Analysis of A life on the ocean wave

Epes Sargent 1813 (Gloucester) – 1880 (Boston)



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 pine
On this dull, unchanging shore:
Oh! give me the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest's roar!

Once more on the deck I stand
Of my own swift-gliding craft:
Set sail! farewell to the land!
The gale follows fair abaft.
We shoot through the sparkling foam
Like an ocean-bird set free; -
Like the ocean-bird, our home
We'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!


Scheme Ababcdcd exeefgfg hihigagA
Poetic Form
Metre 0110101 0110101 1010101 0011101 1110111 1110101 1110101 010011 1110111 1111101 111101 011011 1110101 1110111 10101101 1111101 01111001 0110111 11011001 1110111 001110111 10100101 0110101 0110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 740
Words 149
Sentences 11
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 192
Words per stanza (avg) 49
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 04, 2023

45 sec read
195

Epes Sargent

Epes Sargent was an American editor, poet and playwright. more…

All Epes Sargent poems | Epes Sargent Books

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