The Sailing of the Long-Ships (October, 1899)
They saw the cables loosened, they saw the gangways cleared,They heard the women weeping, they heard the men that cheered;Far off, far off, the tumult faded and died away,And all alone the sea-wind came singing up the Bay.
"I came by Cape St. Vincent, I came by Trafalgar,I swept from Torres Vedras to golden Vigo Bar,I saw the beacons blazing that fired the world with lightWhen down their ancient highway your fathers passed to fight.
"O race of tireless fighters, flushed with a youth renewed,Right well the wars of Freedom befit the Sea-kings' brood;Yet as ye go forget not the fame of yonder shore,The fame ye owe your fathers and the old time before.
"Long-suffering were the Sea-kings, they were not swift to kill,But when the sands had fallen they waited no man's will;
Though all the world forbade them, they counted not nor cared,They weighed not help or hindrance, they did the thing they dared.
"The Sea-kings loved not boasting, they cursed not him that cursed,They honoured all men duly, and him that faced them, first;They strove and knew not hatred, they smote and toiled to save,They tended whom they vanquished, they praised the fallen brave.
"Their fame's on Torres Vedras, their fame's on Vigo Bar,Far-flashed to Cape St. Vincent it burns from Trafalgar;Mark as ye go the beacons that woke the world with lightWhen down their ancient highway your fathers passed to fight."
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sailing of the Long-Ships (October, 1899) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems: New and Old, Project Gutenberg ebook #24405; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry John Newbolt, The Sailing of the Long-Ships (October, 1899), in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/the-sailing-of-the-long-ships-october-1899.html, id L11414.
Form and metre
The Sailing of the Long-Ships (October, 1899) is 24 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in alexandrines.
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 clearedA · cheeredA · awayB · bayB
- 2 --AA trafalgar · bar · lightA · fightA
- 3 AABB renewedA · broodA · shoreB · beforeB
- 4 AA killA · willA
- 5 AA caredA · daredA
- 6 AABB cursedA · firstA · saveB · braveB
- 7 --AA bar · trafalgar · lightA · fightA
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 alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They saw the cables loosened, they saw the gangways cleared, | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| They heard the women weeping, they heard the men that cheered; | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| Far off, far off, the tumult faded and died away, | 13 | ·····/˘/˘··˘/ |
| And all alone the sea-wind came singing up the Bay. | 13 | ··˘/····/˘··· |
| "I came by Cape St. Vincent, I came by Trafalgar, | 13 | ·····/˘···˘/˘ |
| I swept from Torres Vedras to golden Vigo Bar, | 13 | ···/····/˘/˘· |
| I saw the beacons blazing that fired the world with light | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/···· |
| When down their ancient highway your fathers passed to fight. | 13 | ···/˘/··/˘··· |
| "O race of tireless fighters, flushed with a youth renewed, | 12 | ···/˘/····˘/ |
| Right well the wars of Freedom befit the Sea-kings' brood; | 13 | ·····/˘˘/···· |
| Yet as ye go forget not the fame of yonder shore, | 13 | ····˘/····/˘· |
| The fame ye owe your fathers and the old time before. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| "Long-suffering were the Sea-kings, they were not swift to kill, | 13 | ·/˘·········· |
| But when the sands had fallen they waited no man's will; | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘··· |
| Though all the world forbade them, they counted not nor cared, | 13 | ····˘/··/˘··· |
| They weighed not help or hindrance, they did the thing they dared. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| "The Sea-kings loved not boasting, they cursed not him that cursed, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| They honoured all men duly, and him that faced them, first; | 13 | ·/˘··/˘······ |
| They strove and knew not hatred, they smote and toiled to save, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| They tended whom they vanquished, they praised the fallen brave. | 13 | ·/˘··/˘···/˘· |
| "Their fame's on Torres Vedras, their fame's on Vigo Bar, | 13 | ···/······/˘· |
| Far-flashed to Cape St. Vincent it burns from Trafalgar; | 13 | ·····/˘···˘/˘ |
| Mark as ye go the beacons that woke the world with light | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| When down their ancient highway your fathers passed to fight." | 13 | ···/˘/··/˘··· |
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.