Poets | Members | Poem of the Day | Top 40 | Search | Comments | Privacy
November 8th, 2009 - we have 234 poets, 8,023 poems and 17,880 comments.
Emily Dickinson - On this wondrous sea

On this wondrous sea
Sailing silently,
Ho! Pilot, ho!
Knowest thou the shore
Where no breakers roar --
Where the storm is o'er?

In the peaceful west
Many the sails at rest --
The anchors fast --
Thither I pilot thee --
Land Ho! Eternity!
Ashore at last!

Added: on February 20th, 2006 at 5:42 PM | Viewed: 23545 times | Comments and analysis of On this wondrous sea by Emily Dickinson Comments (9)


On this wondrous sea - Comments and Information

Poet: Emily Dickinson (Emily Dickinson Art)
Poem: 4. On this wondrous sea
Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Year: Published/Written in 1955
Poem of the Day: Jul 25 2000

Comment 9 of 9, added on May 12th, 2008 at 1:01 PM.

Hey there..
I thinkt it is a very interestig poem - and your interpretation is very interestig, too.
I interpret it in a similiar way, but there is one thing that is incomprehensible to me:
This was the poem she sent to Susan Gilbert (who would be later her brother austin's wife) as a plea to write her a letter back. That is, in my opinion, the thing that doesn't match.



gabse from Germany
Comment 8 of 9, added on October 2nd, 2007 at 11:22 PM.

I'm reading or rereading Emily's poems in the order they are listed here, so it will be a while before I'm done :) Anyhow, I was surprised by the small number of comments on a poem I find most enjoyable.

Just want to add something to what others have already said. I find this one is very musical really, and it is a fact that many of Emily Dickinson's poems have been sung to a tune. But even if you just read this poem carefully out and aloud and pay attention at the sounds you are making, the al.literations and the contrasts between minimal pairs of phonemes (or, simply put, sounds) such as /t/ /d/ /th/ /s/ /z/ and the way she combines vowels and diphthongs you can almost hear and feel the waves she is talking about and, with a bit of imagination, if you read this with the right intonation and rythm, you can see yourself aboard a rocking ship and in the end you are really glad when the poem is over and you are back at shore. No kidding. Try it!

Juan from Spain
Comment 7 of 9, added on February 20th, 2006 at 5:42 PM.

Wow. This poem is amazing and bogles the mind into a world of Dickinson.

Jon from Canada

Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, On this wondrous sea, has received 9 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Emily Dickinson with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info

Dickinson Info
Copyright © 2000-2009 Gunnar Bengtsson. All Rights Reserved. Links | Bookstore