At Night at the High Seas
At Night at the High Seas - meaning Summary
Solitude Tested by the Sea
Hesse's poem depicts a speaker soothed and held by the night sea, which prompts deep solitude and quiet self-abandon. In that stillness the speaker turns inward toward friends, asking whether his love, sorrow, or death register with them. The sea's impassive silence—likened to a peaceful smile and a negative response—underscores isolation and the painful sense that personal feeling may go unanswered and unshared.
Read Complete AnalysesAt night, when the sea cradles me and the pale star gleam lies down on its broad waves, then I free myself wholly from all activity and all the love and stand silent and breathe purely, alone, alone cradled by the sea that lies there, cold and silent, with a thousand lights. Then I have to think of my friends and my gaze sinks into their gazes, and I ask each one, silent, alone: "Are you still mine"? Is my sorrow a sorrow to you, my death a death? Do you feel from my love, my grief, just a breath, just an echo?" And the sea peacefully gazes back, silent, and smiles: No. And no greeting and now answer comes from anywhere.
Translated by James Wright
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