Analysis of A Sea Song.

Jean Ingelow 1820 (Boston) – 1897



Old Albion sat on a crag of late.
And sang out - "Ahoy! ahoy!
Long, life to the captain, good luck to the mate.
And this to my sailor boy!
Come over, come home,
Through the salt sea foam,
My sailor, my sailor boy.

"Here's a crown to be given away, I ween,
A crown for my sailor's head,
And all for the worth of a widowed queen,
And the love of the noble dead;
And the fear and fame
Of the island's name
Where my boy was born and bred.

"Content thee, content thee, let it alone,
Thou marked for a choice so rare;
Though treaties be treaties, never a throne
Was proffered for cause as fair.
Yet come to me home,
Through the salt sea foam,
For the Greek must ask elsewhere.

"'Tis a pity, my sailor, but who can tell?
Many lands they look to me;
One of these might be wanting a Prince as well,
But that's as hereafter may be."
She raised her white head
And laughed; and she said
"That's as hereafter may be."


Scheme ababcCb dedeffe dgdgcCg hihieei
Poetic Form
Metre 1100110111 0110101 11101011101 0111101 11011 10111 1101101 10111100111 0111101 0110110101 00110101 00101 10101 1111101 1011011101 1110111 1101101001 1101111 11111 10111 101111 10101101111 1011111 11111100111 11101011 11011 01011 1101011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 886
Words 185
Sentences 13
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 169
Words per stanza (avg) 45
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
9

Jean Ingelow

Jean Ingelow, was an English poet and novelist. more…

All Jean Ingelow poems | Jean Ingelow Books

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