In the steely heart of a sailor lay an untouched, unspoken dream. His oppressed muscles worked on deck, his agonized mind worked at sea, his soul never moved enough for him to feel a purpose in life. A purpose in life? Why, he had never thought of such thing! The very idea seemed alien, foreign; for how could he, an overworked sailor, a phlegmatic man, an ostracized human being, have such a thing?
The sailor wiped off a bead of sweat, listening to the roars of the men around him, unaffected by the laughter that penetrated the air. One of the men drank until his cheeks turned a bright scarlet, another wound pleasant tales of treasure and power into the otherwise desolate men, and, yet another, roused up the crowd with humorous jokes, sending hollers of laughter through the men.
Disgusted by the plagued atmosphere of happiness, the sailor stormed off of the deck; creeping into the only place he could call his. A few crates lined his patch rhythmically, one always surrounded by another. It felt as a prison cell should feel: dank, mysterious, foreboding, but carrying a sense of tranquility. And even though he had never been jailed, he felt caged- more than the stars above, free but never allowed to fly. This, he thought, could be considered nothing less than his home, a place no other man could destroy or take away.
He witnessed the sun’s beam slither across the dusty wood floor, being sucked into the portholes as the day drew to a close. Silence seemed to rock the waves, the ship, begging it to sleep and to take the rest of the night into peace.
And so, the night bathed the waves and the ship on it, the ship and the people on it, the people and their minds. But the sailor lay in the night, unaffected. Perhaps he could take ...
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...st his leg as the anchor’s weight took its toll. He wanted to go back! He wanted to feel that wind!
“John?! John!” he heard William scream. And as his body plunged into the icy water, the last thing he saw was that merciful William, diving after him.
He awoke in a bed, one that only the captain was allowed to sleep on. And like the day he read poetry, there sitting around him were all the other sailors, saying things like “We didn’t know you were that lonely, you should have said something!” or “What have we done?!”
But the sailor knew his choice was the right one, and that even if he did die, he would not have regretted it. He would not have regretted the one thing that set his dream apart from the others. He would not have let that dream slip away from his fingers, like a grain of the golden sand.
Works Cited
Edgar Allen Poe's "A Dream within a Dream"
Seafarer” is a monologue from an old man at sea, alone. The main theme in The Seafarer is
As we were enjoying a concoction of light fare and drink a gentlemen of period dress appeared without entrance. He greeted us and inquired if we had tasted the "tea"? When challenged as to his attire, he introduced himself as William Fell from Lancaster England and was a permanent resident of the Inn. He proceeded to tell the story of the area, how he had found, some 150 or so years ago, this as a suitable deep water port for shipping American goods back to England. In fact, he reminisced on the building of the first continental army's naval frigate, the Virginia and later the Constellation in these very waters. He also saw the need to bring a calming atmosphere to the high spirited seaman by creating a safe refuge in these quarters. As we proceeded to refill our glass of a very warming mixture, we turned and as quietly as the Admiral had entered the room, he had some how vanished. A ghost . . . I'm not sure, but was certainly a man of stature, knowledge and power.
...He is still anchored to his past and transmits the message that one makes their own choices and should be satisfied with their lives. Moreover, the story shows that one should not be extremely rigid and refuse to change their beliefs and that people should be willing to adapt to new customs in order to prevent isolation. Lastly, reader is able to understand that sacrifice is an important part of life and that nothing can be achieved without it. Boats are often used as symbols to represent a journey through life, and like a captain of a boat which is setting sail, the narrator feels that his journey is only just beginning and realizes that everyone is in charge of their own life. Despite the wind that can sometimes blow feverishly and the waves that may slow the journey, the boat should not change its course and is ultimately responsible for completing its voyage.
Some of the most intriguing stories of today are about people’s adventures at sea and the thrill and treachery of living through its perilous storms and disasters. Two very popular selections about the sea and its terrors are The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger and “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by Henry Longfellow. Comparison between the two works determines that “The Wreck of the Hesperus” tells a more powerful sea-disaster story for several different reasons. The poem is more descriptive and suspenseful than The Perfect Storm, and it also plays on a very powerful tool to captivate the reader’s emotion. These key aspects combine to give the reader something tangible that allows them to relate to the story being told and affects them strongly.
The Seafarer highlites the transience of wordly joys which are so little important and the fact thet we have no power in comparison to God.
- - -. "Slave Ships." 1996. Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1998-2000. Comp. Clifton. Rochester: BOA Editions, 2000. 121. Print.
“We sailed on in shock, glad to get out alive but grieving for the comrades we’d lost”
In addition to the use of colorful diction, Hardy employs detailed imagery. The phrase “Dim moon-eyed fishes near Gaze at the guilded gear” depicts fishes looking at the sunk Titanic and wondering what “this vaingloriousness” was doing under the sea. He also mentions in the third stanza how the “jewels in joy designed To ravish the sensuous mind” were all lost and covered by darkness. Using these detailed images, Hardy is portraying the contrasts of before the ship sunk and after.
Since this bond of brotherhood is felt by all the men in the boat, but not discussed, it manifests in small ways as the men interact with each other. They are never irritated or upset with each other, no matter how tired or sore they are. Whenever one man is too tired to row, the next man takes over without complaining. When the correspondent thinks that he is the only person awake on the boat, and he sees and hears the shark in the water, the narrator says, “Nevertheless, it is true that he did not want to be alone with the thing. He wished one of his companions to awaken by chance and keep him company with it” (Crane 212).
At first he does not seem content with his seafaring life. During the early descriptions of his time there, it is painted as a life of hardship and penance. Images and adjectives of the sea and life there are harsh and foreboding-"ice cold", "hung round with icicles" , "fettered with frost". The sea is seen as cold, and not just in the physical sense .It is remote, a place of despair , an earthly purgatory, where there is "always anxiety …. as to what the Lord will bestow on him"2. The narrator is cut away from the comforts ...
Through metaphors, the speaker proclaims of her longing to be one with the sea. As she notices The mermaids in the basement,(3) and frigates- in the upper floor,(5) it seems as though she is associating these particular daydreams with her house. She becomes entranced with these spectacles and starts to contemplate suicide.
This poem begins energetically, in the first couplet although it does not introduce you directly to the subject of the poem. What we know is that a ship commanded by an unnamed captain has come back from a voyage, which has apparently been dreadful. (Terrinino) I can perfectly imagine the ship being meant to symbolize America during the Civil War and the damage caused by it. Also, the prize that was won is obviously the victory of the Civil War. While in the second couplet, "The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:". This passage comes off particularly enjoyable to me because it talks about the men finally coming home from the war and the enthusiasm that awaits them when they get home. It has been a long, perilous journey for the soldiers. I don't have to try to imagine that they are excited about finally being able to be reunited with their families because ...
Fear has taken a hold of every man aboard this ship, as it should; our luck is as far gone as the winds that led us off course. For nights and days gusts beyond measure have forced us south, yet our vessel beauty, Le Serpent, stays afloat. The souls aboard her, lay at the mercy of this ruthless sea. Chaotic weather has turned the crew from noble seamen searching for glory and riches, to whimpering children. To stay sane I keep the holy trinity close to my heart and the lady on my mind. Desperation comes and goes from the men’s eyes, while the black, blistering clouds fasten above us, as endless as the ocean itself. The sea rocks our wood hull back and forth but has yet to flip her. The rocking forces our bodies to cling to any sturdy or available hinge, nook or rope, anything a man can grasp with a sea soaked hand. The impacts make every step a danger. We all have taken on a ghoulish complexion; the absence of sunlight led the weak souls aboard to fight sleep until sick. Some of us pray for the sun to rise but thunder constantly deafens our cries as it crackles above the mast. We have been out to sea for fifty-five days and we have been in this forsaken storm for the last seventeen.
An odd sensation, full of guilt and anxiety, overcomes the mariner when he crosses a potential target. The only relief that the man can find comes after the interpretation of his story. This struggle of the sailor is due to the curse condemned on him for slaying the albatross. He is forced to tell a horrifying tale, and be used as an example to pass on a crucial message. “He prayeth best, who loveth best/ All things both great and small;/ For the dear God who loveth us,/ He made and loveth all.” The seaman travels the world, picking out the people who need to experience the message passed through his oral legend. Each person is chosen because of their lack of knowledge towards living things, and the importance of them all. The history of the sailor leaves an impression on the distinct listeners, and they always depart as wiser
In the first part of the poem, the Mariner starts his journey on the ship and perceives nature just with his senses. He sees it solely as a force, that will help him get to his desired destination.