Return to Sorrento (3rd class)
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; I left my vest and socks there - I wonder if they're dry?
lyric poem
playful
Return to Sorrento (3rd class) - meaning Summary
A Grand Sea Longing Reduced to Wet Socks
Spike Milligan humorously parodies John Masefield’s celebrated sea poem by replacing its romantic longing for adventure with the mundane concern of retrieving forgotten clothing from the shore. The mock-serious yearning for the sea becomes a simple, absurd worry about whether his vest and socks are dry, creating comedy through the contrast between grand poetic language and everyday embarrassment.
@Canzona The title has been corrected. The commentary has been updated to acknowledge that this is a parody poem. Thank you for your comment. Our goal is to make the information about the poems as accurate and useful as possible.
A) The title of this poem is “Return to Sorrento (3rd class). One might wonder how an analysis might be made without even knowing the title. B) The poem is a parody of John Masefield’s poem “Sea Fever”. To comment without knowing or acknowledging this is risible. C) Despite endless misquotes online including your own, the phrase in the third line is “vests and socks” not “shoes and socks”. Sites such as this are a disgrace to literature made by those too keen to display their lazy ignorance and lack of intellect.