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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OLD RETIRED SEACAPTAIN, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The old sea-captain has sailed the Last Line: In the cloud of his beetling beard. Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Discontent; Retirement; Sailing & Sailors; Sea; Dissatisfaction; Ocean | |||
THE old sea-captain has sailed the seas So long, that the waves at mirth, Or the waves gone wild, and the crests of these, Were as near playmates from birth: He has loved both the storm and the calm, because They seemed as his brothers twain, -- The flapping sail was his soul's applause, And his rapture, the roaring main. But now -- like a battered hulk seems he, Cast high on a foreign strand, Though he feels "in port," as it need must be, And the stay of a daughter's hand -- Yet ever the round of the listless hours, -- His pipe, in the languid air -- The grass, the trees, and the garden flowers, And the strange earth everywhere! And so betimes he is restless here In this little inland town, With never a wing in the atmosphere But the windmill's, up and down; His daughter's home in this peaceful vale, And his grandchild 'twixt his knees -- But never the hail of a passing sail, Nor the surge of the angry seas! He quits his pipe, and he snaps its neck -- Would speak, though he coughs instead, Then paces the porch like a quarterdeck With a reeling mast o'erhead! Ho! the old sea-captain's cheeks glow warm, And his eyes gleam grim and weird, As he mutters about, like a thunderstorm, In the cloud of his beetling beard. | 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 A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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