At Sea

[poliphilo]

The wind in the trees sounds like a rough sea....

That's a fairly banal observation and most people with any imagination will have made the connection between the two sounds at some time or another- but when Ted Hughes in an early poem observed "This house has been far out at sea all night" he turned it into something magical. Don't ask me how it's done. Nobody knows. The words may come by themselves or they may have to be worked for but any fool can recognise when the magic's there and when it isn't. Great poets are Prosperos and can command it- but even they can't tell you exactly what it is they're commanding- and they know that there are times when they call on the spirits and the spirits refuse to come.

Comments

[oakmouse]

It's very much like another bit from Shakespeare, not Prospero but Glendower and Hotspur: "I can call spirits from the vasty deep!" "So can I, and so can any man! But do they come when you do call them?" For a great poet, sometimes they won't come, but many times they come very willingly.

[poliphilo]

I wasn't consciously recalling Glendower and Hotspur- but they must have been lurking at the back of my mind.

[oakmouse]

I've heard it said that, metaphorically speaking, Shakespeare is in the DNA of all native-born Britons, regardless of their ethnicity or whatnot; they breathe it in with the very air. So yes, it's quite possible that Hotspur et al were lurking in the back of your mind!