{"id":10531,"date":"2017-01-11T11:59:46","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T03:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/?p=10531"},"modified":"2018-09-19T22:51:22","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T14:51:22","slug":"teacher-diaries-mr-james-the-poem-i-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/2017\/01\/teacher-diaries-mr-james-the-poem-i-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Teacher Diaries: Mr James – The Poem I Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favourite aspects of poetry is that it can paint vivid pictures in our minds. In a small number of words, it can create incredibly detailed images that carry a poet\u2019s message. The poem I would like to share here \u2013 Sea Fever<\/em> by John Masefield \u2013 is an example of a text that fills our imagination with natural images, but most intriguingly describes the impact of this scene upon the speaker of the poem.<\/p>\n

Masefield speaks to us through the voice of someone (whose age and gender are left unspecified) who imagines a scene of standing on a beach, before the might of a raging sea, marvelling at all the wonders of the scenes that pass before his eyes. Being written in the first person (using \u2018I\u2019 and \u2018me\u2019) makes the speaker seem so small in contrast with all the awe-inspiring natural events, and there is incredible strength conveyed with the word \u2018must\u2019, in the phrase \u2018I must go down to the seas again,\u2019 which is repeated at the beginning of each stanza.<\/p>\n

I enjoy how Masefield combines sight and sound imagery with personification (putting human feelings or actions onto non-human things). Instead of simply \u2018the sea and the sky\u2019, how much more effective is it that Masefield writes \u2018the lonely sea and the sky?\u2019<\/p>\n

The main reason I like this poem is because it allows the reader to escape for a brief moment to this natural environment, just as the speaker of the poem wishes to be in touch with nature. As a final thought, the last two lines tell us more about who the speaker is. Can you work out the speaker\u2019s occupation from the words \u2018a fellow-rover\u2019 and \u2018the long trick?\u2019<\/p>\n

Sea Fever<\/span>
\nby John Masefield<\/p>\n

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
\nAnd all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
\nAnd the wheel\u2019s kick and the wind\u2019s song and the white sail\u2019s shaking,
\nAnd a grey mist on the sea\u2019s face, and a grey dawn breaking.<\/p>\n

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

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
\nTo the gull\u2019s way and the whale\u2019s way where the wind\u2019s like a whetted knife;
\nAnd all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
\nAnd quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick\u2019s over.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my favourite aspects of poetry is that it can paint vivid pictures in our minds. In a small number of words, it can create incredibly detailed images that carry a poet\u2019s message. The poem I would like to share here \u2013 Sea Fever by John Masefield \u2013 is an example of a text […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[713],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10531"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12375,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10531\/revisions\/12375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}