Poems about the sea evoke a sense of wonder and awe for the vastness and power of the ocean. These verses explore the dichotomy of the sea’s calm serenity and its turbulent storms. They often use the sea as a metaphor for the complexities of human emotions.
Poets may draw inspiration from maritime adventures, exploring themes of exploration, discovery, and the resilience of seafarers. The sea becomes a canvas for introspection, inviting readers to reflect on their journeys, dreams, and aspirations as they navigate the ebb and flow of life’s tides.
‘On the Beach at Night Alone’ by Walt Whitman is a powerful poem. In it, Whitman discusses how everything that has ever existed or will ever exist is connected.
The sea is a powerful force that Whitman uses to evoke a sense of awe and wonder. It represents the universe's vastness and mystery and life's unceasing motion. The sea symbolizes the universe and the mysteries of life. Whitman's poem is infused with a sense of wonder and awe at the vastness of the cosmos, and the sea serves as a visual metaphor for this boundless expanse.
A vast similitude interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
‘Huge Vapours Brood above the Clifted Shore’ by Charlotte Smith describes a brooding storm the lighted paths of life one might choose to follow.
The sea serves as a dominant metaphor for the unknown, with its "repercussive roar" and "drowsy billows." It's both serene and terrifying, embodying the dual nature of life's uncertainties. The sea represents both the external world and internal emotional states, contributing to the atmosphere and the thematic depth of the poem.
‘The Sea’ is a brilliantly insightful poetic rendering of the sea and its constantly shifting behavior, making it impossible to pin down.
Reeves poem is undoubtedly one of the best poetic depictions of the sea ever written and there have been countless over the millennia in which humanity has drawn inspiration from the ocean. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the poem is its originality, as it offers a completely different way of understanding the sea and its habits than any poem or story written before or since.
The sea is a hungry dog, Giant and grey. He rolls on the beach all day. With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
‘Apostrophe to the Ocean’ by Lord Byron is an excerpt from Byron’s long, epic poem ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.’ The excerpt includes seven stanzas from the poem, starting with stanza CLXXVIII, or 178, and ending with stanza 184.
The sea is the primary topic at work in this poem. The poet is interested in depicting and sharing images related to the ocean's strength and God's creation of it. Readers should walk away from this piece feeling the same fear and respect as the speaker. The poet does a wonderful job of describing how impossible it is to define the ocean and how powerful the urge is to describe it in verse.
‘At Night On The High Sea’ by Hermann Hesse is a bleak but beautiful poem about finding yourself separated from the ones you love, grappling with its strange harmony amidst fears of being forsaken.
The sea is one of the core topics of this poem by Hesse, acting as both a setting and a personified character that interacts with the speaker. It also takes the form of an austere teacher, a common theme in his poems, revealing to the speaker the necessity offered by its tranquilizing solitude.
‘The Wreck of the Hesperus’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a narrative poem about a shipwreck and human vanity.
This poem is primarily about the sea and its power over human beings. The poem tells the story of a ship, the Hesperus, caught in a violent storm. The poem depicts the sea as a fearsome and powerful force that can overcome even the strongest and most determined human beings.
PB Shelley’s ‘Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples’ describes the speaker’s dejection and how nature soothes his mood.
The poem presents the beauty and impact of the sea on human senses. The description of the ocean's untrampled floor adorned with green and purple seaweeds evokes a sense of untouched natural splendor. The waves crashing upon the shore are likened to light dissolved in star showers, imbuing the scene with a sense of ethereal beauty and wonder. Despite sitting alone on the sands, the speaker finds solace in the mesmerizing sublime beauty of the ocean, accentuated by the sweet melody arising from its rhythmic motion.
‘The Fish’ by Marianne Moore uses imagery and form to objectively describe nature and humanity’s ability to survive and mature in the face of death, destruction, and loss.
'The Fish' is about how the sea, as a whole, is like one organism that conflicts with and is embraced by unyielding death. While its depiction of the sea is largely allegorical, this poem's images are truly remarkable. With darkness contrasting the light rays that seep into the sea and the colorful inhabitants of the tidal pools, this poem is an artful representation of the ocean.
‘The River’ by Sara Teasdale narrates the poignant merging of the river in the sea from the personified river’s perspective.
This poem presents the sea as a chaotic and overwhelming force, unlike its conventional portrayal as serene and still. It shows the union of the river and the sea as painful and cruel, wherein the 'wild and black' sea harbors thirst tides that pay no heed to the river's cries, emphasizing the sea might not be as one expects it to be. The darker portrayal of the sea as unforgivable, wide, leaping, and indifferent, which consumes the river, evokes fear, suggesting its waves could swallow anything and change its life forever; this dark portrayal of the sea is reminiscent of ancient and medieval times, i.e., before the Age of Exploration when the sea was associated with darkness and the unknown.
‘The Sea Eats the Land At Home’ is the story a small town that is destroyed by an angry sea and all the lives that are impacted.
The poem portrays the sea as a destructive and overpowering force that invades and consumes the land, disrupting daily life and causing profound loss. It addresses the sea’s relentless power by illustrating its ability to destroy homes and belongings, evoking fear, grief, and a sense of helplessness in the affected community. The sea symbolizes nature’s uncontrollable might.
Vernon Scannell’s ‘Hide and Seek’ delves into loneliness and abandonment through a narrative of a hide-and-seek game.
The symbol of the sea infuses the poem with layers of meaning, suggesting both a sense of escapism and the harsh reality of isolation. Despite being in a tool shed, the protagonist perceives the scent of the seaside, perhaps indicative of their suppressed desire to escape the confines of their hiding place and imagine themselves in a more idyllic setting. Alternatively, the sea can symbolize vastness, depth, and the unknown, reflecting the protagonist's journey into the depths of isolation.
Call out. Call loud: ‘I’m ready! Come and find me!’
The sacks in the toolshed smell like the seaside.
They’ll never find you in this salty dark,
But be careful that your feet aren’t sticking out.
‘After the Storm’ narrates Shabine’s journey of finding his own self through personal crisis in the wake of a turbulent sea-voyage
As setting and central metaphor, the sea in the poem embodies power, danger, and renewal. In the storm’s aftermath, it shifts from adversary to companion, reflecting Shabine’s altered perspective. Walcott uses its vastness to underscore themes of isolation, freedom, and uncertainty, while its rhythms shape the poem’s pacing. The sea becomes capable of destruction and healing, mirroring the unpredictability of life. It also reflects postcolonial Caribbean’s ongoing negotiation with change and survival.
There’s a fresh light that follows a storm
while the whole sea still havoc; in its bright wake
‘Landfall, Grenada’ serves as an elegy for a dead mariner. The poet praises his friend’s stoic attitude, even in the face of death.
The man being eulogized in this poem was a sailor and, as such, the sea was an important part of his life. The mariner's attitude toward the sea is discussed in the poem, and this is used as an example of how he approached life. However, the sea means more than just the place where he worked. The sea becomes a metaphor for both life and death in the poem, and as such, it also shows how the man approached both.
Where you are rigidly anchored,
the groundswell of blue foothills, the blown canes
‘Sea Fever’ by John Masefield depicts the speaker’s passion for the sea and longing for a sailor’s adventurous lifestyle.
The entire poem is about the sea and the speaker’s strong desire to return to it. He talks about the ocean like it is a living thing, describing its movement, sounds, and misty air. The sea is not just a place for him; it feels like home. He misses everything about it and longs to be surrounded by its endless beauty and power.
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
‘You Will Know When You Get There’ by Allen Curnow embraces the inevitability of death via the figurative imagery of a descent into the sea.
The sea is a worthy symbol of death: unruly, immense, and indifferent to the desires of humanity. Of course, this is the point Curnow is trying to make, that death is just another element of nature that we all eventually surrender to. It is an immutable law of the world we live in.
Nobody comes up from the sea as late as this
in the day and the season, and nobody else goes down
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