The Beach

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



Louder than gulls the little children scream
Whom fathers haul into the jovial foam;
But others fearlessly rush in, breast high,
Laughing the salty water from their mouthes--
Heroes of the nursery.

The horny boatman, who has seen whales
And flying fishes, who has sailed as far
As Demerara and the Ivory Coast,
Will warn them, when they crowd to hear his tales,
That every ocean smells of tar.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

21 sec read
403

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXAX ABXAB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 401
Words 71
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 5, 5

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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