Song of the Master and Boatswain
Song of the Master and Boatswain - meaning Summary
Memory, Longing, Refusal
The poem recounts a speaker's remembered nights in cheap taverns and casual liaisons, contrasting transient pleasures with an aversion to settled domestic life. He rejects offers of comfort or long-term attachment, preferring freedom to a ‘‘cage’’ of companionship. By the close, images of weeping nightingales and a deep sea suggest cumulative sorrow and the need to consign old regrets to oblivion, embracing sleep or emotional release.
Read Complete AnalysesAt Dirty Dick's and Sloppy Joe's We drank our liquor straight, Some went upstairs with Margery, And some, alas, with Kate; And two by two like cat and mouse The homeless played at keeping house. There Wealthy Meg, the Sailor's Friend, And Marion, cow-eyed, Opened their arms to me but I Refused to step inside; I was not looking for a cage In which to mope my old age. The nightingales are sobbing in The orchards of our mothers, And hearts that we broke long ago Have long been breaking others; Tears are round, the sea is deep: Roll them overboard and sleep.
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