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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DOES NO ONE AT ALL EVER FEEL THIS WAY IN THE LEAST?, by ROBERT FROST Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: O ocean sea for all your being vast Last Line: And telling them how sinbad was a sailor Subject(s): Sea; Ocean | |||
O ocean sea, for all your being vast, Your separation of us from the Old That should have made the New World newly great Would only disappoint us at the last If it should not do anything foretold To make us different in a single trait. his though we took the Indian name for maize And changed it to the English name for wheat. It seemed to comfort us to call it corn. And so with homesickness in many ways We sought however crudely to defeat Our chance of being people newly born. And now, O sea, you're lost by aeroplane. Our sailors ride a bullet for a boat. Our coverage of distance is so facile It makes us to have had a sea in vain. Our moat around us is no more a moat, Grind shells, O futile sea, grind empty shells For all the use you are along the strand I cannot hold you innocent of fault. Spring water in our mountain bosom swells To pour fresh rivers on you from the land, Till you have lost the savor of your salt. I pick a dead shell up from where the kelp Lies in a windrow, brittle-dry and black, And holding it far forward for a symbol I cry, "Do you work for women-all the help I ask of you. Grind this I throw you back Into a lady's finger ring or thimble." The ocean had been spoken to before. But if it had no thought of paying heed To taunt of mine I knew a place to go Where I need listen to its rote no more, Nor taste its salt, nor smell its fish and weed Nor be reminded of them in a blow - So far inland the very name of ocean Goes mentionless except in baby-school When teacher's own experiences fail her And she can only give the class a notion Of what it is by calling it a pool And telling them how Sinbad was a sailor. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS |
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