The Ships That Won't Go Down
The Ships That Won't Go Down - meaning Summary
Praise for Quiet Resilience
Lawson’s poem contrasts public fascination with failure against the quieter, often overlooked endurance of those who persist. It praises the craftsmen, captains and ordinary men who withstand hardship rather than make sensational exits. The speaker rejects melodrama about disaster and casts the sea not as a mourner but as a celebrant of perseverance. The poem affirms human nobility and strength in the face of trouble and moral storms.
Read Complete AnalysesWe hear a great commotion 'bout the ship that comes to grief, that founders in mid-ocean, or is driven on a reef; Because it's cheap and brittle a score of sinners drown. But we hear but mighty little of the ships that won't go down. Here's honour to the builders – the builders of the past; Here's honour to the builders that builded ships to last; Here's honour to the captain, and honour to the crew; Here's double-column headlines to the ships that battle through. They make a great sensation about famous men that fail, that sink a world of chances in the city morgue or gaol, Who drink, or blow their brains out, because of "Fortune's frown". but we hear far too little of the men who won't go down. The world is full of trouble, and the world is full of wrong, but the heart of man is noble, and the heart of man is strong! They say the sea sings dirges, but I would say to you that the wild wave's song's a paean for the men that battle through.
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