Nineteen Nine
Nineteen Nine - meaning Summary
Sea as Exile and Escape
The poem frames the sea as both memory and escape. The speaker recalls brighter days of travel and camaraderie when the ocean was "white and blue," but now the sea feels grey, ageing and synonymous with exile. Refrain anchors a resigned determination: the sea remains the speaker’s route away despite lingering pain, doubt and the sense that past hopes have become futile. It conveys longing, loss and the persistence of departure.
Read Complete AnalysesThere’s a light out there in the nearer east In the dawn of Nineteen Nine; There’s the old ghost light in the salty yeast Where the black rocks meet the brine. Here’s the same old strife and toil in vain Here’s the same old hope and doubt Here’s the same old useless care and pain And the sea is my way out My dear The sea is my way out. ’Tis a grey and a sad old sea for me With a growing grey head too. Oh, the heads were brown and the eyes were bright When the sea was white and blue. It was round the world and home again, We could turn and turn about, And the sea means exile now in vain, But the sea is my way out My dear The sea is my way out.
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