Sea-wash

Sea-wash - meaning Summary

Repetition and Questioning

The poem presents the sea as a relentlessly repeating force, its sounds cycling without apparent change. The speaker questions whether the ocean knows only "old strong songs," raising doubt about repetition, history, and creative renewal. Short lines and repeated phrases create a sense of insistence and slight impatience. The poem reads as a compact meditation on monotony, memory, and the desire for something beyond familiar patterns.