Tuesday 19 December 2017

Sea Fever


They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters (Psalm 107)

I'm probably talking to a very small demographic here[1], but the quotation above always used to make me giggle. First, because of the idea of going down to the sea in a ship (as opposed to on a bus, or on foot); second, because "doing business" was the euphemism our family used for animals shitting e.g. "Urgh, a dog's done its business all over the path!". Heh.

For older Anglophone readers, "going down to the sea" will also almost certainly recall the poem "Sea Fever", which was once part of the general culture, but probably no longer is. Even if you'd never actually read the poem, its first line would somehow have insinuated itself into your consciousness, in the same way as "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears", or, "To be, or not to be, that is the question". So much so, it could reliably be invoked as a scaffolding for parodic purposes. Spike Milligan of the Goon Show, for example:
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
I left my shoes and socks there; I wonder if they're dry?
Thank you, Spike. Here's the real thing:
Sea Fever
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
John Masefield, 1902

It's very much what most people expect (or wish) a poem to be. You know: rhymed, metrical, memorable, musical, evocative, and not too elliptical, allusive or even particularly profound. However, John Masefield, I think it's safe to say, has never figured in any English Literature curriculum ever, anywhere. This, despite being very popular and well-regarded in his time, and having occupied the post of Poet Laureate from 1930 until – incredibly – 1967.

There's a whole generation of these popular, accessible, but minor poets who have been written out of the story of Eng Lit – often referred to as the "Georgian" poets – writers such as Masefield, Robert Bridges, Robert Graves, and Walter de la Mare, who are often now better known for their novels, children's books, and short stories. Their poetic efforts were blown away by the huffing and puffing of Modernism, and have never come back into critical fashion, with the exception of Edward Thomas, and those who distinguished themselves as war poets, such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. Their angry-but-gentlemanly, elegiac ironies somehow seemed a perfect match for the senseless industrial slaughter of WW1. However, as well as a general "Goodbye To All That" (the title of Robert Graves' war memoir), 1914-18 seemed to leave lyrical poetry missing, presumed dead, in No Man's Land, too.

As it happens, Masefield is currently getting a fresh blast of publicity, as his (apparently) popular children's book The Box of Delights has been adapted for the stage by Piers Torday at Wilton's Music Hall over Christmas. Who knows, maybe those accessible Georgians are about to make a comeback? Hmm, rhyming metrical poems, though? Nah, it'll never happen...


[1] Tentatively, people brought up in a Bible-rich environment, with contrarian tendencies and a sense of humour that embraces the absurd and the scatalogical.

12 comments:

amolitor said...

Interestingly, I know many of the phrases from that poem but am (at most) only very very slightly familiar with the underlying work.

I am pretty sure that if you'd told me that "the lonely sea and the sky" business and the "a star to steer her by" business came from the same place 15 minutes ago, I would have been surprised. Well, I was, wasn't I? So there you go.

Something about the way it's embedded itself into common usage, I suppose.

Mike C. said...

It is a curious phenomenon, how this happens, isn't it? Or used to happen -- I doubt many actual poems make it into common currency these days, it'll be song lyrics and TV adverts instead. Newspaper sub-editors may have been one of the "transmission" routes -- they do love a punning play on a "well known phrase or saying", though they themselves are an endangered species.

Mike

David Brookes said...

Masefield was a Herefordshire man, raised in Ledbury, just a few miles from Dymock, where Edward Thomas and Robert Frost met (and lived briefly).

David

Mike C. said...

David,

Yes, it's odd how the threads join up -- have you read the Edward Hollis biography of Thomas? I started it, but couldn't finish -- he was an annoyingly doom-laden man... The countryside seems to have been full of tweed-clad scribblers, all somehow waiting for the war to happen. Films like "The Shooting Party", or "The Go-Between" capture the mood quite well.

Mike

Gavin said...

Having done my business in great waters I can assure you that Mr Masefield would have a somewhat different experience these days - I suspect we'll have to wait awhile for ryhming stanzas describing the quiet joy of closing down all the alarms on the Dynamic Positioning system when you lose one too many GPS satellites.
You may have missed it but the Box of Delights was revived on childrens TV sometime in the mid eighties. I loved it the mix of all the British myths and alchemy and the BBC went a bit overboard with all the special effects. I suspect it might not stand rewatching though compared with current CGI efforts.

Mike C. said...

Gavin,

Ha! Isn't it curious, how the modern world seems intent on squeezing the romance out of everything? Probably part of the plot to replace us all with machines...

As I think I've posted before, I've read hardly any "classic" children's books at all, and had never heard of this one. My kids were born in the 90s, so I missed anything child-related between 1966 and 1991... I keep seeing references to a prospective film of it by the Harry Potter director, too.

Mike

amolitor said...

The frustration of the modern sea poet "God damn it, nothing rhymes with 'fouled injectors'"

Mike C. said...

True, but then "Main topgallant staysail" was always a bit of a challenge, too!

Mike

David Brookes said...

Mike

Yes, I have read Matthew Hollis's biography of Thomas - I must confess I enjoyed it. I suppose Thomas would be called bipolar nowadays - he seems to have had periods when he was happy and witty as well as the black periods, but one cannot but feel sympathy for his long-suffering wife and children.

I perhaps found the biography interesting as I know many of the places in Thomas's life - we have a very old friend who lives in Petersfield, and so know Steep; we know the Dymock area very well and pass through the village every time we visit our daughter on Stroud; I grew up just a few miles from Thomas's birthplace in south west London. Incidentally, the houses in the Leadon valley outside Dymock where the poets lived are very close to the birthplace and ancestral home of the real Dick Whittington.

Finally I challenge you to produce an interesting post about Lascelles Abercrombie!

David

Mike C. said...

David,

Lascelles Abercrombie... Isn't that where the League of Gentlemen is set? ;)

Mike

amolitor said...

I have JUST run across a reference to Masefield's 'The Yarn of the “Loch Achray”' in a swallows and amazons book, in which is it suggested that between the wars children of a certain age in certain schools might have been required to memorize the thing.

Mike C. said...

As we like to say, "synchronicity spoken here" ...

Memorization of poems and chunks of Shakespeare is one of those things that many kids used to hate (my sister would weep with frustration) and has dropped out of normal classroom practice (although various Conservative politicians have tried to bring it back -- revenge of the nerds). Personally, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in poetry, it's the best way to get the "music" of metre and rhyme into your blood, but it's not for everyone, along the lines of "if you're interested in rugby, doing weights is a good idea".

Mike