Analysis of The Shipman's Tale
Thomas Bailey Aldrich 1836 (Portsmouth) – 1907 (Boston)
Listen my masters! I speak naught but truth.
From dawn to dawn they drifted on and on,
Not knowing wither nor to what dark end.
Now the North froze them, now the hot South scorched.
Some called to God, and found great comfort so;
Some gnashed their teeth with curses, some laughed
An empty laughter, seeing they yet lived,
So sweet was breath between their foolish lips.
Day after day the same relentless sun,
Night after night the same unpitying stars.
At intervals fierce lightning tore the clouds,
Showing vast hollow spaces, and the sleet
Hissed, and the torrents of the sky were loosed.
From time to time a hand relaxed its grip,
And some pale wretch slid down into the dark
With stifled moan, and transient horror seized
The rest who waited, knowing what must be.
At every turn strange shapes reached up and clutched
The whirling wreck, held on awhile, and then
Slipt back into that blackness whence they came.
Ah, hapless folk, to be so tost and torn,
So racked by hunger, fever, fire, and wave,
And swept at last into the nameless void--
Frail girls, strong men, and mothers with their babes!
And was none saved?
My masters, not a soul!
O shipman, woful, woful is thy tale!
Our hearts are heavy and our eyes are dimmed.
What ship is this that suffered such ill fate?
What ship, my masters? Know ye not?--The World!
Scheme | XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX XXX X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 1011011111 1111110101 1101011111 1011110111 1111011101 111111011 1101010111 1111011101 1101010101 11010111 1100110101 1011010001 1001010101 1111010111 0111110101 1101010101 0111010111 11001111101 0101110101 1101110111 1101111101 11110101001 0111010101 1111010111 0111 110101 11011111 101110010111 1111110111 1111011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,327 |
Words | 241 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 24, 2, 3, 1 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 259 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 97 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Shipman's Tale" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36085/the-shipman%27s-tale>.
Discuss this Thomas Bailey Aldrich poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In