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Many of Tennyson's poems had links with
the Sea.
They were written in an age when the British public had more awareness on the role of seafarers . It seems fitting that his monument should form a landmark for passing vessels. |
- He rose at
dawn,fired with hope,
Shot o'er the seething harbour bar,
And reache'd the ship and caught the rope,
And whistled to the morning star.
And While he
whistled long and loud
He heard a
fierce mermaiden cry,
'O boy,tho'
art young and proud,
I see the
place where thou wilt lie.
'The sands
and yeasty surges mix
In caves about
the dreary bay,
And on thy
ribs the limpet sticks,
And in the
heart the scrawl shall play.'
'Fool,' he
answer'd,'death is sure
To those that
stay and those that roam,
But I will
nevermore endure
To sit with
empty hands at home.
'My mother
clings about my neck,
My sisters
cry "stay for shame";
My father
raves of death and wreck,
They are all
to blame,they are all to blame.
'God help me!
save I take my part
Of danger
on the roaring sea,
A devil rises
in my heart,
Far worse
than any death to me.'
Alfred
Lord Tennyson