Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Seaweed
1When descends on the Atlantic
2 The gigantic
3Storm-wind of the equinox,
4Landward in his wrath he scourges
5 The toiling surges,
6Laden with seaweed from the rocks:
7From Bermuda's reefs; from edges
8 Of sunken ledges,
9In some far-off, bright Azore;
10From Bahama, and the dashing,
11 Silver-flashing
12Surges of San Salvador;
13From the tumbling surf, that buries
14 The Orkneyan skerries,
15Answering the hoarse Hebrides;
16And from wrecks of ships, and drifting
17 Spars, uplifting
18On the desolate, rainy seas; --
19Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
20 On the shifting
21Currents of the restless main;
22Till in sheltered coves, and reaches
23 Of sandy beaches,
24All have found repose again.
25So when storms of wild emotion
26 Strike the ocean
27Of the poet's soul, erelong
28From each cave and rocky fastness,
29 In its vastness,
30Floats some fragment of a song:
31From the far-off isles enchanted,
32 Heaven has planted
33With the golden fruit of Truth;
34From the flashing surf, whose vision
36In the tropic clime of Youth;
37From the strong Will, and the Endeavor
38 That forever
39Wrestle with the tides of Fate;
40From the wreck of Hopes far-scattered,
41 Tempest-shattered,
42Floating waste and desolate; --
43Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
44 On the shifting
45Currents of the restless heart;
46Till at length in books recorded,
47 They, like hoarded
48Household words, no more depart.
Notes
3] equinox: loosely, the region of the equator.
7] Bermuda: west Atlantic islands eastsoutheast of Cape Hatteras.
9] Azore: Azores, north Atlantic islands off the coast of Portugal.
10] Bahama: west Atlantic islands southeast of Florida.
12] San Salvador: island in the Bahamas, also called Watling Island.
14] Orkneyan skerries: reefs, or rocky islands, of the Orkneys, north of Scotland.
15] Hebrides: north Atlantic islands west of Scotland.
35] Elysian: of the classical fields for the blessed dead.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with Bibliographical and Critical Notes, Riverside Edition (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1890), I, 258-59. PS 2250 E90 Robarts Library.
First publication date:
January
1845
Publication date note: Graham's Magazine (Jan. 1845); The Belfry of Bruges (1845)
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1998.
Recent editing: 4:2002/4/6
Composition date:
1844
Rhyme: aabccb
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