Sea-Change
‘Goneys an’ gullies an’ all o’ the birds o’ the sea,They ain’t no birds, not really,’ said Billy the Dane.Not mollies, nor gullies, nor goneys at all,’ said he,‘But simply the sperrits of mariners livin’ again.
‘Them birds goin’ fishin’ is nothin’ but souls o’ the drowned,Souls o’ the drowned an’ the kicked as are never no more;An’ that there haughty old albatross cruisin’ around,Belike he’s Admiral Nelson or Admiral Noah.
An’ merry’s the life they are living. They settle and dip,They fishes, they never stands watches, they waggle their wings;When a ship comes by, they fly to look at the shipTo see how the nowaday mariners manages things.
‘When freezing aloft in a snorter, I tell you I wish--(Though maybe it ain’t like a Christian)--I wish I could beA haughty old copper-bound albatross dipping for fishAnd coming the proud over all o’ the birds o’ the sea.’
Words in this poem
- billy n.
- A club; esp., a policeman's club.
- dane n.
- A native, or a naturalized inhabitant, of Denmark. Great Dane. [LL. Dani: cf. AS. Dene.]
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- belike adv.
- It is likely or probably; perhaps. -- Be*like"ly, adv. [Pref. be- (for by) + like.]
- waggle v. i.
- To reel, sway, or move from side to side; to move with a wagging motion; to waddle. [Freq. of wag; cf. D. waggelen, G. wackeln.]
- snorter n.
- One who snorts.
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sea-Change 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, Sea-Change, in Salt-Water Ballads (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52761, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-salt-water/sea-change.html, id L12651.
Form and metre
Sea-Change is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 68% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.6 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 seaA · daneB · heA · againB
- 2 A-A- drownedA · more · aroundA · noah
- 3 ABAB dipA · wingsB · shipA · thingsB
- 4 ABAB wishA · beB · fishA · seaB
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 anapaestic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ‘Goneys an’ gullies an’ all o’ the birds o’ the sea, | 13 | ···/˘········ |
| They ain’t no birds, not really,’ said Billy the Dane. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Not mollies, nor gullies, nor goneys at all,’ said he, | 13 | ·/˘·/˘······· |
| ‘But simply the sperrits of mariners livin’ again. | 14 | ·/˘····/˘˘/˘˘/ |
| ‘Them birds goin’ fishin’ is nothin’ but souls o’ the drowned, | 14 | ··/˘···/˘····· |
| Souls o’ the drowned an’ the kicked as are never no more; | 14 | ····˘·····/˘·· |
| An’ that there haughty old albatross cruisin’ around, | 13 | ···/˘·/˘····· |
| Belike he’s Admiral Nelson or Admiral Noah. | 14 | ˘/·/˘˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| An’ merry’s the life they are living. They settle and dip, | 14 | ·/˘····/˘·/˘·· |
| They fishes, they never stands watches, they waggle their wings; | 14 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| When a ship comes by, they fly to look at the ship | 12 | ············ |
| To see how the nowaday mariners manages things. | 14 | ····/˘·/˘˘/˘˘· |
| ‘When freezing aloft in a snorter, I tell you I wish-- | 14 | ·/˘˘/··/˘····· |
| (Though maybe it ain’t like a Christian)--I wish I could be | 14 | ·/˘····/˘····· |
| A haughty old copper-bound albatross dipping for fish | 14 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| And coming the proud over all o’ the birds o’ the sea.’ | 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.