Outside
Outside - meaning Summary
Longing for Sea Departure
The speaker expresses a strong desire to leave land and its obligations for the liberating life at sea. He wants to escape crowded quays, past betrayals and “sordid joys and griefs,” and the farewell rituals on shore. The poem foregrounds companionship among shipboard friends, physical sensations of sailing, and the promise of freedom and renewal found in roaming the open ocean away from familiar faces and memories.
Read Complete AnalysesI want to be lighting my pipe on deck, With my baggage safe below I want to be free of the crowded quay, While the steamer’s swinging slow. I want to be free of treachery, And of sordid joys and griefs To be out of sight of the faces white, And the waving of handkerchiefs. I want to be making my ship-board friends, I want to be free of the past I want to be laughing with kindred souls, While the Heads are opening fast. I want to be sailing far to-day, On the tracks where the rovers go, To feel the heave of the deck, and draw The breath that the rovers know.
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