The Sea-Child
Katherine Mansfield 1888 (Wellington) – 1923 (Fontainebleau, Île-de-France)
Into the world you sent her, mother,
Fashioned her body of coral and foam,
Combed a wave in her hair's warm smother,
And drove her away from home
In the dark of the night she crept to the town
And under a doorway she laid her down,
The little blue child in the foam-fringed gown.
And never a sister and never a brother
To hear her call, to answer her cry.
Her face shone out from her hair's warm smother
Like a moonkin up in the sky.
She sold her corals; she sold her foam;
Her rainbow heart like a singing shell
Broke in her body: she crept back home.
Peace, go back to the world, my daughter,
Daughter, go back to the darkling land;
There is nothing here but sad sea water,
And a handful of sifting sand.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 56 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABAB CCC ADAD BXB AEAE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 697 |
Words | 141 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 3, 4, 3, 4 |
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"The Sea-Child" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/25149/the-sea-child>.
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