Activity 1

How does the poem highlight the theme of friend- ship and shared experiences?

The poet expresses his desire for sailing once again in the sea. The poet resolves to go to sea. But he desires the company of a cheerful fellow traveller. He wants to hear his exaggerated stories. He is in need of a friend to share his experiences. It adds to his happiness.

Activity 2

Pick out words and expressions from the poem that portray the poet’s longing for the liberating life at sea and his sense of adventure.

Risking one’s life is strangely liberating. Wheel’s kick, wind’s song, white sail’s shaking, grey mist on the sea face, windy day with the white clouds flying, flung spray, blown spume, cry of seagulls, wind like whetted knife..all are adventurous risks liberating the poet to a vagrant gypsy life, to the gull’s way and the whale’s way.

Activity 3

Imagine you are in a hot air balloon carrying imag- es from the poem ‘Sea-Fever’. Fly up and adorn the clouds with appropriate imagery from the poem.

• the lonely sea and the sky grey mist on the sea’s face

• white clouds flying. grey dawn breaking

⚫ merry yarn. sea-gulls crying. laughing fellow-rover

• wind’s song

Tactile images:

flung spray. blown spume

• wind’s like a whetted knife.

Activity 4

In the poem ‘Sea-Fever’, poetic devices contribute greatly to the effectiveriess of the poem. They reflect the speaker’s deep desire for adventure on the sea.

The central theme of the poem ‘Sea-Fever’ is the Theater’s irresistible longing for and a life spadventure. Analyse and appreciate the poem, focusing on its theme, imagery and other poetic devices.

The poet, John Masefield, in his poem, Sea- Fever, speaks passionately about his desire to return to the happy life of a sailor at sea. He loves adventure and the freedom of the open sea. He wants to travel on a ship that roams through the ocean. On a ship, he can go anywhere he likes. He is not tied down to any place in particular. The title of the poem suggests the poet’s deep desire to be at sea. The poem evokes nostalgia and sentimental thoughts. The line, ‘I must go down to the seas again’, expresses the poet’s desperateness. Each stanza depicts how badly the poet wishes for a life at sea. He wants to listen to the sounds of the ship, and the waves. All that he asks for is a tall ship to sail and the help of a guiding star. The sound of the wind, and the silvery fog on the water, as the sun rises, intensify his desire.

The call of the sea is seductive and the poet cannot resist it. He loves a wild, windy day, the foaming ocean waters, and the shriek of seagulls. He wants to follow the seabirds and the whales. He wants to go to the places where the wind is sharp. He wants to listen to the tales of a fellow wanderer. When the long journey is over, he must have a peaceful, dreamy sleep.

The poetic devices used in the poem greatly contribute to its effectiveness. There are several metaphors in the poem. The words, ‘when the long trick is over’, imply that the end of a long voyage is the end of a long life. The sea is personified whenthe the ana. The tide is personified when it is portrayed as calling out to the sailor The poem appeals to reader’s sense of sight by describing visual images the the lonely sea and the sky, a grey mist on t sea’s face, the white clouds flying and too Auditory images such as a meny yam, the cry of the seagul, the song of the wind, a laughing fellow- and so on appeal to the reader’s sense of hearing Tactile Images like ‘the flung spray and the tow spume and the wind like a whetted knife appeal the reader’s sense of touch Expressions such as the lonely sea and the sky, a star to steer, and the wind’s like a whotted knife are ex amples of alliteration. The wheel’s kick, the wind’s song, and the white sail’s shaking’ are examples of assonance in the poem. I must go down to the ses again, and All I ask, are examples of anaphora. The rhyme scheme of the poem is aabb, codd, eeff. The rhyming words together with the refrain, 1 must go down to the seas again’ add to the beauty of the lines The poem is rich in images and the poetic devices used in it convey the central theme of the poen effectively.

►Activity 6

Sea-Fever’ by John Masefield is a poem that portrays a sailor’s strong desire for the sea and his deep yearming for adventure. Find and read the poem “Remember the Old Road’ by Ruskin Bond, available online, where the speaker associates an old road with a sense of adventure and the memories of his youth. Compare and contrast the themes and representa- tions of the natural world in both the poems. Both the poems ‘Sea-Fever’ by John Masefield and ‘Remember the Old Road’ by Ruskin Bond are nostalgic and sentimental. The poet John Masefield in the poem Sea-Fever passionately speaks about his desire to return to the life of a sallor in order to be happy.

The exciting adventures of his past voyages beckon him to a life at sea. He longs to go back to the sea. Ruskin Bond likewise in his poem throws light to his past ife as a young boy. His life in Mussoorie and the hills of the Himalayas is alluded to in the poem. Now he has grown old and probably cannot walk to the same hills the way once he used to. But the poet in the poem sayf that despite all odds he has managed to reach up the hill. As John Masefield dreams to go back to the past experiences, Ruskin Bond fulfils his desire to experiencethe past excitement once again. Both the poets long to go back to the past and experience its excitements, Both the poems are nature loving. In the poem

‘Sea-Fever’ the poet wishes to go down to the lonely sea and the sky. The wind’s song, grey mist on the sea’s face, the grey dawn breaking, windy day with white clouds flying, the flung spray, the blown spume and the crying of the sea-gulls are the representations of natural world exciting him. In the poem ‘Remember the Old Road’, the poet reaches the top of the hill once again in his old age. From the point he sees and enjoys the river flowing down to the plains, the beauty of the hills and small villages.

The poem ‘Sea-Fever’ explores nature by sailing the ocean whereas the poem ‘Remember the Old Road’ explores nature by scaling mountains.

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