on the bell. | 13 | ····/˘/˘····· |
| ’N’ I wish-- | 3 | ··· |
| I wish as I was there. | 6 | ······ |
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