The Poems and Plays of John Masefield, Volume 1Macmillan, 1918 - American drama |
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Common terms and phrases
Anna beat beauty bells blind blood blow blue bones Bosun brain breath bright broken brook burning called Cape Horn cold cried daffodils dark Dauber Davy Jones dead dear death deck door drink earth eyes face felt fire flowers fo'c'sle furled futtock-shrouds Gaucho give glittering glow gone grass green grey hand head heard heart hell Henry Morgan hill horse Jimmy JOHN MASEFIELD knew light Lion living Loch Achray lonely look man's Mary masts Mate merry Michael mind moon mother never night Occleve oilskins paint passed Pauntley poems port Port Mahon rose round running rigging sail sailor ship Shropshire singing skysail song soul stars stay-sails stood sweet talk tell there's things thought took topsail town trembling tugboat turned wait wandering watch wild wind woman yard yarn
Popular passages
Page 108 - Where the shy-eyed delicate deer troop down to the brook to drink When the stars are mellow and large at the coming on of the night. O, to feel the beat of the rain, and the homely smell of the earth, Is a tune for the blood to jig to, a joy past power of words; And the blessed green comely meadows are all a-ripple with mirth At the noise of the lambs at play and the dear wild cry of the birds.
Page 173 - Christ who holds the open gate, O Christ who drives the furrow straight, O Christ, the plough, O Christ, the laughter Of holy white birds flying after, Lo, all my heart's field red and torn, And Thou wilt bring the young green corn, The young green corn divinely springing, The young green corn forever singing; And when the field is fresh and fair Thy blessed feet shall glitter there, And we will walk the weeded field, And tell the golden harvest's yield, The corn that makes the holy bread By which...
Page 31 - I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied...
Page 82 - Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir, Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine, With a cargo of ivory, And apes and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Page 290 - Call all hands on deck!" The Dauber knew its meaning; it was come: Cape Horn, that tramples beauty into wreck. And crumples steel and smites the strong man dumb. Down clattered flying kites and staysails: some Sang out in quick, high calls: the fair-leads skirled, And from the south-west came the end of the world.
Page 253 - It's not been done, the sea, not yet been done, From the inside, by one who really knows; I'd give up all if I could be the one, But art comes dear the way the money goes.
Page 92 - Laugh and be merry, remember, better the world with a song, Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong. Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a span. Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man.
Page 293 - He saw his yard tilt downwards. Then the snow Whirled all about— dense, multitudinous, cold— Mixed with the wind's one devilish thrust and shriek, Which whiffled out men's tears, deafened, took hold, Flattening the flying drift against the cheek. The yards buckled and bent, man could not speak. The ship lay on her broadside; the wind's sound Had devilish malice at having got her downed. ***** How long the gale had blown he could not tell, Only the world had changed, his life had died. A moment...
Page 101 - I hold that when a person dies His soul returns again to earth; Arrayed in some new flesh-disguise Another mother gives him birth. With sturdier limbs and brighter brain The old soul takes the road again.
Page 173 - Christ-would sing aloud, And as I drove the clods apart Christ would be ploughing in my heart, Through rest-harrow and bitter roots, Through all my bad life's rotten fruits.