Sea Slant
Sea Slant - form Summary
Refrain Builds Nautical Rhythm
In free verse, Sandburg uses repeated lines and short, spare images to shape the poem’s motion. The recurring phrase "On up the sea slant" and echoed descriptors (fog-gray, sea-strong) act like a refrain, creating a steady, limping rhythm that imitates a worn ship’s passage. The minimalist language emphasizes endurance and distance, presenting the vessel as both physical and elemental—weathered, persistent, and moving steadily into the horizon.
Read Complete AnalysesOn up the sea slant, On up the horizon, The ship limps. The bone of her nose fog-gray, The heart of her sea-strong, She came a long way, She goes a long way. On up the sea slant, On up the horizon, She limps sea-strong, fog-gray She is a green-lit night gray. She comes and goes in sea-fog. Up the horizon slant she limps.
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