Poetry · Chapter
On the Sea explained
The speaker describes the sea's dual nature—its powerful, eternal swell that fills countless caverns under Hecate's spell, and its occasional gentle calm where even a shell remains unmoved for days.
What happens
The speaker describes the sea's dual nature—its powerful, eternal swell that fills countless caverns under Hecate's spell, and its occasional gentle calm where even a shell remains unmoved for days. He invites those weary of noise or cloying melody to sit by an old cavern's mouth and brood, until they start as if hearing sea-nymphs sing.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Imagination
The sea is depicted as a living, breathing entity with eternal whisperings and a spellbinding power, inviting imaginative escape.
Sorrow and Melancholy
The invitation to brood by the cavern suggests a melancholic retreat from the world's noise into solitary contemplation.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The speaker who addresses the reader and personifies the sea.
Key passages
“It keeps eternal whisperings around Desolate shores, and with its mighty swell Gluts twice ten thousand caverns, till the spell Of Hecate leaves them their old shadowy sound.”
The sea constantly murmurs around barren coasts, and its powerful waves fill countless caves until the magic of Hecate restores their echoing noise.
The sea is personified as a persistent, magical force that fills and empties caverns.
“O ye! who have your eyeballs vex’d and tir’d, Feast them upon the wideness of the Sea;”
You whose eyes are strained and weary, refresh them by gazing at the vast expanse of the sea.
The sea offers visual relief and restoration to the tired observer.
“Sit ye near some old cavern’s mouth, and brood Until ye start, as if the sea-nymphs quired!”
Sit by the entrance of an ancient cave and meditate until you are startled, as if hearing the choir of sea-nymphs.
The act of brooding leads to a sudden, almost supernatural auditory experience.