The Three Ships
As I went up the mountain-side,The sea below me glittered wide,And, Eastward, far away, I spiedOn Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,The three great ships that take the tideOn Christmas Day in the morning.
Ye have heard the song, how these must plyFrom the harbours of home to the ports o' the sky!Do ye dream none knoweth the whither and whyOn Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,The three great ships go sailing byOn Christmas Day in the morning?
Yet, as I live, I never knewThat ever a song could ring so true,Till I saw them break thro' a haze of blueOn Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;And the marvellous ancient flags they flewOn Christmas Day in the morning!
From the heights above the belfried townI saw that the sails were patched and brown,But the flags were a-flame with a great renownOn Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,And on every mast was a golden crownOn Christmas Day in the morning.
Most marvellous ancient ships were these!Were their prows a-plunge to the Chersonese?For the pomp of Rome or the glory of Greece,On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,Were they out on a quest for the Golden FleeceOn Christmas Day in the morning?
And the sun and the wind they told me thereHow goodly a load the three ships bear,For the first is gold and the second is myrrhOn Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;And the third is frankincense most rareOn Christmas Day in the morning.
They have mixed their shrouds with the golden sky,They have faded away where the last dreams die ...Ah yet, will ye watch, when the mist lifts highOn Christmas Day, on Christmas Day?Will ye see three ships come sailing byOn Christmas Day in the morning?
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- chersonese n.
- A peninsula; a tract of land nearly surrounded by water, but united to a larger tract by a neck of land or isthmus; as, the Cimbric Chersonese, or Jutland; the Tauric Chersonese, or Crimea.
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Three Ships is in the public domain. This text is taken from Collected Poems: Volume One, Project Gutenberg ebook #30501; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Noyes, The Three Ships, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/the-three-ships.html, id L21488.
Form and metre
The Three Ships is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-A- sideA · wideA · spiedA · day · tideA · morning
- 2 AAA-A- plyA · skyA · whyA · day · byA · morning
- 3 AAA-A- knewA · trueA · blueA · day · flewA · morning
- 4 AAA-A- townA · brownA · renownA · day · crownA · morning
- 5 AAB-B- theseA · chersoneseA · greeceB · day · fleeceB · morning
- 6 AA--A- thereA · bearA · myrrh · day · rareA · morning
- 7 AAA-A- skyA · dieA · highA · day · byA · morning
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As I went up the mountain-side, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The sea below me glittered wide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And, Eastward, far away, I spied | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The three great ships that take the tide | 8 | ········ |
| On Christmas Day in the morning. | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Ye have heard the song, how these must ply | 9 | ········· |
| From the harbours of home to the ports o' the sky! | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Do ye dream none knoweth the whither and why | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The three great ships go sailing by | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On Christmas Day in the morning? | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Yet, as I live, I never knew | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That ever a song could ring so true, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Till I saw them break thro' a haze of blue | 10 | ·········· |
| On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And the marvellous ancient flags they flew | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| On Christmas Day in the morning! | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| From the heights above the belfried town | 8 | ········ |
| I saw that the sails were patched and brown, | 9 | ········· |
| But the flags were a-flame with a great renown | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And on every mast was a golden crown | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| On Christmas Day in the morning. | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Most marvellous ancient ships were these! | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Were their prows a-plunge to the Chersonese? | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| For the pomp of Rome or the glory of Greece, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Were they out on a quest for the Golden Fleece | 11 | ········/˘· |
| On Christmas Day in the morning? | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| And the sun and the wind they told me there | 10 | ·········· |
| How goodly a load the three ships bear, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| For the first is gold and the second is myrrh | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And the third is frankincense most rare | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| On Christmas Day in the morning. | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| They have mixed their shrouds with the golden sky, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| They have faded away where the last dreams die ... | 11 | ··/˘˘/····· |
| Ah yet, will ye watch, when the mist lifts high | 10 | ·········· |
| On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Will ye see three ships come sailing by | 9 | ······/˘· |
| On Christmas Day in the morning? | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
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.