The Sea-Child

Eliza Cook 1818 (London Road, Southwark) – 1889 (Wimbledon)



HE crawls to the cliff and plays on a brink  
Where every eye but his own would shrink;  
No music he hears but the billow’s noise,  
And shells and weeds are his only toys.  
No lullaby can the mother find
To sing him to rest like the moaning wind;  
And the louder it wails and the fiercer it sweeps,  
The deeper he breathes and the sounder he sleeps.  
 
And now his wandering feet can reach  
The rugged tracks of the desolate beach;
Creeping about like a Triton imp,  
To find the haunts of the crab and shrimp.  
He clings, with none to guide or help,  
To the furthest ridge of slippery kelp;  
And his bold heart glows while he stands and mocks
The seamew’s cry on the jutting rocks.  
 
Few years have wan’d—and now he stands  
Bareheaded on the shelving sands.  
A boat is moor’d, but his young hands cope  
Right well with the twisted cable rope;
He frees the craft, she kisses the tide;  
The boy has climb’d her beaten side:  
She drifts—she floats—he shouts with glee;  
His soul hath claim’d its right on the sea.  
 
’T is vain to tell him the howling breath
Rides over the waters with wreck and death:  
He ’ll say there ’s more of fear and pain  
On the plague-ridden earth than the storm-lash’d main.  
’T would be as wise to spend thy power  
In trying to lure the bee from the flower,
The lark from the sky, or the worm from the grave,  
As in weaning the Sea-Child from the wave.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:18 min read
81

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDD EEFFGGHH IIJJKKLL MMNNOOPP
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,404
Words 261
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8

Eliza Cook

Eliza Cook was an English author, Chartist poet and writer born in London Road, Southwark. more…

All Eliza Cook poems | Eliza Cook Books

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    Repeated use of words for effect and emphasis is called ________.
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