A Life on the Ocean Wave
A life on the ocean wave,A home on the rolling deep,Where the scattered waters rave,And the winds their revels keep!Like an eagle caged, I pineOn this dull, unchanging shore:Oh! give me the flashing brine,The spray and the tempest’s roar!
Once more on the deck I standOf my own swift-gliding craft:Set sail! farewell to the land!The gale follows fair abaft.We shoot through the sparkling foamLike an ocean-bird set free;--Like the ocean-bird, our homeWe’ll find far out on the sea.
The land is no longer in view,The clouds have begun to frown;But with a stout vessel and crew,We’ll say, Let the storm come down!And the song of our hearts shall be,While the winds and the waters rave,A home on the rolling sea!A life on the ocean wave!
Words in this poem
- caged a.
- Confined in, or as in, a cage; like a cage or prison.
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Life on the Ocean Wave is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, A Life on the Ocean Wave, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/a-life-on-the-ocean-wave.html, id L25214.
Form and metre
A Life on the Ocean Wave is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABABCDCD waveA · deepB · raveA · keepB · pineC · shoreD · brineC · roarD
- 2 ABABCDCD standA · craftB · landA · abaftB · foamC · freeD · homeC · seaD
- 3 ABABCDCD viewA · frownB · crewA · downB · beC · raveD · seaC · waveD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A life on the ocean wave, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A home on the rolling deep, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the scattered waters rave, | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| And the winds their revels keep! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Like an eagle caged, I pine | 8 | ··/˘·˘·· |
| On this dull, unchanging shore: | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Oh! give me the flashing brine, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The spray and the tempest’s roar! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Once more on the deck I stand | 7 | ······· |
| Of my own swift-gliding craft: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Set sail! farewell to the land! | 7 | ···/··· |
| The gale follows fair abaft. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| We shoot through the sparkling foam | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Like an ocean-bird set free;-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Like the ocean-bird, our home | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| We’ll find far out on the sea. | 7 | ······· |
| The land is no longer in view, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The clouds have begun to frown; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| But with a stout vessel and crew, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| We’ll say, Let the storm come down! | 7 | ······· |
| And the song of our hearts shall be, | 8 | ····/··· |
| While the winds and the waters rave, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A home on the rolling sea! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A life on the ocean wave! | 7 | ····/˘· |
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.