J.D. McClatchy
Throughout history, poets have felt the ancient pull of the sea, exploring the full range of mankindâ€™s nautical fears, dreams, and longings. The colorful legends of the seaâ€“pirates and mermaids, phantom ships and the sunken city of Atlantisâ€“have inspired as many imaginations as have the realities of lighthouses and shipwrecks, of icebergs and frothing foam and seaweed.,This marvelous collection includes classics old and new, from Homer and Milton to Plath and Merwin. Here are Tennysonâ€™s seductive sea-fairies next to Poeâ€™s beloved Annabel Lee. Here is Coleridgeâ€™s darkly brooding â€œThe Rime of the Ancient Marinerâ€ alongside the grandeur of Shakespeareâ€™s â€œFull Fathom Five.â€ And here is Masefieldâ€™s â€œI must go down to the seas againâ€ alongside Cavafyâ€™s â€œIthakaâ€ and Stevensâ€™s â€œThe Idea of Order at Key West.â€ In the wide variety of lyrics collected hereâ€“sonnets and sea chanteys, ballads and hymns and prayersâ€“we feel the encompassing power of our planetâ€™s restless waters as metaphor, mystery, and muse.
Poetry,Anthologies,Collections,Anthologies,Adventure,Maritime,Classics,Literature,Fiction
Poems of the Sea