Laurel · John Masefield · Salt-Water Ballads

Sing a Song o’ Shipwreck

John Masefield (1878–1967) · 1902

anapaestic pentameter · rhyming couplets · 36 lines · from Salt-Water Ballads

He lolled on a bollard, a sun-burned son of the sea,With ear-rings of brass and a jumper of dungaree,‘’N’ many a queer lash-up have I seen,’ says he.

‘But the toughest hooray o’ the racket,’ he says, ‘I’ll be sworn,’N’ the roughest traverse I worked since the day I was born,Was a packet o’ Sailor’s Delight as I scoffed in the seas o’ the Horn.

‘All day long in the calm she had rolled to the swell,Rolling through fifty degrees till she clattered her bell;’N’ then came snow, ’n’ a squall, ’n’ a wind was colder ’n hell.

‘She was settlin’ down by the stern when I got to the deck,Her waist was a smother o’ sea as was up to your neck,’N’ her masts were gone, ’n’ her rails, ’n’ she was a wreck.

‘We rigged up a tackle, a purchase, a sort of a shift,To hoist the boats off o’ the deck-house and get them adrift,When her stern gives a sickenin’ settle, her bows give a lift,

‘’N’ comes a crash of green water as sets me afloatWith freezing fingers clutching the keel of a boat--The bottom-up whaler--’n’ that was the juice of a note.

‘Well, I clambers acrost o’ the keel ’n’ I gets me secured,When I sees a face in the white o’ the smother to looard,So I gives ’im a ’and, ’n’ be shot if it wasn’t the stooard!

‘Wi’ never a dollop to sup nor a morsel to bite,The lips of us blue with the cold ’n’ the heads of us light,Adrift in a Cape Horn sea for a day ’n’ a night.

‘’N’ then the stooard goes dotty ’n’ puts a tune to his lip,’N’ moans about Love like a dern old hen wi’ the pip--(I sets no store upon stooards--they ain’t no use on a ship).

‘’N’ “mother,” the looney cackles, “come ’n’ put Willy to bed!”So I says “Dry up, or I’ll fetch you a crack o’ the head”;“The kettle’s a-bilin’,” he answers, “’n’ I’ll go butter the bread.”

‘’N’ he falls to singin’ some slush about clinkin’ a can,’N’ at last he dies, so he does, ’n’ I tells you, Jan,I was glad when he did, for he weren’t no fun for a man.

‘’N’ then I dithers, I guess, for the next as I knewWas the voice of a mate as was sayin’ to one of the crew,“Easy, my son, wi’ the brandy, be shot if he ain’t comin’-to!”’

Words in this poem

jumper n.: One who, or that which, jumps.
dungaree n.: A coarse kind of unbleached cotton stuff. [India]
packet n.: A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a packet of letters. [F. paquet, dim. fr. LL. paccus, from the same source as E. pack. See Pack.]
adrift adv.: Floating at random; in a drifting condition; at the mercy of wind and waves. Also fig. [Pref. a- (for on) + drift.]
afloat adv.: Borne on the water; floating; on board ship. [Pref. a- + float.]
whaler n.: A vessel or person employed in the whale fishery.
dotty a.: Composed of, or characterized by, dots.
dern a.: Hidden; concealed; secret. [See Dearn, a.]
willy n.: A large wicker basket. Halliwell. [Cf. Willow.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Sing a Song o’ Shipwreck 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, Sing a Song o’ Shipwreck, in Salt-Water Ballads (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52761, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-salt-water/sing-a-song-o-shipwreck.html, id L12647.

Form and metre

Sing a Song o’ Shipwreck is 36 lines in 12 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.0 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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 AAA sea^A · dungaree^A · he^A
2 AAA sworn^A · born^A · horn^A
3 AAA swell^A · bell^A · hell^A
4 AAA deck^A · neck^A · wreck^A
5 AAA shift^A · adrift^A · lift^A
6 AAA afloat^A · boat^A · note^A
7 AAA secured^A · looard^A · stooard^A
8 AAA bite^A · light^A · night^A
9 AAA lip^A · pip^A · ship^A
10 AAA bed^A · head^A · bread^A
11 AAA can^A · jan^A · man^A
12 AAA knew^A · crew^A · to^A

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
He lolled on a bollard, a sun-burned son of the sea,	13	····/˘·······
With ear-rings of brass and a jumper of dungaree,	13	·······/˘····
‘’N’ many a queer lash-up have I seen,’ says he.	12	·/˘·········
‘But the toughest hooray o’ the racket,’ he says, ‘I’ll be sworn,	15	··/˘˘/··/˘·····
’N’ the roughest traverse I worked since the day I was born,	14	··/˘/˘········
Was a packet o’ Sailor’s Delight as I scoffed in the seas o’ the Horn.	18	··/˘·/˘˘/·········
‘All day long in the calm she had rolled to the swell,	12	············
Rolling through fifty degrees till she clattered her bell;	13	/˘·/˘˘/··/˘··
’N’ then came snow, ’n’ a squall, ’n’ a wind was colder ’n hell.	15	···········/˘··
‘She was settlin’ down by the stern when I got to the deck,	14	··············
Her waist was a smother o’ sea as was up to your neck,	14	····/˘········
’N’ her masts were gone, ’n’ her rails, ’n’ she was a wreck.	13	·············
‘We rigged up a tackle, a purchase, a sort of a shift,	14	····/˘·/˘·····
To hoist the boats off o’ the deck-house and get them adrift,	14	············˘/
When her stern gives a sickenin’ settle, her bows give a lift,	15	········/˘·····
‘’N’ comes a crash of green water as sets me afloat	13	······/˘···˘/
With freezing fingers clutching the keel of a boat--	12	·/˘/˘/˘·····
The bottom-up whaler--’n’ that was the juice of a note.	14	·/˘·/˘········
‘Well, I clambers acrost o’ the keel ’n’ I gets me secured,	15	··/˘·········˘/
When I sees a face in the white o’ the smother to looard,	14	··········/˘··
So I gives ’im a ’and, ’n’ be shot if it wasn’t the stooard!	15	···········/˘··
‘Wi’ never a dollop to sup nor a morsel to bite,	14	·/˘·/˘····/˘··
The lips of us blue with the cold ’n’ the heads of us light,	14	··············
Adrift in a Cape Horn sea for a day ’n’ a night.	13	˘/···········
‘’N’ then the stooard goes dotty ’n’ puts a tune to his lip,	14	·····/˘·······
’N’ moans about Love like a dern old hen wi’ the pip--	13	·············
(I sets no store upon stooards--they ain’t no use on a ship).	14	··············
‘’N’ “mother,” the looney cackles, “come ’n’ put Willy to bed!”	15	·/˘·/˘/˘···/˘··
So I says “Dry up, or I’ll fetch you a crack o’ the head”;	14	··············
“The kettle’s a-bilin’,” he answers, “’n’ I’ll go butter the bread.”	16	·/˘·/˘·/˘···/˘··
‘’N’ he falls to singin’ some slush about clinkin’ a can,	14	····/˘········
’N’ at last he dies, so he does, ’n’ I tells you, Jan,	13	·············
I was glad when he did, for he weren’t no fun for a man.	15	········/˘·····
‘’N’ then I dithers, I guess, for the next as I knew	13	···/˘········
Was the voice of a mate as was sayin’ to one of the crew,	15	········/˘·····
“Easy, my son, wi’ the brandy, be shot if he ain’t comin’-to!”’	16	/˘····/˘·····/˘·

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.

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