Analysis of The North Ship (Legend)
Philip Larkin 1922 (Coventry) – 1985 (Hull)
I saw three ships go sailing by,
Over the sea, the lifting sea,
And the wind rose in the morning sky,
And one was rigged for a long journey.
The first ship turned towards the west,
Over the sea, the running sea,
And by the wind was all possessed
And carried to a rich country.
The second ship turned towards the east,
Over the sea, the quaking sea,
And the wind hunted it like a beast
To anchor in captivity.
The third ship drove towards the north,
Over the sea, the darkening sea,
But no breath of wind came forth,
And the decks shone frostily.
The northern sky rose high and black
Over the proud unfruitful sea,
East and west the ships came back
Happily or unhappily:
But the third went wide and far
Into an unforgiving sea
Under a fire-spilling star,
And it was rigged for a long journey.
Scheme | ABAB CBCB DBDB EBEX FBFB GBGB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 11111101 10010101 001100101 011110110 01110101 10010101 01011101 01010110 010110101 10010101 001101101 11000100 01110101 100101001 1111111 00111 01011101 100111 1010111 10010100 1011101 01100101 10010101 011110110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 768 |
Words | 150 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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"The North Ship (Legend)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54483/the-north-ship-%28legend%29>.
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